Bamboo

Bamboo names the handle: lengths of bamboo heated and bent into a curve, used as a top handle or a clasp, a fitting the house has returned to since it first improvised it during a period of material shortage. Bodies are leather or coated canvas. Brown and black lead. The bamboo is the thing to inspect and the reason to be careful — it dries, cracks along the grain and can split at the metal fittings, and it cannot be repaired or matched. Check the handle over its whole length, the fittings at both ends, and the leather at the corners.