DIY Releathering

[FallisPhoto]

I was just wondering; how many of you cut and glue your own leather and how many of you buy kits?

Personally, I cut and glue my own. It isn't hard, if you measure carefully, have a few templates and tools, and use very sharp blades. Costs a lot less too.

 

[radiocemetery]

So far, I do my own leather replacement. If the leather is too thick, I also sand it down on the side that was closest to the animal so that there is an even transition from the top and bottom plates to the leather.

Steve

 

[FallisPhoto]

So far, I do my own leather replacement. If the leather is too thick, I also sand it down on the side that was closest to the animal so that there is an even transition from the top and bottom plates to the leather.

Steve

I never tried sanding it; I used to use a skiving knife for that. I found a guy on ebay who sells goat leather in .3mm thicknesses though, so I don't have to do that anymore. This is mostly what I use (a nice textured black):

How does sanding it work out? I had considered doing it, back when I started, but I thought it might actually add thickness, due to roughing up the back side of the leather.

 

[sienarot]

What are you using to glue the leather? My Busch Pressman can use some new skin...

 

[radiocemetery]

What I did was to put a thin, thin ,thin coat of contact cement on a sheet of polypropelene, allow the cement to dry and then lay the leather on the cement with the top grain down on the cement. I applied shims to the polypro. surrounding the leather corresponding to the thickness I wanted for the leather. The sandpaper was mounted on a sanding block to ensure even pressure and off I went. Sandpaper as 320 grit.

The first time I tried this I used contact cement on the leather and the polypro. This was a mistake as the top grain peeled off when I removed the leather. You only need enough cement to prevent the edge of the leather from rolling under the sanding block while you are working on it.

It worked pretty well on the pigskin I had. It would be much easier to have the correct thickness to start with. That goatskin looks great! I found an antique ladies purse made from genuine lizard skin that I wanted to use to cover an old Leica with damaged vulcanite, but I need at least a 12 inch length to wrap around a Leica since it only has a seam under the lens mount. The old purse is only 10.5 inches wide at it's largest point. Must be hard to find a lizard that large.

I will have to try some goat skin for this project.

Steve

 

[radiocemetery]

Derrick,

I used a contact cement called "Barge". It is an agressive adhesive. Once you apply it it is pretty much stuck. If you apply it before it is fully tacky you can still manuever it some.

To be historically correct, I believe that most cameras using genuine leather had that leather applied with shellac. The advantage to using shellac is that you can more easily remove the leather should the need arise. Removing leather applied with a modern contact cement will almost certainly destroy the leather. The advantage to using "Barge" is that I had it on hand.

Steve

 

[bsdunek]

Barge is great stuff - too good, IMHO, as you say, the covering can't easily be removed later.
I use automotive gasket cement. This is shellac and pine tar. I get it from NAPA auto parts. Get the plain old fashoned stuff, not the silicone or any modern stuff.
It can be cut and cleaned with alcohol which helps with making it thinner for small areas, and clean up later.
When you want to remove the leather, just apply a cotton ball soaked in alcohol and it will soften it. Otherwise, I have had no problem with the leather coming loose with use.
Oh, I like the smell of the gasket cement too - goes with the taste of the alcohol (just kidding!). 😎

 

[literiter]

Camera leather is sending me a kit for my scruffy old Rolleiflex Automat. It has not arrived yet, but when it does I'll try and post pictures.

I thought of making my own for this camera but there are too many complicated shapes to do this easily.

I reinstalled the original leather on my Certo Six using shellac and it works perfectly.

 

[sienarot]

Thanks for the suggestion, Steve! Like Bruce pointed out, a big concern with some adhesives is the ability to be able to remove the leather in the event it needs another recovering down the line. Ideally, I'd like an easier means of removing the covering that won't require a sandblaster! 😛

 

[FallisPhoto]

What are you using to glue the leather? My Busch Pressman can use some new skin...

I use Elmer's professional contact cement. I don't much like Pliobond, because it sets up too fast. Elmers dries just slowly enough that you can work with it a little before it sets. I apply it pretty heavily and then wipe it off with a cloth just before applying it (still wet). It sticks pretty well and yet is still removable if you need to take it off at any time in the future (unlike if you applied it to both surfaces and let it set up first).

 

[FallisPhoto]

I will have to try some goat skin for this project.

Steve

http://stores.ebay.com/Fashion-Leat...Hides_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ10QQftidZ2QQtZkm Keep scanning down until you hit the SECOND goatskin leather that looks good (I'm running short and I've bid on the first one). Scroll down to the very bottom of each item to see it fullsize. For some reason, the guy puts smaller photos in there first that don't look right. Pay attention to the thickness of the skin in the item description. He has other skins, and they don't cost much, but some of them are up to .7mm thick (way too thick). The .3mm thick pieces are just right.

