How To Remove Excess Contact Cement

[biker55]

Hello all, does anyone have advice on removing excess contact cement? I just finished? a knife sheathg and ended up getting too much on the material ( on the finish side ) and would like to know how to clean it up without messing up the surface. thanks

[sheathmaker]

Use a bit of the prescribed thinner for your brand of contact cement. ie for Barge, I use Barge thinner. Put some thinner on a paper towel and carefully, and gently wipe the affected area picking up some of the excess with each stroke, and changing position on the paper towel frequently. Most of the time this will evaporate without leaving any kind of mark, but if it does leave a light stain, that goes away when you do the Neatsfoot oil or similar finish.

Paul

[biker55]

thanks, will look on the label.

[Northmount]

Hello all, does anyone have advice on removing excess contact cement? I just finished? a knife sheathg and ended up getting too much on the material ( on the finish side ) and would like to know how to clean it up without messing up the surface. thanks

Some contact cements can be removed by letting a puddle of cement dry in a cup or some disposable dish, then using the solidified wad to press against and pull off the errant cement on your leather. You keep pressing and pulling it off, move to a new surface on your wad, and keep repeating. If you are familiar with using tape to pull of adhesive residue from left price tags, you already know the process. Just keep repeating until the job is done.

Using a solvent spreads the stuff around and gets more of it into the leather surface.

Tom

[WScott]

I have a fingerprint of stray glue I am going to try that on

Thanks!

[midwestislander]

I have successfully used a soft pencil eraser to work the glue off, not pressing too hard to mark the grain. Work from the edge of the "smudge" in towards the middle, or if on the edge of a piece, work it to the edge of the piece until you can pick it off.

[celticleather]

Take a small spoonful of adhesive and allow it to dry out on a smooth surface. When dried, peel it off and work it with your fingers into a ball. Carefully rub or dab the glue you want to remove with the dried adhesive ball, and it will adhere to the surface of the ball. This works with most contact adhesives.