Epoxy for leather?

R

R.C.Reichert

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Jul 26, 2008
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So I bought this leather called Samara from Tandy leather. It's a veg tan leather that has been hand wiped with oils and waxes I think. Really nice stuff and a nice natural darker color but... Contact cement doesn't seem to hold too well, it tends to split apart a little bit at the welt inside the sheath. Will Barge cement work any better on an oily/waxy sorta leather? The 5 minute type epoxy does seem to be doing the trick though. Does anyone else use epoxy for leather?
 
Did you try to clean off any of the finish on the welt area that you applied the contact cement? Also, how about roughing/scuffing it up with sandpaper or even a narrow wire brush or the like? I've never tried epoxy, but I'd be curious as to know well how it might work.


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
 
coldsteelburns said:
Did you try to clean off any of the finish on the welt area that you applied the contact cement? Also, how about roughing/scuffing it up with sandpaper or even a narrow wire brush or the like? I've never tried epoxy, but I'd be curious as to know well how it might work.


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
Click to expand...


Oh yah, I used a sharp wood rasp to rough up the leather on both sides and even wiped over the area with acetone. The epoxy bonds really well.
 
Oh wow, so you cleaned & roughed it up before applying the contact cement and it still didn't work? Now that I think about it, I were to ever use an epoxy for w/e reason I would use G-flex for that as well, since it has some give to it. I'm always interested in little things such as this, you never know when having this type of info might come in handy.


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
 
What contact cement are you using? This is what I use:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DAP-Weldwood-1-Gal-Non-Flamable-Contact-Cement-203898/202588232

I have yet to find a leather that it won't bond well and years ago I used Barge and I did find leathers that it wouldn't work well on. Springfield Leather Supply sells a leather glue specifically for hard to glue leathers:

https://www.springfieldleather.com/Cement-Contact-Latex-4oz

I've never used it though as I've found the Weldwood bonds everything I need it to and I work with a lot of different leathers. The only thing I found that it wouldn't bond was the tape on a YKK zipper used on chaps. I'd be concerned about the epoxy. First, not gonna be fun sewing through that and second every stitch hole is going to be cracking and weakening the bond. Even Gflex being more flexible isn't going to be as flexible enough to do what we want leather to do. Think of a belt:

NxNm0b3.jpg
 
Horsewright said:
What contact cement are you using? This is what I use:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DAP-Weldwood-1-Gal-Non-Flamable-Contact-Cement-203898/202588232

I have yet to find a leather that it won't bond well and years ago I used Barge and I did find leathers that it wouldn't work well on. Springfield Leather Supply sells a leather glue specifically for hard to glue leathers:

https://www.springfieldleather.com/Cement-Contact-Latex-4oz

I've never used it though as I've found the Weldwood bonds everything I need it to and I work with a lot of different leathers. The only thing I found that it wouldn't bond was the tape on a YKK zipper used on chaps. I'd be concerned about the epoxy. First, not gonna be fun sewing through that and second every stitch hole is going to be cracking and weakening the bond. Even Gflex being more flexible isn't going to be as flexible enough to do what we want leather to do. Think of a belt:

NxNm0b3.jpg
Click to expand...


Thank you, and you're right, the epoxy is not very flexible. I'm going to try finding that Weldwood stuff you mention. I did however in the process of trial and error discover a great use for the 5 minute epoxy... I put a thin coat over the stitching on the inside of the sheath where the belt loop is sewn on and it offers great cut resistant protection for the stitching.
 
I use weldwood as well. It's great. Now, if you run out of options to glue flexible materials, try e6000. You can get it at home Depot. I use it on horse stall mat handles for choppers. It's pretty awesome.
 
R.C.Reichert said:
Thank you, and you're right, the epoxy is not very flexible. I'm going to try finding that Weldwood stuff you mention. I did however in the process of trial and error discover a great use for the 5 minute epoxy... I put a thin coat over the stitching on the inside of the sheath where the belt loop is sewn on and it offers great cut resistant protection for the stitching.
Click to expand...

That's actually a pretty good trick. I and Paul Long will do something similar. Where a knife design has the edge contacting a welt all the time, I often reinforce the welt with superglue. Paul uses JB Weld.
 
Considering this thread is four years old, have you continued using epoxy? Any long-term effects you've noticed? Would love to hear an update on your leather adventures!
 
A thread that's four years old but still super relevant! Working with specialized leather like Samara can indeed pose some unique challenges, especially when it comes to bonding.
You mentioned that epoxy seems to be doing the trick. That's a fascinating workaround; epoxy is a robust adhesive for sure. However, you might want to consider how the epoxy interacts with the leather over time.
I recently read a blog on vonbaer.com about different leather grades. It might give you some insight into why certain adhesives work better with specific types of leather.
 
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RC might spot this and jump in with his progress.

I have a question - Was Samara a vegan leather product made from plant fibers and apples????

Tip on gluing up waxed or oiled leathers:
Sand/scuff the mating surfaces and clean them well with acetone. Scuff again and apply the glue.
 
Kinda an update then. Since this post we have found a few leathers that the Weldwood that I use for 98-99 percent of our work wouldn't work on well. There is a relatively new glue on the leather market and many suppliers are selling it. Made by a German company called Renia. They have several leather adhesives for different purposes and we have a bottle of Aquilim 315 that we have been very happy with. Its water based as the name implies and we got it during the supply chain crunch as we were about out of Weldwood, couldn't get any more and were looking around for leather glue. We can get Weldwood now and still use it for like I said 98-99 percent of what we do. But when we have a tricky one, we pull out the Aquilim.
 
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In my cabinet making days I used Weldwood a couple times for gluing formica tops and didn't like it , I could lift the formica back off pretty easy. I mostly used 3M brand contact cement , night and day difference, that stuff was strong.
 
I have been toying with the idea of using a D4 wood glue, it is ever so slightly expanding and would (no pun intended) penetrate the roughed up fibers, very well in my view, rather just being a "surface" adhesive. It is very strong, whilst maintaining flexibility, and inexpensive being a joinery trade product.
 
I don't do anything near Dave's volume, but I use Leatherweld. So far it has always worked for me.

On some hard to glue leathers I rub in a thin coat on both surfaces and let it dry until not tacky. Then I apply a thin coat again, let it dry for a few minutes. then assemble with light clamping.
 
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