Need help - How to attach leather to wood???

Lee Laird

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405
Location
Austin TX
Hey gang,

I've made one of the three legged draw horses along the lines that Lie-Nielsen sells and I want to put a piece of leather on the flat area where the workpiece lies and also on the cross member that applies the pressure to the workpiece.

I don't think I've ever put a piece of leather on wood before. :dunno: Is there special glue that one would use? I guess another question begging to be answered is what type of leather would you use. :huh: I've got something that feels like suede and is around 3/32" thick.

I need your input so I can finalize this project. :wave::wave:

Thanks as always,
 
if its similar to that shave horse in the catalog, you do not want to use any leather or split with a suade surface. the leather you want to use has the outsided (or skin) of the hide on one side. then i would suggest you use an epoxy or contact cement, and tack it down at both the start and finish points of the item you are wrapping. i hope that this helps. :thumb:
 
Like Dan, I have always used contact cement to glue leather faces to mallets I have made. Never had the bond fail and I always put at least 2 coats of glue on both surfaces. It is important to firmly use a roller to roll the leather into the glued surface of the wood to get good adhesion.
 
also, you want that leather to be around 1/4" thick. the reason being that you will be applying pressure in holding the workpiece in place, and the thickness of the leather provides padding, so that the workpiece is not marred by the parts keeping it clamped in place.
 
Followup to question about gluing leather to wood

Thanks guys. That's helpful. The leather I have was left-overs and it seemed like it might not be the ticket, but not having ever done this type thing before, I figured I'd go to the well.

When I look at Lie-Nielsen's site the leather that is on the flat surfaced work area on the horse seems to be very pliable or flexible as it looks to flow from one side to the other while following the V-cut that runs from front to back. Is there a possibility that the thick stuff should be on the hold-down arm and thinner stuff for the flat work area? :dunno:

I can pick up some leather at our local Tandy. Is there anything else unique about the leather I should buy?

Thanks again,
 
just make sure it is fairish thick. you can make it more pliable by wetting it down, and it will fit better. but then again, the folks at tandy should be able to answer questions even better.
 
Thanks again everyone for the assistance.

Kevin & Dale - Looks like the link Kevin sent and Dale's recommendation are a match. The weblink advised that Barge is the recommended product. They also advise you can buy it in shoe repair stores. (info for those interested)

Dan - Yeah, our family used to make just about everything out of leather back in the '60s and '70s (from chairs to belts to bowling bags) so I do recall that wetting the leather made it more pliable and it took shaping better as well. Glad you brought it back to front and center of my memory. As for the leather I have in my possession, I even thought that I might be able to use something underneath the leather on the flat surface to add just a little extra padding to protect the work-piece.

You guys rock!
 
That would be cool to add some uniqueness to the project (as if no one will be able to tell my draw horse isn't home made). Good idea!

If you don't mind me asking, what types of belts and holsters did you use to make?

Regards,
 
boy dale yu brought back some old memories:) i too used to make leather goods and had at least two racks of stamps.. back in the day i could do some pretty good carving on leather:) thats long gone now though as are the tools.
 
Well, I guess it's obvious that all control of this thread is lost! :rofl::rofl:

Vaughn, when will I learn to be more specific. :rolleyes: :doh:

Frank, yeah that is what I was intending when my fingers went haywire on my keyboard. Mine isn't near as pretty as their's is though.
 
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