Attaching leather to wood.

marinosr

Richard
Corporate Member
I'm looking for adhesive recommendations to attach leather to wood. I was considering either liquid hide glue or epoxy.

I have some fairly thick (8oz.) veg tan leather that I want to attach to a curved strip of wood. The contact area will be pretty minimal... the curved strip is be 1/2" by 6", and the piece of leather is 6x6".

Has anyone used hide glue to do this sort of thing? I figured it would be a natural choice since it would bond with the collagen in the leather quite readily. But I'm not sure that I'll be able to apply even clamping pressure along the curve, so I also thought epoxy might work better because of its gap-filling abilities.
 

mdbuntyn

Matt
Staff member
Corporate Member
I haven't glued leather to a curve, but I did use Titebond liquid hide glue when I made my strop a few years ago. It has held up well
 

robliles

Rob
Corporate Member
Richard,
I used plain old contact cement to glue the leather to this flat shelf. You must be very careful in placing the leather on the shelf. As you probably know, once it is in contact it is extremely difficult to move or even remove.
DSCN0020.JPG
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
I'm looking for adhesive recommendations to attach leather to wood. I was considering either liquid hide glue or epoxy.

I have some fairly thick (8oz.) veg tan leather that I want to attach to a curved strip of wood. The contact area will be pretty minimal... the curved strip is be 1/2" by 6", and the piece of leather is 6x6".

That is seemingly a small piece of wood to attach a rather much larger piece of leather. Will the leather be hanging? Will it have forces working against it such as someone pulling on it or friction such as something rubbing against it?

My first thought is to use hide glue in case you want to replace it later, but if it will be in a rough use situation I may want to go with something more aggressive. Perhaps Titebond III which is what I use on leather mallet faces, or as you suggested in extreme abuse cases Epoxy.

Any of those will do a good job of holding a rather static piece of leather to wood.
 

Hjanes

Harlan
User
I've used hide glue to fasten baize/felt to an old desk's writing surface and it's held up well. Haven't tried it with leather. If reversibility is an issue, hide glue works well in that regard.
 

Cuthriell

Cuthriell
Senior User
I'm looking for adhesive recommendations to attach leather to wood. I was considering either liquid hide glue or epoxy.

I have some fairly thick (8oz.) veg tan leather that I want to attach to a curved strip of wood. The contact area will be pretty minimal... the curved strip is be 1/2" by 6", and the piece of leather is 6x6".

Has anyone used hide glue to do this sort of thing? I figured it would be a natural choice since it would bond with the collagen in the leather quite readily. But I'm not sure that I'll be able to apply even clamping pressure along the curve, so I also thought epoxy might work better because of its gap-filling abilities.
I use Old Brown glue to put leather pads and chair leg bottoms. I think the Titebond hide glue would work as well.
 

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
Titebond III has worked well for me for unfinished wood surface. Contact cement may take several coats on the leather (two coats on the smooth side and more on the rough side). I have only used it for leather to leather. Have not tried hide glue.

I would have to see the project before recommending any clamping options (ex: flexible lath strip, tape wrap, template-type form, etc).
 

danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
I'm looking for adhesive recommendations to attach leather to wood. I was considering either liquid hide glue or epoxy.

I have some fairly thick (8oz.) veg tan leather that I want to attach to a curved strip of wood. The contact area will be pretty minimal... the curved strip is be 1/2" by 6", and the piece of leather is 6x6".

Has anyone used hide glue to do this sort of thing? I figured it would be a natural choice since it would bond with the collagen in the leather quite readily. But I'm not sure that I'll be able to apply even clamping pressure along the curve, so I also thought epoxy might work better because of its gap-filling abilities.
I have done several leather to wood using hide glue of lower gram strength repairs in the past. I would not use the liquid hide glue from any of the commercial sources as it is the wrong gram strength and it is too brittle for this type of work.

You need to contact Eugene Thordahl at Bjorn Industries in Charlotte NC and order some glue to mix and apply. He will guide you to the right glue for this project.

In the past I have used rabbit glue and fish glue but I see no difference in the final results by using lower gram hide -- like 135grm.

Take the time to get the right stuff and it will be fun.

 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
For larger pieces I use a contact adhesive.
For smaller pieces, or where it is hard to get into, I use double sided carpet tape.

Neither has ever given me any issues.
 

Graywolf

Board of Directors, President
Richard
Staff member
Corporate Member
+1 on the hide glue. Sense the day I started using it I haven't looked back. I keep very little other adhesives around any more. Leather to wood is a perfect application for the use of hide glue.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Hide or contact cement, There was one that was green color, its modulus was very good for rigid to porous surfaces.
 

marinosr

Richard
Corporate Member
Thx all. Dan your advice about using lower gr strength glue is well taken. 192 gr will be too strong/ brittle? Mike, the particular application is for a curved coin tray, so some stress will be put on if from taking coins in and out, but not a lot. I'm going to start with hide glue and give it a good stress test. if it fails, then on to epoxy.
 

Stuart Kent

Stuart
Senior User
good old fashioned wood glue. pick your brand. works for the rest of your lifetime, and probably the next.
 

KenOfCary

Ken
Staff member
Corporate Member
I just used Titebond II to glue some leather strips to pieces of maple. The leather was between the pieces of maple and it is holding well together at this point. Working well for me- YMMV.
 

Wiley's Woodworks

Wiley
Corporate Member
I'm suspicious of using wood glues on the leather. I have never used hide glues with leather, but all wood glues, including epoxies, dry hard, so if there is going to be any flexing of the leather the glue bond may crack and break down. Old time leatherworkers used Barge, an industrial strength contact cement that stays flexible. Modern day equivalent is E6000; it may be even better. Should find both at Ace.
 

Stuart Kent

Stuart
Senior User
wood glue and leather works fine. It's been used in the furniture industry to glue leather to desktops and other applications for a LONG TIME
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
I glued a leather face to a wood mallet I made back in 1987. I still use it. Elmer's yellow wood glue.
 

danmart77

Dan
Corporate Member
I'm suspicious of using wood glues on the leather. I have never used hide glues with leather, but all wood glues, including epoxies, dry hard, so if there is going to be any flexing of the leather the glue bond may crack and break down. Old time leatherworkers used Barge, an industrial strength contact cement that stays flexible. Modern day equivalent is E6000; it may be even better. Should find both at Ace.

Not sure about that Wiley. Animal glues were used for a very long time. One exception on the animal protein glue above all the glues you site: you can repair it with a little heat for a long time. Additionally, you can put a little new glue on the area and heat it and it will reactivate the older glue. Try that with epoxy, contact cement or the others. Yes you can reactivate yellow glue-- one time and with mixed results. So.. if you think you might want to be able to adjust it in any way I would caution you from using any contact cements of any kind.
 

KenOfCary

Ken
Staff member
Corporate Member
I just used Titebond II to glue some soft leather to a wood surface - it's holding fine.
 

nn4jw

New User
Jim
I used contact cement to glue leather faces to my Moxon vise. They look as good as they did 5 years ago.
 

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top