[greenstar]

Being a cheapskate, and with the cost of decent original looking leather handles, and not being a great leather worker, a lot of my handled things don't have one, the originals having dropped off.
I bought a microscope recently and the case was of course missing the handle, but the last owner had wound string around to make an improvised job.
I have a small pile of items needing handles.
I thought to use paracord in a similar way, and feel it does a serviceable and attractive job. For more of a vintage look perhaps cotton boot lace would be appropriate.
3mm brown paracord is on ebay in abundance. I bought a reel for 7 pounds. As boot lace this starts to come apart quickly, so for heavy wear the more expensive stuff may be better. But for this use the cheap stuff looks to be fine. There must be a neater way to tie up the ends. I simply wound four times between the metal loops, and then around the handle, before tying up and knotting the ends.