Thread: Glue for leather paddle strop?

Are there any glues to avoid when gluing a piece of leather to wood for a paddle strop? I have read both that wood glue is OK and and it should be avoided. Any advice?

I used contact cement when I made mine and it worked great.Gotta be careful gluing near the edge and don't use too much of whatever glue you use,or it could come out around the edges and get on the business side of the strop and if that happens,you've got problems.

I use something like this:
3M Super 77 Multipurpose Spray Adhesive: strong-bonding, fast-drying glue that you just spray on. Think it up, glue it down!

Works great for getting a nice and even layer of glue. For a permanent bond, spray both the leather and the surface you're adhering it to.
It usually needs to dry 10 or more minutes before joining the parts. It works best to start at one end and roll the leather with a bottle onto the surface.

Best regards,
Bart.

Barge cement is a shoemakers' favorite contact cement. I tried to buy some recently at Tandys and was asked if I were a commercial user. I answered honestly "no" and was told they couldn't sell the product to me as it contained harmful chemicals and the law/regulation won't allow its sale to private parties. My answer was something like "swell" as I told them I buy plastic laminate contact cements (pretty much the same stuff as Barge) by the case at work. It mattered not to Tandy as this would have been a sale to a private party.

So I stuck the leather to the wood paddle with Titebond wood glue. It worked just fine, but requires clamping time which the contact cement method does not. Either technnique can work just fine for you; it's just that the means of putting the two materials together will differ a bit with the different adhesives. The contact cement approach will require rolling with a fair amount of pressure or hammering "every square millimeter" as an old cordwainer told my friend who was apprenticing with him. With the wood glue technique, use a full sized flat caul between the clamp and the leather to spread the force of the clamping and avoid denting the leather. With this technique your finished leather surface should be about as flat as if it were lapped.

good luck,

I used contact cement also; it worked fine...

Check out my post.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...dle-strop.html

I had no problem at Tandy and I bought 3 tubes. Sounds like your Tandy doesn't want to make money!!! Strange!!

Good Luck,

Barge cement. Available from your local shoe store, academy's. I got mine at Houston Shoe Hospital. If you get it where it shouldn't, then you can clean it up with nail polish remover. Barge cement gets better if you beat on it a bit once it's cured - I used a rubber mallet.