Gluing Horween Predator Leather

[Hunhunt]

I am currently trying out some Horween Predator leather for making some shoes. Just wondering if anyone else has experience with this leather and if you have been successful at gluing it. The leather is extremely oily and waxy, even more so than regular Horween Chromexcel. I have tried Masters All Purpose cement and the cement remained gummy after application. I tried pre-treating the leather with Masters solvent prior to applying cement to try to remove some of the oils and waxes at the gluing surface. The results were the same with a gummy surface with poor bonding strength. I then tried Fiebings Tanners Bond Leathercraft cement (non-flammable). It dried but could be peeled right off the leather in a thin film sheet with virtually no bond strength. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[DavidL]

sanding the area down leaving .5mm gap from the edge of the section that is being glued down, then stitch like normal.

[Hunhunt]

Thanks for your reply. Since the oil and waxes runs throughout the leather, how does sanding improve the adhesion? What cement are you using? I was able to get adequate adherence to follow up with sewing lapped seams but the problem is when lasting the shoes. Using stitch down construction the upper is glued to the midsole and then sewn down tightly to the midsole against the insole. But the glue joint fails in the vertical joint between uppers and the cross section of the midsole/insole. The leather pulls away from the area and looks unsightly.

[camano ridge]

The wax and oil fills the pores of the leather and covers the surface of the leather. By sanding you remove the wax and oil from the surface and rough up the surface giving the glue something to bite onto. All though I do not make shoes i use Weldwood Contact Cement for all my projects. I have glued hot stuffed leathers and others with oily waxy surface and the glue has held for me. The important thing with Weldwood is apply to both surfaces let dry to the touch, about 1/2 hour. Then put the two pieces together and give several hours to set.

[Hunhunt]

OK, thanks for the information. I'll give it a try.

[nrk]

OK, thanks for the information. I'll give it a try.

any success?

[Hunhunt]

Haven't used the Predator leather to make any more shoes. I did try gluing some scraps using the techniques described to see if adhesion was any better. It does seem like there was some improvement. Until I try making another pair of shoes with the Predator I won't know if it completely solves the problem on the joints described. Right now I'm working with straight Chromexcel but using the same technique since even the straight Chromexcel is very waxy. Next I plan to try some Beaufort Chromexcel which is supposed to be slightly less oily/waxy to avoid the problem.

[blueblazer]

You might have some more luck with Bish's Tear Mender. It's really thin and tacks up pretty quick and I've been using it to hold together some Horween Kudu that's downright greasy stuff. It makes Tanner's Bond look like a gluestick, honestly. I found it because someone mentioned it here but couldn't find much more than the one member who loved the stuff. The amazon reviews were mostly by people who use it as a substitute for stitching when patching things up and they all seemed to love it even through wash cycles on their clothes. I haven't tested it as rigorously as you would probably need for shoemaking, since I've just been making wallets but I'll glue some up right now, let it fully cure and get back to you.