Help & advice needed - leather lever wraps

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Harrington-Cook
Levergunner
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:12 am
Location: Berkshire, England, UK

Help & advice needed - leather lever wraps

Post by Harrington-Cook »

Hi Guys

Posting from the here in the UK ......

I'm trying to find if Stan Nichols - of NicholsLeatherWorks in Chillicothe, Ohio is still in business.

I can't raise Stan by Email - and his website appears 'down' - do any of you guys know if he is still trading ??

Stan was a gentleman to deal with - I hope nothing untoward has happened ?

If no one has any info - do you know where I can get some plain leather lever wraps for my Marlin 1894s ? I can get them sent to a US address where I can pick them up next time I am over in the US enjoying myself on the range !! :D :D :D

Many Thanks

Roy
adirondakjack
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Post by adirondakjack »

Dunno exactly what yer looking for, but some of them are VERY simple to make.

Image

These are simply a rectangle of leather long enough to cover the inside of the lever in an "L" shape, and JUST wide enough to wrap around, with a slight gap. Punch holes down the long sides at 1/2 inch intervals, and "shoelace" it on, tucking the ends back under the last few "crosses" and pulling them tight. I can make one in 15 minutes, tops.
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alnitak
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Post by alnitak »

I used a simple "noose" wrap on this one. Ideally, the leather would have been longer to cover more of the large loop. However, I find I can slide this one back and forth so there's no buildup underneath the wrap. Also, I put a few drops of gun oil on it to both color the wrap darker and make it a little more pliable (only had the rawhide you use to re-string a baseball glove).


Image

Basically, you make a loop and lay it on the lever, with the open end at the trigger guard and the closed end towards the stock. [Of course, you could do it the other way too.] If you have a long enough piece of leather, just make the loop cover as much of the lever as you want. With a fixed piece of leather, you may need to adjust.

Begin wrapping at the trigger guard, and work your way back to the closed end of the loop. When you reach it, insert the end of the leather into the closed end of the loop. Then pull on the tag end of the leather, back by the trigger guard to close the loop on the other end of the wrap. Snip and you're done.

A couple of points. Don't wrap too tight. You have to pull leather through leather around corners/curves -- too tight and it's difficult. You can leave about an inch extra on the stock tag end. Then when you pull the other tag end, you can bury the closed end of the loop and the other tag under the wrap. You can also snip the tag end by the trigger guard to be short enough to fit under the wrap. I didn't do mine this way since I didn't want to create the little bulge that would result from burying it. Because I had a fixed length of leather, I had to re-wrap a couple of times until I got the loop length such that there was only a small tag end to go in the loop before I pulled. I wanted to maximize the area covered.
Last edited by alnitak on Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"From birth 'til death...we travel between the eternities." -- Print Ritter in Broken Trail
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O.S.O.K.
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Post by O.S.O.K. »

I had leather wraps on mine for cowboy action shooting. Took them off when I saw rust underneath on one of them. I checked the rest and they all had bad rust underneath.... so mine are all sans leather wraps now...
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Harrington-Cook
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Post by Harrington-Cook »

alnitak wrote:I used a simple "noose" wrap on this one. Ideally, the leather would have been longer to cover more of the large loop. However, I find I can slide this one back and forth so there's no buildup underneath the wrap. Also, I put a few drops of gun oil on it to both color the wrap darker and make it a little more pliable (only had the rawhide you use to re-string a baseball glove).


Image

Basically, you make a loop and lay it on the lever, with the open end at the trigger guard and the closed end towards the stock. [Of course, you could do it the other way too.] If you have a long enough piece of leather, just make the loop cover as much of the lever as you want. With a fixed piece of leather, you may need to adjust.

Begin wrapping at the trigger guard, and work your way back to the closed end of the loop. When you reach it, insert the end of the leather into the closed end of the loop. Then pull on the tag end of the leather, back by the trigger guard to close the loop on the other end of the wrap. Snip and you're done.

A couple of points. Don't wrap too tight. Yoiu have to pull leather through leather around corners/curves -- too tight and it's difficult. You can leave about an inch extra on the stock tag end. Then when you pull the other tag end, you can bury the closed end of the loop and the other tag under the wrap. You can also snip the tag end by the trigger guard to be short enough to fit under the wrap. I didn't do mine this way since I didn't want to create the little bulge that would result from burying it. Because I had a fixed length of leather, I had to re-wrap a couple of times until I got the loop length such that there was only a small tag end to go in the loop before I pulled. I wanted to maximize the area covered.
Hi Alnitak

I like the look of the 'noose' - I tried this with the hide lace I had - but it comes out a little thin if you get my meaning. - is yours just one layer of leather ?

Both you & O.S.O.K. make good points about what is 'hidden' under the wrap - mine is a standard lever - so nowhere to slide it to inspect underneath !!
I have seen a wrap that goes on with press studs too - need to think of the best way to go on this !

Regards

Roy
alnitak
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Post by alnitak »

Harrington-Cook wrote: Hi Alnitak

I like the look of the 'noose' - I tried this with the hide lace I had - but it comes out a little thin if you get my meaning. - is yours just one layer of leather ?

Both you & O.S.O.K. make good points about what is 'hidden' under the wrap - mine is a standard lever - so nowhere to slide it to inspect underneath !!
I have seen a wrap that goes on with press studs too - need to think of the best way to go on this !

Regards

Roy
Roy -- mine is just one layer. It seems to protect my hands well enough even during rapid firing and a full range session.

I found that the gun oil on the wrap seems to keep the rust off of the lever. If you go with the other style, or the snap-on one, you can always take it off periodically. I figured that if I was going to take it off, oil the lever, and then put the wrap back on the wrap was going to absorb oil anyway -- so I might as well start there. So, i put a bit on the lace and worked it in well. It not saturated, but does leave a slight oil film if I rub it on the lever. It's worked well in the three years I've had it on. I think I took it off once to check and everythng was fine. I occasionally rub the wrap back and forth, and no gunk seems to accumulate nor is there any rust either. YMMV.

Bruce
"From birth 'til death...we travel between the eternities." -- Print Ritter in Broken Trail
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