Gluing leather to face of vise

[Thomas love]

Besides hot hide glue, what will work ?

[Jeremy Dorn]

Since epoxies work with darn near anything I'd think a standard 2 part 5 min epoxy you can pickup at a home center work just fine as well. You'd just need to mix up a sufficient quantity for the size of your vise face before it dried....might be a case for using a 30 min epoxy instead.

JD

[Richard Niemiec]

The think about epoxy is that its hard to reverse. I'd tend to use the superglue stuff. If it comes off, just reglue.

[Rick Rutten]

Since the force being applied to the leather would primarily be compression and some shearing it seems you would want something pliable. Something like rubber cement or a more tenacious form of that might work well. A more rigid form of adhesive may crack under pressure. However, the leather may absorb enough of that force to keep it eavenly applied. Let us know what works. I'm may be doing the same thing soon.

Rick

[John Stan]

Besides hot hide glue, what will work ?

I used plain old elmers white glue. It is what Chris Schwarz recommends and it worked great for me. He provides instruction on the Popular Woodworking blog.

[Mike Zilis]

I used 3M Spray Adhesive for mine. Worked well.

Mike

[Mike Zilis]

My question for you folks is where did you get the leather you used?

I found several pieces at a Michaels Arts & Craft Store but the size and selection of pieces was disappointing.

Mike

[John Stan]

reluctantly, I got it at Michael's. Overpriced and weak selection.

[John Coloccia]

I get my leather at Tandy leather, and I glue it down with contact cement. This is especially useful for some of the sanding blocks I've made. For example, I make a sanding block out of a closet pole. Then I wrapped it with leather. With contact cement, it bonds instantly so I don't have to worry about how to hold it in place while the glue dries (not a trivial task with thick leather!).

[Greg Crawford]

I got a package of scraps from Hobby Lobby years ago. Different colors and sizes, but it was something like 5 pounds for less than $10 if I remember right.

[Johnny Kleso]

Tandy sells Leather Glue that is very soft..

[Darnell Hagen]

http://mattsbasementworkshop.com/spoken-wood-podcast-no-34/

+1 for spray adhesive.

I got a half garbage bag full of scrap leather from an upholsterer friend, I line drawers with it as well.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s168/DarnellHagen/P1500699.jpg

[George Clark]

FWIW I believe vegetable tanned leather will work much better than oil tanned. At least in my experience.

[Brian Ashton]

I've heard a few say spray on adhesive but my experience with it is that it's not much of a glue that holds up over time. I'd be using something stronger like contact cement - that can still be removed when the leather needs to be replaced.

[Mike Brady]

Try shops that do car interiors, or in my neighborhood, aircraft interiors. They have lots of scraps of soft leather in colors that match wood.

I use 3M 90 spray adhesive. Apply a couple of coats. It soaks into the leather.

[Bill Wilcox]

Tandy Leather will have what you need. Vegetable tanned leather and use Barge Cement for gluing.

[Thomas love]

Thanks everyone.
Tom

[John Stan]

One point that might have been already made ... Glue the smooth side down so the rough side of the leather faces out. It will be more grippy.
-JDS

[Jeff Johnson]

Barge glue. Google turns up dozens of places to buy it. It's essentially the rubber cement that shoe makers and repairers use.

[Steven Herbin]

I had some old belts that I cut up and used. Seems to work fine. Used carpet tape (2 sided) to stick them on.

[Doug Shepard]

I used the bottled liquid hide glue and it worked great. Just keep your pets away from it while it cures. They'll lick off any squeezeout if given half a chance.

[Frank Drew]

FWIW, I've found that roughout leather on vise faces grips your work much better than smooth finished. As for gluing, I used a spray adhesive (3M 77, maybe?) and the leather is still there years and years later; in use, there's very little working against the leather staying put, after all.