Affixing Reptile Skin To Leather.

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Just wondering what adhesive you are using to attach reptile skin to leather backing. I picked up some Pliobond and while it can probably hang a small block chevy off if it once it's cured, you can't be inteh same room with the item for more than a few minutes before you start seeing tiny turkey's with straw hats and midget monkeys coming through the keyholes. It's like a bad acid trip (the fumes) and just doesn't seem to ever go away. I ordered up some BARGE on recommendation and am waiting for it to arrive. In the meantime, I'm interested in other's solutions.

New to the forums here., Hope to spend more time here.

[Tiara]

RFLMAO! Your description of what the fumes can do is hilarious!

Depending on how much heavy flexing, wear and tear, and if it will be stitched over it or not, there are some very low odor adhesives that will work. Even some glues like E6000 or Weldbond have fumes that make me feel bad and smell terrible. I usually use some fabric or crafting glues. Most of what I do is small item crafting not going to take heavy friction or flexing or soaking wet. For example, a costume jewelry cuff with alligator as a large inlay. It has to flex at the hinge, this gator skin was fairly stiff but it won't be worn daily, the cuff has a raised edge so the edge of the skin won't catch and be pulled and unlikely to be worn while swimming. I used a bit of low odor Fast grab tacky glue in the middle to help hold it while I positioned it. I had shaped the gator by getting it damp, wound elastic wrap around it overnight until dry, trimmed the edges for a good fit. So it wasn't too slippery to work with. Had scuffed the metal of the cuff for better grip. The fast grab held it while I used Fabric Fusion which has very little odor, dries clear, flexible and waterproof. One of the glues that sets by reacting with water from the air, so no off gassing. But it does take a few hours to set. So I made sure no glue oozed out from the edges, rewrapped to hold it tight and left it for several hours. Not had any problem with adhesion.

I did use the fabric fusion on one item I covered with python and made a big enough error I wanted to take it off. The python was a thick enough skin that I managed to peel the backing off. The flesh side was stringy enough that it split but didn't tear. So the weak link wasn't the glue but the leather.

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Thanks Tiara. I appreciate your input. I spoke to the nice people at Springfield and they also recommended some of the contact cement that they carry as being less 'odoriferous'. Looking at some other comments I see a lot of people are using the BARGE, so I am going to see when it arrives if it works out.

In the meantime, I have had some success with the Eco-Flo Leather Cement. It's like an Elmers glue on Steroids. Dries quickly and has no perceptible odor. I have made one successful card holder with red lizard, one unsuccessful brown lizard (2 tries) so I want to be sure before I sacrifice my expensive Blue Ring Lizard to the knife!

I'll let you all know what I discover, and in the meantime am still open to suggestions.

By the way, Glued and stitched. It's the only way I can think of to keep the edges from separating...

[The Dawg Club]

I use barge. I even tested it without stitching in the middle of a collar. There is stitching on top and end of collar, but none where the hornbacks are. Worn by very strong dogs. Holding strong still! Over 2 years so far...

I tried to copy and paste page but LW doesn't allow me. You can see post under collar, cuffs. leashes, and leads. Page 6.... "Crocodile dog collar and leash set"

Malik

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Good to know. I watched the video that Springfield has on adhesives and they did say that Barge and Master are about the same. Let me ask you, when you used it, did it have an extremely strong chemical smell? That's my concern (it hasn't arrived yet so when it does, I'll know for sure). I am making bespoke Card Holders for clients and can't have them smell like a chemistry lab...

[Lymestone Canyon Hoods]

Fifty percent of the things that I make are bonded with reptile or snake skin. Contact cement is the only way to go with this. Here's some tricks for you. Scratch the leather surface if you are bonding to the smooth side. Coat evenly on both pieces and pound them with a roller or hammer after bonding them. The Chemical smell will be gone completely in a couple hours from either Barge or Masters. I have always used barge and just recently started to use Masters. Both seem to be relatively the same to me.

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I got my order of Barge AND Masters. You are absolutely correct. The smell from either one is mild in comparison to that of Pliobond. As a matter of fact, once it's dry and ready to be attached, it's virtually odorless. There is a REASON that people recommend it! Thanks for your input. I don't see any difference between the two as you mentioned. It hold like the pieces are welded together. Easy to work with and just what the doctor ordered! Thanks to all.

[Art]

Master All Purpose is very good if a bit smelly (it goes away) and can have an affect on pregnant females (honestly, I don't know how it would affect pregnant males). Master Max-Bond is Toluene free (it is actually the Renia Colle de Cologne formulation) and works very well. Renia Colle de Cologne is excellent also and tolerated having pregnant females in the shop. Renia Aquilim 315 is a water based contact cement that I have been using that works very well although a little differently. Renia also has cross-linkers and hardeners for the Aquilim for special solutions. I am getting to really like the Aquilim for all but wet leather (wet when glued). The nice thing about the Aquilim is the no smell factor.

Art