Cutting Leather - Vise faces

[James Adinaro]

Hi - finishing up on my workbench, and I have decided to attach leather to the faces of the vises. I was able to find a local leather goods shop and have irregular shaped sheets of leather for the job. It's pretty stiff stuff, smooth on one side and rough on the other. Maybe 1/8th of an inch. I don't think I could cut it with scissors.

I've searched, and most all of the posts I can find refer to cutting leather with a laser. My laser will only amuse the cat, so that's out. If there's a way I can avoid spending hours with an Xact-o knife, then I'm all over it.

So here are my questions:

1: What's the best way to cut this stuff into square chunks for the vise faces? Can you cut it with:
Band saw?
Table saw?
Jig Saw?
Scroll Saw?
Tin Snips?

2: How about cutting round holes out of this stuff for the vise screws/rods/etc. Maybe 1.5" diameter max. Can you:
Drill it?
With Forstner bits?
Hole Saw?

3: I'm just guessing, but I'm thinking that the edges will need some sort of treatment to keep them from fraying? Is this required, and if so, what's the best tool to do it with?
Burnishing?
Roundover bit?
Sanding?
Glue size?

4: I got some contact cement (that the leather store recommended) to glue the leather to the wooden vise faces. How far does this stuff go? I have one of those small 8oz cans with a brush in it (like you get for PVC cement). But I've got to do 4 pieces about 7" x 25", on both the leather and the vise faces (so I guess 8 times that area). Does the leather soak this stuff up? I don't want to run out halfway through.

I do have enough that I will have some scraps. I suppose I could always just try stuff out and see what works. But if I'm going to fill my shop with the stench of burning flesh and gum up bandsaw tires... Well, I'd rather avoid that. :rolleyes:

Thanks for your help!

[Joe Spear]

You could lay the leather down on a flat board and use a strong utility knife rather than an Xacto. Clamp the edges of the leather down so it doesn't move, clamp a straight edge in place so it doesn't move, and carefully cut away. It really should be that difficult or take very long. I cut leather that way back in my youth when I worked more with skins than wood. You may have to change the blade often to keep a sharp tool.

You can also cut any necessary holes with the sharp utility knife. Just clamp the leather down and don't try to cut with one hand while you hold it with the other, unless you have extra fingers you don't need. When you make a slip (and you will), you should have both hands on the knife instead of wherever the blade slips to. Take it easy. Take light cuts with a sharp blade and work gradually through the leather. Don't force anything.

You have about 4 square feet of leather and 4 square feet of vise jaws to spread glue on, so an 8-ounce can may not be enough. Don't worry about the edges. Leather isn't like cloth: it won't unravel or anything. It possibly may get a bit ratty on the edges as you use the vises, but that doesn't really matter. Any edge treatment or burnishing you do at the beginning will probably get worn anyway.

[Marty Barron]

I would use a sharp utility knife to cut the pieces oversized for the jaws and I would trace the outline of the jaws onto the leather to know where to apply the cement. The tin will tell you the coverage and you could do a test piece to see how it reacts or just have an extra can just in case. You can purchase leather punches from Tandy but if you have copper pipe, or iron pipe scraps of the diameter you require you could sharpen the pipe edge on a grinder and now you have your own punch. After you glue the leather to the wooden face use the utility knife to cut the leather flush to the wood edges.

Hope this helps.

Marty

[Leo Graywacz]

Uae a pair of good tin snips. Should cut it pretty easily.

[Bob Slater]

Hadn't thought of leather for my vise face. Is this superior to wood faces? (Pros Cons)
I think the tin snips would work well, as would a scroll saw. For holes, you can use a Gasket punch set or grommet tool I would think. Are you going to Glue it on the Vise face?

[Russ Hauser]

I've cut leather for vise faces, mallet faces, as well as having made various reproduction pieces of Civil War Federal Army gear when my son and I were into reenacting. A sharp utility knife works well, and for holes, I never used anything but the proper sized hole punch.

Russ

[Ken Garlock]

Hi James.

