I not at all sure what was going on with this particular sheath Milandro. Whatever was here is not the same kind of wrap that i posted on my keris above, which i believe is meant to preserve the stem from wear and damage. I don't see any reason why the wood would need to be notched like this to place a wrap on the sheath. I suspect there is something non-traditional at work here. These grooves are rather inexpertly carved here. It may have been someone's idea of a repair and may have even been done outside of the culture.
But it would certainly improve the look of this sheath to lay either a fiber or wire wrap into those grooves to fill them up. May suggestion would be to work with some kind of nature fiber cord. It is inexpensive and whatever you do would not be permanent so if it doesn't turn out well the first time you can easily remove it and try again. Good luck.
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