11. Gripping With Listing (37 Images)

By: Ken Leedham, GHSC Member

This post deals with gripping a club with a listing, as you would want to do to reproduce a 19th century grip.

Whilst grips of 20th century wooden shafted clubs mostly consisted of just a leather wrap, with pitch applied to the shaft to keep the leather in place, 19th century grips pretty much always had a listing wrap, generally of woollen cloth, with hide wrapped over that listing, producing a much fatter and rather softer grip, with something of a taper. Some sources indicate that sheepskin was most commonly used for the hide wrap in the 19th century, but bare sheep hide is almost unobtainable now, so I would use a suitable substitute from hides that I could obtain.

This post show the application of a grip with listing, from start to finish (but starting with a bare shaft).

The 37 thumbnail images below read left-to-right across each line, and then down to the next line. Mouse over an individual thumbnail image to see the title. Click on an individual thumbnail image to see a larger image.

Image #1: Felt Listing – I generally use a felt type material for listing, basically because a strip of this can be cut without it fraying, whereas woven cloth tends to fray badly when cut in a thin strip. I appreciate this is not exactly historically correct. Also, this cloth is probably polyester, rather than wool. But a fairly correct effect can be obtained this way. On the right are other cloth pieces I have for listing.

Image #2: Wrap Friction Tape – I start, as for a regular grip, by wrapping friction tape onto the shaft. The club being gripped here is the same Auchterlonie club shown in our An Exercise in Rust Removal post.

Image #3: Starting the Wrap – Having wrapped the whole length where the grip is to be with friction tape, I start the listing wrap by making a ‘mitre’ and marking where the listing meets.

Image #4: Cut Across Mitre – I cut across the two marks made on the mitre, to make a tapered end on the listing, and then drill a pilot hole for a top tack, with a small bit in a pin vise.

Image #5: Add Top Tack – I put in a top tack (here a 5mm tack from Etsy).

Image #6: Use Anvil – I put the top of the shaft on my small anvil …

Image #7: Tap Top Tack – … and tap home the top tack with a tack hammer.

Image #8: Wrap the Listing – Now I wrap the listing, starting by overlapping at the top tack.

Image #9: Edge to Edge – Almost as soon as the top tack is passed, the wrap will be shifted to that the listing meets edge to edge.

Image #10: Continue Wrapping – Here the listing is being wrapped as neatly as possible edge to edge, which will continue right down.

Image #11: Stop Listing – The listing wrap is stopped some way short of where the hide wrap is to stop – at least half an inch, and some historic grips seem to stop the listing as much a 2 inches above the end of the hide.

Image #12: Mark End – Where the listing is to end, it is marked, so that the excess can be cut off.

Image #13: Tapered End – The listing is cut across the two marks, removing the excess, and leaving a tapered end.

Image #14: Pilot Hole – A pilot hole is drilled for the bottom tack.

Image #15: Add Bottom Tack – The bottom tack is put in, the same way as the top tack.

Image #16: Cut Hide – Now I need hide for the wrap. I cut a piece from a thin, flexible hide, tapering from 1.25″ to 1″, and about 36″ long. Note that a slightly longer hide piece will be needed for a grip with listing, due to the extra thickness being wrapped.

Image #17: Resulting Hide– Here is the piece of hide that I have cut for this grip.

Image #18: Start Hide Wrap – Now I start the hide wrap by making a ‘mitre’ at the top of the shaft’

Image #19: Mark the Hide – I mark the hide, so I can cut a tapered end.

Image #20: Tapered End – I cut across the two marks, making a tapered end on the hide.

Image #21: Top Pilot Hole – Now I drill a pilot hole for the top tack.

Image #22: Top Tack – I put in a top tack. A slightly larger tack may be needed, due to the extra thickness. The 7mm Etsy tacks should be plenty big enough.

Image #23: Wrap the Hide – I wrap the hide, overlapping over the top tack. I am wrapping this hide smoother side out, since even the smooth side of this is a little rough, quite suitable for a listed grip. If I were wrapping a firmer leather smooth side in, I would put another layer of friction tape over the listing before wrapping the leather (not really historical, but it provides a firmer grounding for the leather wrap, which may tend to slip otherwise, when smooth side in).

Image #24: Wrap with Tension – Once past the top tack, the hide is wrapped edge to edge. Since this is a new hide, I wrap it under some tension … that is to say, I pull it tight as I am wrapping it.

Image #25: Wrap Past Listing – I wrap the hide right past the end of the listing …

Image #26: Below Friction Tape – … to just below where I ended the first wrap of friction tape.

Image #27: Mark/Cut Excess – I mark both sides of the hide, and cut off the excess.

Image #28: Bottom Pilot Hole – Now I drill a pilot hole for the final bottom tack.

Image #29: Insert Bottom Tack – I insert the bottom tack into the pilot hole with tweezers …

Image #30: Tap Bottom Tack – …and tap it home on the anvil.

Image #31: Finished Bottom – Here is the finished bottom of the grip with listing, ready for whipping.

Image #32: The Top – And here is the top. It is normal that the listing is visible at the top.

Image #33: White Thread – For this grip, since it is basically white, I am going to use some white waxed thread. I picked up a bunch of small spools like this from a local craft outlet that was going out of business.

Image #34: Bottom Whipping – I start the bottom whipping below the bottom of the wrap, and whip up onto the leather.

Image #35: Insert Puller – Here I have put my puller into the whipping. This white thread is almost transparent, so you can see the puller through it.

Image #36: Finish Whipping – I pull the end of the thread back through and cut it off, to finish the whipping. As you can see, this is the original, stamped Auchterlonie shaft on this club.

Image #37: End Result – This is the best I could manage as a picture of the top of the grip with the top whipping. If I used flash, everything washed out, being white-on-white. I have played this club, and am quite comfortable with this grip.