Thanks for the input Ed. I think you may be right. What I took for fibre could be leather that is old and dried and treated on the outside with something like varnish. Now it is very brittle, but that is probably because of age.
I'll try to get a sample to a microscope next week and see if I can't see more clearly what its made of. But looking at the edges I could imagine this might be a thin strip of something cut in the manner you describe. This would make the winding of thicker leather than the pommel covering, and I guess easier to source
