Strongest Adhesion But Most Flexible Contact Cement For Leather

[Toddo]

I'm in the process of making a black powder kit bag and I plan on lining the inside of the bag with black felt. I'm looking for the strongest but most flexible contact cement. I heard mention here on another thread that Weldwood Contact Cement works great so I went and bought some at Home Depot. It says "Flexible Bond" on the outside of the can but that stuff is used to stick laminates down for countertops and so forth and I know from experience that kind of glue dries very hard like dried resin and is not flexible AT ALL. I called the 1-800 number on the can for info and they confirmed that Weldwood dries RIGID. That would have been a total disaster if I had used that stuff. I wonder why anyone was mentioning it here except that maybe they were using it to glue leather together for a rigid application.

Since I will be lining the bag with felt the front flap is one area that will constantly be flexed. I do not intend to sew the border of the front flap to the felt lining underneath. The rest of the lining in the interior of the bag will be sewed through, but the front flap will not be sewed through and it's a huge area in relation to the rest of the piece. I seriously doubt Elmers Rubber Cement will hold like I need it to. I have seen the Tandy leather glue. Should I use that or is there something superior to that? It's gotta hold tough as nails for permanent and stay totally flexible.

[Rockoboy]

Have you consider rubber cement as used for patching car tyres?

I think that dries quite flexible and works like contact cement. You can apply to one surface then immediately position the other surface, OR you can apply to both surfaces and allow it to tack-off before assembling the components. 

I think either method is much improved by clamping or weigh applied to increase the adhesion.

[Toddo]

7 hours ago, Rockoboy said:

Have you consider rubber cement as used for patching car tyres?

I think that dries quite flexible and works like contact cement. You can apply to one surface then immediately position the other surface, OR you can apply to both surfaces and allow it to tack-off before assembling the components. 

I think either method is much improved by clamping or weigh applied to increase the adhesion.

I have not thought of the tire patch cement. I guess I could experiment with that and see how it holds. I would need about six tubes of that stuff if it works. I'll be needing to cover an area about 9" wide by about 30" in length.

There's gotta be something super strong but stays flexible out there. I can't be the first one ever to need something like this for leather work bonding.

[heydox]

I would suggest Barge all-purpose cement. I have used it for years to attach fabric linings and never had any complaints. It is definitely a flexible adhesive. 

If I can also make another suggestion... when you do glue your felt to the leather I’d recommend positioning the pieces as if the flap were half-opened. If you glue the pieces flat and then bend the flap completely closed I’m imagining the felt will pucker along the bend in the flap. 

[Toddo]

10 minutes ago, heydox said:

I would suggest Barge all-purpose cement. I have used it for years to attach fabric linings and never had any complaints. It is definitely a flexible adhesive. 

If I can also make another suggestion... when you do glue your felt to the leather I’d recommend positioning the pieces as if the flap were half-opened. If you glue the pieces flat and then bend the flap completely closed I’m imagining the felt will pucker along the bend in the flap. 

Thanks for the tip

[LatigoAmigo]

8 hours ago, Toddo said:

Weldwood Contact Cement

I have used this product before and can say that when laminating felt to leather, it will be completely flexible. I have used various types of adhesive, and had varying results, mostly depending on the leather's ability to absorb the adhesive. One solution you might try is iron-on adhesive. You can find it available on Amazon. It should work like a charm. The felt is so soft and pliable that you shouldn't have any problems with the material buckling in the fold of your bag.

[Toddo]

19 minutes ago, LatigoAmigo said:

I have used this product before and can say that when laminating felt to leather, it will be completely flexible. I have used various types of adhesive, and had varying results, mostly depending on the leather's ability to absorb the adhesive. One solution you might try is iron-on adhesive. You can find it available on Amazon. It should work like a charm. The felt is so soft and pliable that you shouldn't have any problems with the material buckling in the fold of your bag.

You're saying Weldwood Contact Cement dries flexible? I've heard some conflicting things. If I use this stuff and it dries to a rigid state the work I've done will be trashed. Are you absolutely sure about this?

I guess there's only one thing I can do really. Buy the smallest amount of Weldwood Cement I can and test it first. I really wanted to use Weldwood as the things I've heard is that once it dries you can't rip the pieces apart that were glued together. And a quart of Barge is like $30 compared to a quart of Weldwood at $15 so I would rather use Weldwood if possible. I guess I can get a small tube of Barge also and test both of them to see which one works best. I will definitely post back with the results. I plan on appling two coats to both sides of my test pieces of both brands and them letting them dry for an entire week to be thorough.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Toddo

[LatigoAmigo]

34 minutes ago, Toddo said:

I plan on applying two coats to both sides of my test pieces of both brands and them letting them dry for an entire week to be thorough.

This is clearly overdoing it. Since this is just your lining, you don't need to do two layers. Try this: go to Home Depot and buy the little bottle of Wedgewood Cement with the red label. Avoid the green label, it doesn't work as well. The little bottle is probably less than $5. Then test your process on a scrap piece of leather, while following the instructions on the bottle. You will find the materials will have set up in hours and be fully cured in one day.

[johnv474]

No adhesive will make up for not sewing.

If you want an adhesive for leather and fabric that is both strong and flexible, look for those adhesives used in shoemaking.  Since shoes and boots have to flex and stay attached, those adhesives have been developed specifically for such an application.  These are most commonly your neoprene-based contact cements: Barge APC, Masters All Purpose Cement, Du-All 88, Jet Set, etc.  A quart should cost about $20, unless you shop at triple-markup retail hobby franchises.

Weldwood is also a neoprene based contact cement and whoever said it dries rigid is using that terminology wrong.

Edited March 3, 2019 by johnv474
typo

[TargetRockLeather]

I use both DAP Weldwood and Barge cement. In my opinion they are equally flexible, not rigid at all. You can get a 3oz bottle of Weldwood at Home Depot for about $7.00. As mentioned in previous posts, try it on some scrap leather and you will probably be satisfied with the results.