Asking The Experts

[LaughingWolf]

So, first post. I figured someone here might have a better idea of how to do this than me trying to destroy my working copy because i'm prideful.

I'm currently trying to attach a piece of 5-6oz leather to the back of a 2oz leather bracer, via rivets and rubber cement, so that the edges of the thicker top piece wont curl. The major problem I am forseeing is that if I glue the pieces together while they are both flat, that when it comes time to wear the bracer, that it will be too rigid to get it to flex around my arm, even if i soak the piece in water.

So far I have three ideas that *might* work;

Firstly I was going to just glue the outside of the piece onto the base while everything is flat, add the rivets. soak it in water, and then try to form the whole thing on my arm.

The "hold on a second" plan, as i started to think of it lately, was to wet both pieces, attempt to form them loosely, and then glue the top layer onto the backing as both pieces were wet and on my arm. Rivet to finish.

Then I started getting out of hand by planning on glueing a strip down the middle, riveting top and bottom to get it to stay there, soaking, partial drying to get a surface the glue can grab, and then just glueing and sticking the piece down with pressure until it holds.

I'm kind of at an impasse. Opinions please?

Veg tan leather, dyed chocolate cherry, and tandy's rubber cement, pieces in the picture below.

[Beaverslayer]

LaughingWolf,

What I would do, is mark and punch holes along the perimeter of your top piece of leather...mark the holes at the corners and tips of the flame type cuts, then mark the ones between so it looks symmetrical.

Once you have punched all the holes, then using painters tape or masking tape, tape the bracer to your arm where it feels comfortable. Now you can take the top piece and tape it to the bracer, making sure it's centre and such, might need an extra hand for this. Once it's all taped in place, you can then mark the holes with a Sharpie pen, unwrap the tape, then punch the holes.

Once you have the one side with holes all punched, you can use this as a template to mark and punch holes on the other side.

There will be no need to glue the two pieces together, as this will just cause problems with the two pieces not being able to move once you are wearing the bracer.

Hope this helps.

[LaughingWolf]

hmm, hadnt thought of that. Thanks, I'll do exactly that!