Splicing Leather

[All4Christ]

I've exhausted the search for tips on how this is done. What I would like to do is splice a piece of tooled leather with a piece of embossed leather that looks like alligator. I don't want to practice on the real deal yet. Should the pieces be skived down to match thickness and then sew each piece separately? What about rivets? Any videos, tips, tutorials, or books to refer to are welcome.

[Cyberthrasher]

What are you planning on making? If it's something like a strap (such as a belt), I would worry about the strength at the splice. Depending on the end product, different methods could be the best.

[All4Christ]

I want to attempt to make bible slip cover. I envision in my mind a one quarter veg tanned leather spine that I will tool as well as put in false raised cords and the rest use the embossed croc leather.

[Cyberthrasher]

Something like that, I would do more of an overlay and not a splice. Just stitch your croc leather onto the top of the veg-tan, which would be full size. If you tried to "splice" it on, you'd end up with a floppy point where they're joined together. An overlay is quite common for that type of project.

[All4Christ]

Ok thank you for your help. This will be my first of this kind of project. I'll be sure to credit your help.

[silverwingit]

You could go ahead and skive the two pieces to matching bevels and cement them together. You could then run a line of stitches along the length of the joint. Could look very nice and the stitching would greatly strengthen the joint.

[All4Christ]

You could go ahead and skive the two pieces to matching bevels and cement them together. You could then run a line of stitches along the length of the joint. Could look very nice and the stitching would greatly strengthen the joint.

Thank you for the response. I did attempt to skive down the embossed croc leather. It is already very thin and very tricky as it has almost no flesh to it. I don't know if it advisable to skive down the skin side or skive down the flesh side of the tooling leather. I'm thinking of doing the latter and wetting the embossed leather and form a lip edge down flat and attempt your suggestion.

I did one book cover and simply glued it down on top of the tooled leather after skiving the edge very carefully. It is so thin. I'm not too happy with the lip it has above the skin of the tooled leather. I will be stitching it next as well. Soon as I do that I'll post picks. I've never worked with exotic leathers but I like the look so I decided to try the fake embossed leather first. I'm sure they are two different animals. Haha. I just don't want to have that edge peel up in front of the stiching over time.

[All4Christ]

I'm also going to add a few small domed rivets down the one side of the seam for looks. I think when I try the next attempt I spoke of above it could strengthen the job.

[All4Christ]

I just realized that if I don't skive down the skin side of the tooling leather ill end up with part of the leather being 6oz leather with very thin embossed leather hanging off of it unless I back it with some thinner leather. That sounds like way more work than its worth.

To add the leather I'm using is a embossed split about 2oz in weight with the 6-7 oz single shoulder for tooling.

Edited July 12, 2013 by All4Christ

[All4Christ]

Cyberthrasher

You were right. I followed your advice and it came out fine. I'll post pictures ASAP. Thank you for the advice guys.