How do you get a leather grip good and tight?  Do you wet it and sew it on, or do you cut it too small and pull it together while sewing?

I do the latter.  I use pretty thin leather and find it has a surprising amount of stretch and flexibility.   I should add that I do straight grip longbows, so I don't have any extreme curves or depressions to deal with.

I like to apply a sizing of superglue to the entire area to be covered, and then stretch and glue the leather to the handle a little bit at a time.  This ensures a very tight, uniform fit and helps prevent moisture soaked up by the leather from penetrating the wood in the riser.  Sometimes I cover the back seam with a welt.  Also, I sometimes roll under the leather on the top and bottom of the grip to give it a more finished look if using thinner leather.  I'm not great at it, but here's a couple of examples:

nice , i think im going to do that rolled end on the wife's bow... you incorporate any rests into that rolled style?


-hov

I glue them on with contact cement, then sew up the front.

meant to say a covered shelf type of rest. sorry

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000052

My last grip I put on was from Alligator leather and I cut it a little short glued it and stitched it tight.

I glue and sew. If you put a strip of leather on the back side were the stiches are I think that helps make the stich a little neater. Good hunting Knifemaker