The handle in the attached photo was a cosmetic repair as the original had a spring steel core so safety wasn’t really an issue. The leathercloth type material covering the steel strip had disintegrated but there was enough left to cut templates for the replacement. This was made from two pieces of leather, one being much thinner than the other. The thin leather was recovered from a broken belt and the thicker piece was an off-cut from a new drive belt for an ancient lathe. The two pieces were glued either side of the steel strip. The stitch effect is entirely false. It was created by scoring two lines in the thick leather and using a sharp centre punch to fabricate evenly spaced indentations along the lines. Looks quite realistic without close inspection. As the stitching is false it was important to use good strong flexible glue and for this handle I successfully used Unibond Repair Extreme (Henkel Group) but I believe it’s is no longer available. Although I’ve not tried it there’s a similar Henkel product branded Loctite Extreme Glue which would probably have worked just as well.
Incidentally the outer surfaces of the chromed end caps were badly rusted through to the steel so I turned them inside out and used wire wool to reveal the brass plating.
Alan