That's a LOTTA Leather!

[Ash]

I was hoping to get some really funky coloured animal skin, but I couldn't wait any longer.

Last night I was rubbing off as much of the corrosion/adhesive as I could from the Rolleiflex, and decided I HAD to get the leather to finally cover it. It's been waiting for months now!


Today I went into town and looked in a craft/sewing shop. £7.99 psm of 'chocolate brown' leatherette. A fair price I guess. But with only a tenner in my pocket, I didn't fancy spending it on a nasty chocolate brown for a Rollei.


Later on I went through the charity shops, found a women's size 18 leather jacket. Nice grain, and being a lady's the wasn't very stressed at all.


£6.99!!!


It's taken the good part of 20 minutes to strip down each panel from the jacket, but now I have nearly 30 🙂eek: yep! THIRTY!) sheets of leather ranging from 5x7 to x10 inches. Basically a HUGE amount. I can't believe how much cow was in that one jacket!! 😀


Having this much means I don't need to worry about messing up too bad with the cutting of a piece for the camera, there's always more!



I'll post a photo when I'm done




If anyone needs some leather, then I could always do with some good karma 😉

 

[harry01562]

That's creative thinking... plus enough leather for a dozen or more new projects, with room for mistakes. And, they will all match. 😎

I've got to do a clean and reglue on both my Rollei's, and have just been putting it off. Now that winter seems to be settling in, there should be opportunities, if I can get motivated. Thinking of how nice those cameras will look should be enough, we'll see.

Get a nice new piece of camera porn for us !!

Harry

 

[popstar]

... I can't believe how much cow was in that one jacket!! 😀

Is it safe to assume you meant the donor animal and not the original owner?! :angel:

Seriously, good thinking. Look forward to seeing what the results are like. Good luck!!

 

[wyk_penguin]

That project looks promising. The precut leather coverings always have some kind of sticky backing, so I wonder what you use to stick you leather to your camera.

 

[jorisbens]

I'm very interested in a nice piece of leather, what colour is it?

 

[Ash]

Jorisbens, it's typical black leather. The grain looks fine, but then compared to the original Rollei leather ANY looks fine.

All the photo's I took last night look rubbish. I'll try and take a good photo soon (or else, take some photo's with the camera and post them instead 😀)

 

[airds]

You'll have get a nice new pair of shoes to go with it now ...... 🙂

 

[Pherdinand]

OK, leather. But what have you done with the cow?

 

[Ash]

I was about to make a joke insinuating my girl is a cow (attitude, not visual) but for the first time in a long string of mistakes, that aint true!

The cow, I don't know, it was a charity shop jacket, so the cow has long been eaten

 

[KoNickon]

Ash -- this is very ambitious. The thought of cutting all those pieces of leather to fit EXACTLY on the camera would be the sort of thing I'd regard as a sentence, not a project. Is the leather the right thickness?

 

[Ash]

*retrieves calipers*

Yes.. The original dried up leather (rock solid with a layer of corrosion) is a 10th over 1mm I'd say. This new leather is bang on 1mm without squashing it in the calipers.

Definitely hell to cut correctly. The black enamel paint is gonna fill up the nicks and gaps I missed 😀

 

[40oz]

it really helps to cut leather wet. I've never done that with leather where appearance was a factor, but to my eye, soaking didn't change the dried appearance. You might give it a shot with a scrap piece. Leather cuts very easily with a razor when wet. Just be conscious that it also stretches easily as well, and can shrink as it dries, depending on the leather and drying conditions.

 

[mjflory]

More on thrift store jackets...

More on thrift store jackets...

A few years ago I bought a three-quarters length women's green leather jacket with the thought of making a nice bellows for a homemade view camera. Well, I haven't gotten to it, but today a naked FED arrived from Doug Reilly and I just couldn't let it shiver in the cold, so I disassembled the coat and went to work on the camera. I made a template with a little construction paper, then used it to cut the thin leather of the coat. I used contact cement as an adhesive, which seems to have worked fairly well. It's a pretty rough job, but I'm still getting the hang of this -- learning, for example, the extent to which the leather will stretch, especially once it's dampened by the adhesive. But it does seem to be staying in place, and I still have enough leather for several more rangefinders and the bellows.

-- Michael

P.S. A handbag that was to become a camera case was not as successful a story.... but I'll save that for another time.

 

[Trius]

I'm no expert, but I have read hear and elsewhere that Pliobond (that's the name in NA, I think there's a different name elsewhere) is a proper adhesive for such projects. It's a Goodyear product.

 

[mjflory]

Yes, that's what I've seen recommended too. But I haven't gotten the order off that I've been preparing to send to Micro-Tools and I was impatient -- *not* a virtue in camera repair! Still, the contact cement seems to have worked quite well.

Bigger problem is probably the leather I used. It's a bit too stretchy and seems to "unravel" a bit at the edges, though I cut it with a very sharp X-acto blade. By "unravel" I mean that some little pieces of the "wrong" (unfinished) side of the leather protrude slightly from the edges after gluing. I think the leather I chose is a bit too thin. And of course I never did get the part around the lens mount cut just right... But the lens should hide that!

-- Michael

 

[Ash]

Well now I have to go back to the charity shops!!!! You've reminded me that I can make bellows using leather lol! *slaps own face*

Maybe I'll get around to building a 5x4 (or bigger) enlarger sooner than I thought 😀


As for the edges, take a file or a razor to the underside and thin it down a little. It means it won't stick out as much and shouldn't unravel. I cut all my pieces a little smaller and stretched it at the edges, effectively thinning.

 

[mjflory]

As for the edges, take a file or a razor to the underside and thin it down a little. It means it won't stick out as much and shouldn't unravel. I cut all my pieces a little smaller and stretched it at the edges, effectively thinning.

Yes, I think sanding it a bit might have helped. The leather I've got stretched quite a bit, too, so I could have cut a couple of mm off and stretched to the edges. I may yet write this off as a test and redo it, though I like the green a lot. Problem is, I think I've got bellows-type thrift-shop-coat leather, not camera-covering thrift-shop-coat leather...

 

[bsdunek]

You're right, old jackets are a good source of neat leather. I have done this many times.

My favorite adhesive is shellac based gasket cement from an auto parts store. This is used just like contact cement. Coat both surfaces, allow to become somewhat tacky, and press leather in place. There are several advantages to shellac (which, buy the way, is what all the camera manufacturers used until recently).

* It can be thinned with alcohol if it is too thick.
* Clean up around the edges of the leather can be done with alcohol.
* The leather can be removed easily, and the camera cleaned up with alcohol.
* It smells better than Pliobond (which is a great cement!)

I make paper patterns, and cut the leather with an E-Xacto knife. Much easier than a razor blade. I cut the pieces on the generous side, and final trim after it is placed on the camera. That way you can get an exact fit. When I say generous, I mean about the thickness of thick paper oversize - no more or you'll have a mess. 😎

 

[Trius]

Bruce: Thanks for the tip on the shellac. BTW, which one gives a better buzz when inhaled? 😀

 

[radiocemetery]

A product I use for contact cement is called "Barge". It is made by Quabaug Corporation. I found out about this product when I asked my local shoe repair guy what he uses for adhering leather to leather or other surfaces. My project at that time was replacing the thin leather cover on a Cinelli model 2 bicycle saddle. (Maybe someone out there knows what that is). This product successfully bonded the leather to the plastic base of the saddle and the leather has remained in place. There was no discoloration of the leather either. Barge is not recommended for vinyl.

Barge is sold at Ace Hardware stores here in the US. I have heard Pliobond is good too, but have never tried it.

Steve at the radiocemetery