Leather/kydex sheath adhesive?

K

knifecoop

Joined
Feb 19, 2006
Messages
944
Greetings,
Working on a design that uses leather/kydex holster backed with hook material. We used 8 rivets and spray adhesive. The rivets are holding the hook material fine but the adhesive is not bonding to the leather backing. Can anyone recommend an adhesive that will bond the hook material to the leather?

correction we used 10 rivets..
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...I was thinking of sewing it...
 
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We kinda need to get some membership and advertising issues taken care of before we can progress on this.
 
knifecoop said:
What do you need..I can delete the watermarks.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for understanding. :)

I have some techniques for you that should help with bonding the kydex to the leather. Let me get some work done this morning and I'll write up a short article for you.
 
OK, here we go, a short but sweet tutorial on bonding kydex to leather:

First, clean the kydex, oils are your enemy. I use alcohol. Next get the heaviest grit sand paper you can find and roughen the side you want to bond to leather, you want it to feel rough to the touch. This is the "tooth" that the glue holds on to.

Speaking of glue, contact cement, the kind in the bottle or can. I use Weldwood brand.

The leather, if your gluing to the face, ie smooth, part you need to rough that up in the area to be bonded.

Spread the glue on BOTH sides nice and thick, if you do it in two thin layers all the better. Wait for them to glaze over and not feel wet to the touch. Once each side touches, they are done. If you try to remove one from the other you'll have to re apply the glue as the leather will rip apart enough to compromise the bond. Contact cement is a pressure sensitive glue, meaning you need to press them in place. I use a bone folder to get each side bonded 100%.

This should get you where you want to be. Please do let me know if you have any other questions. :)
 
Coming from a completely different field, namely making turkey pot calls, the glue almost exclusively used is GOOP.

Pot calls typically have wooden bodies with either glass or slate glued onto a thin ledge.
http://www.customcalls.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=turkeyfriction_brd

Goop is a glue that remains rubbery to allow the glass to vibrate, bonds very dissimilar materials, and is waterproof and temperature stable.

There are several varieties (marine, plumber, automotive, etc) which all work well for calls.

HD sells it for about $5 a tube.



I really like the stuff and perhaps it could work in your application...BUT I have zero experience with kydex, so try at your own risk.
 
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