This is the grip for a fencing foil.
A friend of mine is a fencer, and has not found a grip that suits him. Grips are very personal things, your femcing style, wrist flexibility, hand size/shape, all play into it. So I'm told.
The grip should be light, stiff, and strong enough to hold the blade in a deep rectangular slot. This grip is cast aluminium.
We were wondering how to make a bespoke grip for his particular needs, using a material and method that would not require special or expensive equipment, or unusual skill, and that would be repeatable enough to allow several identical grips to be made after we find the right shape for the prototype.
Any ideas? Carving wood sounds tedious, difficult, and likely to result in a grip that is too weak. We could maybe use clay to arrive at a trial shape, but how to translate that shape into an appropriate material?