I "restored" two old WWII knives my grandpappy used, bought leather washers online, soaked them in water, dryed them some, covered them with glue and threaded them on the hilt, we modified it to have a twist on cap, which worked well to tighten the washers, the problem was getting the exact number of washers needed, every time you de-compress it messes things up and they will not be the same. Also sometimes when tightening to much it would smash one of the leather washers enough to squeeze it out of line and then pretty much become so flat it was thinner than paper and fell off easily, it isn't easy but it's not rocket science either, just have alot of extra washers and learn from what you do.
I used coats of superglue as a sealant on the outside, sanded, more glue, sanded, more glue, worked very well IMO. The end result is always cool, looks almost like wood.
