Affixing leather to a shield ... help please.

[zugislander]

Hello all,

I am trying to glue some leather to a shield. The leather is Horse, one side is rough and one is smooth. I would lilke to glue the leather smooth side down to the wood. I have tried a couplpe of different glues but nothing will hold the smooth face down. It is supposed to be veg tanned. It is rather thin leather. Does anyone have an idea of how to glue the smooth side of a piece of leather down onto wood?

Thanks in advance.

Cordially,

Michael

[sulla felix]

The smooth side of the leather needs to be roughed up with sandpaper I would suggest. This provides a key for the adhesive to bond better. Most veg tan leather I have used is actually quite shiny on one side and this proves very diffcult to glue unless you remove that shine.

[texascavtrooper]

Hello,
I agree about roughing up the leather but the glue is a big part too. My father who is a shoe repairman has been using a type of contact cement for years and has had very very few problems with things coming apart. Try talking with your local shoe repairman about the type of glue he uses. He may be able to help you get the glue you need.
Bryan

[M. Demetrius]

There is a neat website called thistothat.com that may help. It lists various glues for combining dissimilar substances.

I'm curious...if you are going to rough up the smooth side, and put the flesh side out, wouldn't it be easier just to glue the leather on flesh side to the wood? The smooth side will accept paint if that's your intention, and should likewise attach to cloth just fine, if you intend to cover the surface with cloth.

What prompted your choice to put the leather "rough" side out? I'm not saying that's wrong, just wondering.

[Hibernicus]

Modern glue? Most contact cement works well. Also Barge cement

Historic glue? Hide glue.

For hide glue orugh up the wood surface. Creates better adhesion.

[Marcus Mummius]

And for a shield rawhide facing would be a lot better, of course :wink:

[Matt Lukes]

The smooth side (epidermis) is the true surface and always outer face of anything leather... so I'm curious too why you'd want the flesh side out?

[zugislander]

Sory for the delay, work interferes with fun once again. Thank you to all for their curiosity and suggestions.

David and Matt, I am working on a smaller sized aspis (been discussed on the Greek beginner page) for an interpretation based on the Certosa Situla. From my take of pictures of the Situla, it appears that these Aspi faces have the rough side out so that was what I was going for. It appears to be a smaller and simpler shield, at least in terms of decoration, with only a bit of work around the rim. Leaving a large flat featureless face.

Marcus, I only have one hunk of rawhide and I am a bit daunted of working with it as I can only access cool water for this size of a project. In any event I am doing two of these shields so one will eventually get the raw hide, but I am going with the leather for the second one (although I will probably do it first).

Matt, Just a question for my general side project (cobbling). Don't shoe soles get the smooth side in for traction? I know they do with simple shoes, and thought they did with more complex, but I have not progressed that far in my efforts so I do not know, it is just and assumption regarding early footwear.

Again thank you all and I look forward to any other ideas and thoughts/opinion/facts people have.

Cordially,

Michael