If it were me, I would forgo the holes for the vise screws. You are not going to be clamping boards down below the screws as a rule. Even if you put a board in the vise vertically, the top half of the vise is going to be doing the real work, given that the movable jaw is slanted slightly toward the rear jaw.

I had not thought of putting leather on the faces, that is a good idea.:cool:

[Tom Adger]

I am sort of in the same position, wanting to put something on the jaw faces, and the dogs for my new workbench. I have heard leather, and cork. As far as cutting the leather, unless the leather comes from some animal I have never heard of, a sharp pocket knife or razor cutter should do the job. I am leaning towards the cork. Anybody have experience with either or both?

[Harry Goodwin]

I have done a lot of lether work before and the instructions are right on. My question is that the leather is not indestructible and removing it will be lot harder than glueing it. Just a thought. Harry

[jerry nazard]

If I am cutting a lot of leather, I cut on a flat glass surface with single edge razor blades and a metal straightedge. Use just enough pressure to slice through the leather.

[David Christopher]

James, I had some leather about 1/4" thick and 16 X 16 and I cut it with my table saw..if you do this just make sure you have a zero clearence insert in your saw

[Doug Shepard]

I used a forstner bit for the holes with the leather clamped between 2 pieces of scrap plywood. I ended up picking up bison leather that was 1/4" and pretty tough to cut. I ended up using one of those curved tile (linoleum) cutter knives and re-sharpended it every few minutes. I also did the straight cuts clamped between scrap ply.

[Howard Acheson]

>> Hadn't thought of leather for my vise face. Is this superior to wood faces? (Pros Cons)

Woodworkers who specialise in repairs are the ones who mostly use leather faces on wood for their vise jaws. The idea is to minimize damage to finished surfaces. Most I have seen have glued them on with yellow glue and then sanded them even after glueing them oversized.

Also, they removed the leather faced jaws wooden jaws and replaced the wooden ones for normal woodworking activites.

[John Thompson]

Another for utility knife and straight-edge as I used to use it for vise faces before changing to using bass-wood to line the faces instead.

Sarge..

[James Adinaro]

If it were me, I would forgo the holes for the vise screws. You are not going to be clamping boards down below the screws as a rule.


Good point - I had thought of that, and it sure would be easier to not have to worry about the holes. I may try the holes and just cut them off if I mess up too badly.

I had read (on here mostly) that leather faces require less clamping pressure than wood ones. My vise faces (well, the whole bench actually) are made of Hickory - so pretty much anything I put in them is going to get munched up before the hickory gives. I did like the basswood idea further down too.

[James Adinaro]

James, I had some leather about 1/4" thick and 16 X 16 and I cut it with my table saw..if you do this just make sure you have a zero clearence insert in your saw

Sweet - glad to hear this might work - and great point on the zero clearance insert.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

My question is that the leather is not indestructible and removing it will be lot harder than glueing it.
That's why the leather shop recommended rubber cement.
Rubber cement, unlike yellow glue, isn't permanent.
You can peel the leather off to replace it when it get's buggered up.
Yellow glue or animal hide glue can be used on surfaces where more permanence is desired - such as desk or table tops.

A punch is used to make holes in leather and a knife is used to cut it.
The knife should have a large belly, not a bow - like the hawk bill mentioned above. The hawk bill will need resharpened constantly. A knife with a belly instead of a bow, won't.
I had an old wallpaper knife I used to use but it's long gone.
Now I use an Uncle Henry Stockman knife that has a clip blade.
I touch it up after every cut on a Spyderco Sharpmaker.
A utility knife will work - but - buy a good supply of blades and change the blade after every cut.
Ditto for a single edge razor blade.
Harbor Freight has 100 packs of #8 industrial blades on sale from time to time for $2.99.
The little 5 packs of blades at the borg are #9 industrial blades.
The 8's are a bit thinner and sharper.
9's are a bit thicker and stiffer.

Also - when cutting it using a metal straight edge, you don't make a 90* cut. Cant the blade away from the metal edge and undercut the leather. That way, when you glue it down, the edges will "fold down" & sit flush with the underlay.<-- no need to treat them with anything.

