Barge Cement

[Brooks125]

Is there a method (which I'm sure there is) to NOT get Barge cement on your fingertips when lining up belt edges?  I hope I'm not divulging my naivete', but this is getting old.  It's tot he point that I wait to get a batch of belt orders so I don't have to spend EVERY day picking at Barge boogers off my hands.

[Goldshot Ron]

I usually use rubber cement for lining belts and straps, this avoids the sticky mess of contact cement.  But, for my contact cement I put some in a plastic water bottle with a good lid and I use a piece of wool shearling to spread it.  I find this better and cleaner than using a brush and a can.  Once the glue sets and the leather pieces are set, I use a piece of rubber crape sole (just a scrap piece of the old opaque rubber sole off of a shoe) to rub off the excess glue along the edges and any string pieces.  A shoe repairman gave me this tip years ago, along with the piece of rubber.  I've used the same piece for over 10 years.

Ron

[YinTx]

Goldshot Ron, I first saw that water bottle trick last month, but he used a small soda bottle instead.  He drilled a small hole in the lid, and used the shearling to seal the hole when done.  Just squeezed out what he needed onto the shearling (trimmed super short, btw), spread it where he needed it, and put the shearling back on top of the bottle.  Brilliant.  My next investment in leather working tools is a bottle of soda.

Also, use gloves.  HF has boxes of 50 for like $8.  I can get several uses out of each pair easily.

YinTx