Really confused about glue

[ThoughtFission]

Hi,

There seems to be as many options as to what glue you should use for leather work as their are types of glue. Can anyone tell me what the right kind of glue is for making bags and wallets? PVA? Water based contact cement? Non water based contact cement? Something else? Thanks!

 

[Spyros]

Αnything you buy from a leathercaft shop will do and they're all pretty much the same.  

Water based is runny, barge stinks.  Pick your poison.

[mike02130]

Weldwood contact cement.  About 10 bucks a quart.  If I have a choice between water or solvent based I'll always choose solvent.  

[DJole]

One way to choose a glue might be drying time:
The water based glues take a lot longer to set. This may or may not be a problem. 
The Barge type of glues set quicker, and there is a "tacky" stage during which it is possible to pull the pieces apart, re-align them, and stick them back together.  I found a Barge cement which has a non-Toluene formula, so the toxicity is much lower.
I have recently discovered the wonders of double sided tape for doing small projects like wallets. It's excellent for holding the pieces together securely to make stitching holes and during stitching. The tape isn't meant to be a load-bearing, permanent bond.

[$$hobby]

welcome,

I noticed you are outside of the USA, so any leather craft place maybe hard to find.

but if you have any leather craft places where you live i would check there first.  Some may have some bonded leather samples just like they would with leather dyes.  

for what its worth, i prefer Barge Cement.  its is a contact cement.  If you have not worked with a contact cement,  you more or less apply a thin coat to both sides and let dry/get tacky and put the glued faces together.   Its more or less a 1 time shot.  So no do-overs.  If you do end up using it, i would have some practice pieces and see what you think.

I know you can buy a toothpaste size tube if you dont want to invest in a can if you are not sure.  But not sure if you can find it outside of the USA.  You can try Amazon.EU?

Barge is also smelly, so if you decide to  use it, i would use it in a well vented room or outside.

also for what its worth, for a wallet, i would be picky on whats used.  I had used some glue on a wallet and after a time, the glue failed but ended up gooey and if you can imagine it not staying put but creeping to where the notes were kept.  

[Hardrada]

I'd rather use contact cement. Haven't had good luck with water-based glue (Aquilim 315): over time it dries and the 'glued' parts come apart.

In France it wouldn't be difficult to buy some Renia Colle de Cologne: very good contact cement and you can use it to glue more than just leather: think about fabric for linings or plastic pieces.

I've seen some leatherworkers use Hirschkleber. Always wanted to try that one, but haven't had a chance to get ahold of some.

[Danne]

I personally use water based contact cement for almost everything, the only time I use a solvent based glue is when I glue synthetic reinforcement. And if I would use oily/waxy leather I would probably use solvent based glue or Aquilim 315 mixed with hardener.

I use

Water based: Renia Aquilim 315 (Can be used as contact cement and wetbond, but is stronger as contact cement) it's a really strong glue.

Solvent based: Renia Syntic Total.

 

Why not pick up some Saregum from Mando? I know Peter Nitz used that glue for everything before (wallets and bags) Now I think he have switched to Ecostick.

Here are a couple of examples of good water based glues.

Renia Aquilim 315 https://www.ds-leder.de/index_renia-aquilim-315-200.html

Renia Aquilim GL (Longer working time) https://www.ds-leder.de/index_renia-aquilim-GL-200.html

Saregum 130 https://mando.fr/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=2128

Intercom Ecostick 1816B https://www.eprose.fr/ (Contact them, they are reseller for Ecostick in France)

Seiwa Bond Ace https://leathercrafttools.com/item/9944/ (I don't know any source in Europe for this glue)

 

[Danne]

7 minutes ago, Hardrada said:

I'd rather use contact cement. Haven't had good luck with water-based glue (Aquilim 315): over time it dries and the 'glued' parts come apart.

In France it wouldn't be difficult to buy some Renia Colle de Cologne: very good contact cement and you can use it to glue more than just leather: think about fabric for linings or plastic pieces.

I've seen some leatherworkers use Hirschkleber. Always wanted to try that one, but haven't had a chance to get ahold of some.

Strange, I've had no problems like this. Not when used as contact cement or wetbond. Is it on oily/waxy leathers? I just looked through some old test pieces and found one glued together years ago and it's as strong as it was when I glued it.

[Hardrada]

3 hours ago, Danne said:

Strange, I've had no problems like this. Not when used as contact cement or wetbond. Is it on oily/waxy leathers? I just looked through some old test pieces and found one glued together years ago and it's as strong as it was when I glued it.

Happens on all leathers. I'm puzzled like heck as well. I watched Renia's demo video and got a 4 oz bottle from Rocky Mountain Leather Supply. Well, it doesn't behave like anything in the video, even though I apply it like they do in there. No permanent bond at all. Either I got a dud or, and I strongly suspect this might be the cause, it was frozen in transit and ruined.

It works OK as a temporary glue to hold pieces together whilst punching holes/stitching, but not for permanent bonds. Maybe I should reorder some during the summer and try again.

[Arturomex]

2 hours ago, Hardrada said:

Happens on all leathers. I'm puzzled like heck as well. I watched Renia's demo video and got a 4 oz bottle from Rocky Mountain Leather Supply. Well, it doesn't behave like anything in the video, even though I apply it like they do in there. No permanent bond at all. Either I got a dud or, and I strongly suspect this might be the cause, it was frozen in transit and ruined.

It works OK as a temporary glue to hold pieces together whilst punching holes/stitching, but not for permanent bonds. Maybe I should reorder some during the summer and try again.

Perhaps it was frozen. The curse of ordering anything like that in Canada in the winter, eh?

I use both Barge and Renia Aquilim SG depending on what I'm doing and both work well. The Aquilim stays tacky for a long time and gives me a little "wiggle room" to re-position if I need to. Another thing I like about the Aquilim is that I can use it to paste patterns onto finished leather, peel the pattern off without any problems and it doesn't leave anything on the leather surface. Simply apply the cement to the pattern only, let it cure down well and stick it on the leather. (As always, a test drive is recommended. LOL)

I hope you'll give it another try. While it doesn't show on the website, Lonsdale has it in stock. Not sure about sizes available but it might be worth giving them a call.

Regards,

Arturo