 

[FallisPhoto]

Derrick,

I used a contact cement called "Barge". It is an agressive adhesive. Once you apply it it is pretty much stuck. If you apply it before it is fully tacky you can still manuever it some.

To be historically correct, I believe that most cameras using genuine leather had that leather applied with shellac. The advantage to using shellac is that you can more easily remove the leather should the need arise. Removing leather applied with a modern contact cement will almost certainly destroy the leather. The advantage to using "Barge" is that I had it on hand.

Steve

I use contact cement too (Elmers Professional), but I don't use it like you are supposed to. I stick the leather down while the stuff is still wet. It doesn't stick down quite as hard (more like a really tough rubber cement). The leather can still be peeled off in one piece.

 

[FallisPhoto]

I thought of making my own for this camera but there are too many complicated shapes to do this easily.

Been there. When this is the case, I make a pattern from stiff paper, fit it to the camera, and then use that as a template for cutting the leather. If you screw up the paper pattern, you can cut it some more, fill in mistakes with masking tape, and etcetera, until it fits right. Then you just have to transfer it to the leather -- a simple operation. Once that's done, you check the fit of the leather, make any small adjustments you need to, and glue it down.

 

[Borghesia]

Thank you for sharing this idea FallisPhoto. I take the self leathering in consideration.
@Literer, I ordered a kit from Cameraleather three months ago, I hope you will receive yours. I gave it up to receive mine, and consider cameraleather a waste of money and time. Self leathering is a save option to me.

 

[literiter]

Thank you for sharing this idea FallisPhoto. I take the self leathering in consideration.
@Literer, I ordered a kit from Cameraleather three months ago, I hope you will receive yours. I gave it up to receive mine, and consider cameraleather a waste of money and time. Self leathering is a save option to me.

After I ordered my kit from Camera Leather I saw another post by you and now I'm somewhat concerned. It has been quite a while to this point.

If this doesn't work I'll do my own thing like you and FallisPhoto.

 

[swoop]

For the longest time I've been wanting to cut up a Louis Vutton bag (imitation of course) and use the leather on a camera. Thanks for the ideas on how to go about it.

 

[radiocemetery]

I think I am with Bruce and Literiter. When I recover another camera I will use shellac as the adhesive. I remember that when I used "Barge" on my Olympus 35RC paint and reskin project that the Barge lifted the enamel from the camera body. Barge is an effective paint stripper as well as an adhesive!

Swoop, go for it with the Vitton bag. I am on the lookout for interesting leather too for future projects.

Steve

 

[FallisPhoto]

Thank you for sharing this idea FallisPhoto. I take the self leathering in consideration.

Tools needed:
1. heavy duty X-acto knife, and a pack of blades.
2. scissors.
3. contact cement, shellac or other adhesive of choice (just make sure it will stick to both leather and metal).
4. vernier caliper or other device for measuring the size of lenses, in order to select proper size hole to cut in the leather around the lens.
5. circle templates, at least as big as the lenses.
6. hole punches, in various sizes.
7. white china marker or conte crayon, for marking leather (pencil and ink won't show up very well on black leather). Since neither conte crayon nor china marker will stick to the glue, mark the area OUTSIDE what is going onto the camera and cut INSIDE the lines.
8. thin flexible six-inch steel rule.

Any halfway decent hobby shop should carry all of these.

 

[FallisPhoto]

Thank you for sharing this idea FallisPhoto. I take the self leathering in consideration.
@Literer, I ordered a kit from Cameraleather three months ago, I hope you will receive yours. I gave it up to receive mine, and consider cameraleather a waste of money and time. Self leathering is a save option to me.

Only costs about $1 to do a camera yourself too, in real kidskin, and you get enough leather to do about three of them. Cameraleather charges what? About $40 for kidskin?

 

[TMLee]

I was just wondering; how many of you cut and glue your own leather and how many of you buy kits?

Personally, I cut and glue my own. It isn't hard, if you measure carefully, have a few templates and tools, and use very sharp blades. Costs a lot less too.

Yes I do the reskinning myself too .
Its fun.
For me the tough part is getting the leather of my preference. AND of the right thickness.
I can't find a skiver here where I live. Mailorder is too expensive.
I have to do it in a very tedious way using a razor bladed scraper and SLOOOOWLY thinning down the leather.

( My advice is NOT to use X-acto blades but rotary cutters instead. Rotary blade cutters prevent the leather from being distorted whilst cutting. )

I recently was most happy to have discovered that lizard skin is close to the thinness thats preferred. Very happy with the results on my ZeissIkon ZM.

My question now is how do you form the bumps and grips underneath the new skin? (eg on the Hexar RF)
I now want to reskin my HexRF. And can't figure out how to remove the frame selector lever which is in the way.
Any clues ?