How To Attach Leather To Wood

[nicholas482109]

I'm finishing up making my stitching horse but the face of the jaws is not quite as smooth as i would like and I want to be absolutely sure that impressions won't be left on my leather. So I want to attach some leather to the face of the Jaw to provide a smooth as possible surface. The only thing is that I'm not sure how to do this, or what weight of leather to use.

My idea is to wet the leather throughly, apply glue or cement, tack it onto jaw at the start then roll it on over each peice and tack it at the end and probably clamp it to ensure a flush attachment over each angle. This is the shape of the jaws.

What type of glue have you used to bond leather to wood and what type of leather would be good for getting around those corners? Aslo, is wetting the leather a good idea?

[Beaverslayer]

What I would do is to wet form a piece of veg tan 8/9 oz around your jaws. Use a clamp and piece of wood to hold it in place. Once the leather is dry and formed to the jaw, you can remove the clamps then just tack it in place. If you glue it, then you will have a hard time replacing it should the need arise,

[billymac814]

I'd just glue it on. It'll last a long time, when its time to replace it just heat it up with a heat gun and it'll pull right off. I use contact cement. This is what I do with my anvil that I use for punching.

You can also use thinner to remove it.

[nicholas482109]

That is a good idea, I can always glue it later if i felt the tacks were not working well. I thought 8 oz leather would be too thick though.

[Matt S]

You could use tacks. And if you tack the leather wet it will tighten as it dries.

[Wetform]

To save leaving tack holes in my pony, and instead of glueing the leather on, I used self-amalgamating tape wrapped round the lower part of the leather and then down onto the wood. So when I need to change the leather, there's no glue and no nails to remove, plus the tape is not sticky, so no mess.

The tape is usually used by electrical/electronic engineers, especially with satellite tv cables.

[SmokeCigars]

I can attest to the regular leather weld stuff tandy sells sticking very well to wood. When making a cellphone case I glued to portion that was being cut away to the wood form to keep my cuts nice and clean. It took a good bit of force to get it off.