A punch is easy to make. Just take a scrap piece of pipe the right diameter and grind and/or file an edge on the inside of it. You can make one in about 15 min.
Layout the hole on the good side of the leather, put it on a piece of scrap wood, lay your punch on the layout and whack it a few times with a mallet. Nice clean hole and no danger to your fingers.

If you don't want to bother making a punch & appearance isn't too important - use a chisel instead.

[Bill White]

When cutting leather I use a fabric cutter that looks like a pizza cutter, a good non-marring cutting surface, and a straight edge. If ya haven't seen one of these cutters, hoof it down to the sewing center. They are VERY sharp and work well.
Bill :)

[David Keller NC]

James - My take on this after having done it several times:

I would recommend going to Home Depot (or Lowes, but I'm certain Home Depot carries it) and buying a can of 3M #77 spray adhesive. It will make installation much easier, and you can get the leather back off if you have to (though it bonds well enough that it won't slip in use).

Ideally, you want a "half moon" leather knife. These circular knives are ideal for cutting thick leather, but failing that, you can use a box cutter or a carving knife, or even a pocket knife if it's good and sharp.

However, don't cut the leather precisely to fit before you mount it. Leather will stretch, compress, and give a bit so it'll be difficult to get the edges completely square if the leather's the exact size you need it to be before it's glued on.

The easiest way is to cut the leather roughly to size, with at least 1/4" extra on all sides, put the shiny side up on a piece of newspaper, and spray the back with the 3M adhesive. Then place both pieces in the vise, line it up so there's extra on all sides, and clamp the vise shut. With the vise shut, you can then go all the way around the outside with your preferred cutting tool to trim it for an exact fit.

By the way - I like to have the leather perfectly flush with the tops of the vise chop and bench surface, so I just used a #5 plane to plane the leather down flush. So long as the leather's reasonably stiff and the plane blade's sharp, it works quite well.

The vise should be left closed overnight to allow the adhesive to fully cure.

[Andy Pratt]

I know that some leatherworkers use a smooth wooden, undular device (made on a lathe) attached to a buffing machine to smooth out edges. This is typically used on small pieces where two pieces of leather are attached face to face and form a two-piece edge. For your application, a simple cylinder turned on the lathe, made glass smooth by sanding or application of a finish, might work well. You would make up the leather block to the size you desired (or a shave large) then hold the edges against the cylinder as it rotates on the lathe. After a while, the edges collapse down on each other a little, seem to harden up a bit and take on a nice uniform shine. I know a treatment isn't necessary for this, but it might help.

The only time I've seen this done personally was with horsehide, so I can't vouch for it with other types of leather.

Hope this was useful,
Andy

[Frank Drew]

I agree with David on the #77 spray adhesive; it works great with leather to wood.

I've used both smooth-faced and rough-out as the working surface, and IMO rough-out is better; it grips the work better, with less vise clamping pressure. The leather I used wasn't particularly thick, and certainly didn't cost me any money, and it's still in fine shape after years and years of use.

If you've got a utility knife you can cut leather; no need for special tools, and no need to worry about gettting the edges just so -- this IS a work bench we're talking about, after all.

[James Adinaro]

James - My take on this after having done it several times:

I would recommend going to Home Depot (or Lowes, but I'm certain Home Depot carries it) and buying a can of 3M #77 spray adhesive. It will make installation much easier, and you can get the leather back off if you have to (though it bonds well enough that it won't slip in use).


I have some 3m #77. Hadn't thought about using it though. If it bonds well enough, then it sure would be easier than the goopy contact cement.

I have plenty of what will be scrap. I am going to try several things out this weekend. Never tried any of these techniques before, so this should be interesting.

Thanks to all for the tips!

[David Keller NC]

BTW, James - If you want to test the technique out on a scrap the same size as the vise chop, you can spray the back with #77, test fit it, then peel it off if it's less than an hour later. Mineral Spirits is an excellent solvent for #77, and it won't hurt the leather the way laquer thinner or acetone will.

Sort of off-topic, but #77 is what I use to stick down wet/dry sandpaper to my jointer's outfeed table when I need to flatten the bottom of a plane. After I'm done, I just peel it up and wipe off the residue with mineral spirits or kerosene - works like a charm.