from all the pictures I have seen viggo mortensens ranger sword grip has extremely slick shiny leather. Did they make it slick because he wears a glove or is there more to the grip than meets the eye

here is one picture that shows a shiny handle
http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Hum ... TD_med.jpg

It's glossy, tight, wet-wrapped leather. I'm not sure what your question is or if you're just making an observation.

I'd say it's a question, and a good one at that. I'm no e xp ert on this, but I always assumed you'd need/want some texture on your hilt leather so that your grip won't slip much due to sweat or blood, no? Glamdring has that spiral twist under the leather that aids with this issue, and on a lot of hilts, you see that they are wire-wrapped. The ranger sword looks almost too slick.

[quote=""Valkrist""]I'd say it's a question, and a good one at that. I'm no e xp ert on this, but I always assumed you'd need/want some texture on your hilt leather so that your grip won't slip much due to sweat or blood, no? Glamdring has that spiral twist under the leather that aids with this issue, and on a lot of hilts, you see that they are wire-wrapped. The ranger sword looks almost too slick.[/quote]

Well, it's got that ring in the middle of the grip- that ought to help with traction.

Yep, it does, and I did consider that, though I still think Beans made a fair point: that leather does look extra slick. I think Strider's glove definitely helped his grip.

I agree it looks tight and smooth, however, I also noticed that the shine from the flash seems to be beaming back off the plexiglass holder in the same place.
Perhaps it's not as bad as it appears.

It's probably worn too. I bet it started out a little glossier.

I don't think it's bad though. Leather should shine. It looks pretty horrible with a matte finish (hence UC's swords). And leather has a "stick" to it as well, so I can't imagine the grip is as bad as you might think.

Any sword will get a little slick with orc blood and rain on it, but hey -- he wears a glove, you said it yourself.

Leather grips get slick and smooth after periods of handling. My leather gripi tennis racquets get quite smooth after awhile. So its part of the breaking in process.

But the strange thing is that even though it feels smooth, once you start using it and the grip warms up, the friction is very good.