The "best" Contact Cement?

[Art]

On a recommendation, I have tried Renia Aquilim 315. I like this product with one reservation. Being water based, it doesn't dry to the point that you would stick it together ON WET LEATHER. On dry leather I let the glue dry for 20 to 30 minutes before putting it together. If you use a thin coat, it will dry faster. Blow dryer/heat gun is a quicker option. Two thin coats are better than one thick one, but it is that way with most contact cements. Put it together and it stays together, no play at all. Silicone brushes from Rockler are cheap and work well, either leave them in the pot or if you let them dry overnight, the glue peels off easily in pretty much one big glop. The advantage is there is little (if any?) smell. On hot summer and cold winter days, the fume extraction pulls the conditioned air out of the shop with most contact adhesives, no need for fume extraction with the Aquilim 315. I think I will be using a lot more of this stuff from now on. I will keep using Renia Colle de Cologne for applications where I need wet leather compatibility, the Ethyl Acetate solvent is a little better than the Toluene solvent in the "real" Barge and Master cements, both smell and health wise.

I recommend the T-S Boy glue containers for the Aquilim products as you can keep the brushes inside the cap so they don't dry out. The brush that comes with them is not good for use with the Aquilim products. Do not buy the Chinese version of these, they leak. The T-S Boy containers are from Germany. I don't use the T-S Boy containers for solvent based contact cements as there isn't an easy way to add thinner and slosh it around like you can on one of the bottles with the brush in the cap (pour the thinner in, screw on the cap, and shake). Eventually, the solvent based cements won't take thinner anymore and just lays in a glop in the bottom of the bottle. You have to get it out and put in fresh cement and you are good to go. I can't figure how that is going to happen with the T-S Boy container, or even IF it will happen with the Aquilim.

Art