DIY Releathering

[Bill58]

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

Looks like nobody's BIG, pet lizard in your town is safe....

As for adhesive, I use the double-sided tape that Micro-tools sells for that purpose.

 

[FallisPhoto]

Looks like nobody's BIG, pet lizard in your town is safe....

As for adhesive, I use the double-sided tape that Micro-tools sells for that purpose.

Funny you should say that but every big lizard I have ever seen makes me think of one thing...

 

[aizan]

do you think 3M positionable mounting adhesive is strong enough?

aki asahi's newest coverings are cut by laser instead of a die. dunno how much it costs to do that, though.

 

[giellaleafapmu]

I saw this a bit late, I hope I am still in time to ask one thing. Any of you know of a nice sintetic leather replacement for the environmental freaks?

GLF

 

[FallisPhoto]

I saw this a bit late, I hope I am still in time to ask one thing. Any of you know of a nice sintetic leather replacement for the environmental freaks?

GLF

Camera Leather http://www.cameraleather.com/ sells vinyl leatherette, cellulose leatherette (made from cotton), and Griptac (rubber) kits. The vinyl and cellulose leatherettes are available in sheets, so you can cut your own if your camera isn't supported. You can also get sheets of cellulose leatherette from Micro-tools. http://www.micro-tools.com/ I believe Aki-Asahi has a few leatherettes that are manmade too. http://aki-asahi.com/store/ There are a lot of bookbinders who have scrap leatherette left over from binding books too. Of course you can always go to a flea market and look for something to cut up (even if it is leather, you're just recycling it then).

 

[FallisPhoto]

do you think 3M positionable mounting adhesive is strong enough?

I don't really know. I've never seen it. You want something that sticks fairly hard, and the ads say it does so. However, from what I understand -- 1. you have to mash the hell out of it to get it to form a permanent bond and I don't know if you can do that without distorting the grain of the leather/leatherette. 2. because it sticks well to paper doesn't mean it will stick well to both leather and metal. Contact cement does and it's cheap.

 

[rlouzan]

Hi,

Can someone provide me with a 1:1 (life-size) scan of a leatherette kit (from Aki Asahi, Cameraleather, ...) for a Leica M4-P, as to make a paper template from it.

I want to cover my camera in a burgundy goat skin (a la Ralph Gibson MP) if I can find one🙂.

Thanks,
RLouzan

 

[oftheherd]

I must have missed this the first time around. As to adhesive, a bookbinder I know recommends Gorilla glue. He admits he has no way of knowing how you might get it off if the need arises. That's not a problem he has to consider. He said he didn't know if water would do that since water activates the glue to begin with. I have seen some of his work on books. He is a real craftsman. The tools he has available are astounding. He also occassionaly works on such things as old binoculars, mostly for himself or very good friends. But only when he has spare time. Although he has some old cameras, that is not a real interest to him (I'm working on it).

He has been the source of some small scraps for me. Unfortunately it is not a service I can pass on.

 

[rlouzan]

Does anyone know how thick the Leica M leatherette kits are?
Thanks

 

[FallisPhoto]

I must have missed this the first time around. As to adhesive, a bookbinder I know recommends Gorilla glue. He admits he has no way of knowing how you might get it off if the need arises. That's not a problem he has to consider. He said he didn't know if water would do that since water activates the glue to begin with. I have seen some of his work on books. He is a real craftsman. The tools he has available are astounding. He also occassionaly works on such things as old binoculars, mostly for himself or very good friends. But only when he has spare time. Although he has some old cameras, that is not a real interest to him (I'm working on it).

He has been the source of some small scraps for me. Unfortunately it is not a service I can pass on.

That's odd, that he uses Gorilla Glue. I'd have thought he'd use bookbinder's glue. I use that (bookbinder's glue) for sticking down snags in leather and for patching bellows, because it is flexible. It never occurred to me to use Gorilla Glue, because it foams and expands when you wet it. I used some Gorilla Glue once to glue two 1/8 inch sheets of wood together, crossgrained, in order to make a lens board. I wet the two pieces, glued them, clamped them, and when I looked at it again, the glue had foamed out from between the two pieces and was all over the place. Had to cut the stuff off with a wood chisel. Tough stuff, but I can just imagine it squeezing out from behind the leatherette (and how would you clamp it?) on a camera, or foaming up lumpy behind it. All things considered, I think I'll pass on this one.