Leather washers - how to prepare for use?

[Fox]

I am new to the board and this is my first post. Thanks ahead of time to all who may respond. I am happy to be here. I am an experienced knifemaker and have been making full tang knives for several years. I recently made up a batch of hidden tang knives and want to experiment with leather washers and need to know how to prepare them. I bought a bunch from Texas Knifemaker's Supply since it was easier than making my own. The leather is very stiff and already punched for installation on the tang. My main question is can you just glue the washers and compress them with the rest of your handle material and butt cap? I thought I remembered an article about using leather by Wayne Goddard which was published in "Blade" a couple of years ago. He gave a recipe for the washers and I thought it included wetting, compressing and drying prior to use as handle material. Can anyone help me?

Fox

 

[Fox Creek]

I remember something about this subject....I think the idea was to wet the leather pieces, stack them on a temporary tang and compress strongly, letting 'em dry under pressure. It would reduce the thickness lf the leather significantly, but also make it much denser and harder. Going this route i would wait until handle is assembled to apply a finish to surface, maybe a thinned down lacquer or epoxy that would penetrate some. 'don't think finish would penetrate much into the compressed leather.

 

[Osbourn]

I've usually hammered them flat to compress them, and since I started doing that, I haven't had any problems with them shrinking after assembly. I also soak them in epoxy during the final assembly, so that's probably a factor, too.

------------------
Oz

"Violence never settles anything."
Genghis Khan 1162-1227

Check out my egostistical homepage!
http://www.freespeech.org/oz/

 

[mikeS]

If I remember right, Wayne would glue and compress 5 washers at a time in a vice and then assemble the handle with stcks of 5.

------------------
Teach them everything they need to know, let them prove it themselves!