Stacked Leather Handle Finishing

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Ben_M

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Mar 6, 2017
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Have any of you guys done stacked leather handles? How do you smooth them out and finish them? I'm working on one now and am thinking I'll try to sand it up to 1200 grit and put a thick coat of paste wax on it. I'm not sure how I'd burnish it or if it even should be burnish?

Thoughts?
 
The way I've done them, and have a couple I'm working on now, is to compress blocks of leather squares epoxied together in a shop press jig and when cured drill and cut the slot for the tang. When I finish I take to 1200 grit paper by hand, buff with pink compound and wax. The epoxy is pretty much through and though so it's less like leather more like it's stabilized.

If I was to put individual pieces on without pressing first, I'd take to a nice 600 grit to 1000 grit and use a paste wax like Kiwi neutral shoe polish to finish.
 
Thanks for the info. I stacked them on the tang gluing the pieces together with epoxy as I went, but they are by no means saturated with it. I'll try to sanding and wax and see what happens.
 
Epoxy gives black lines between the leather disks. Some like that, some don't.
I finished to 240 or 400 then used a special leather wax
 
Haven't had an issue with black lines between the leather, but then I'm soaking the leather and compressing it. When I first started with stacked leather I was wetting, compressing it, then separating and letting it dry, then soaking with super glue and compressing. I finally stopped that and just compressed with epoxy soaking, but I haven't tried just stacking and glueing on the tang.
 
How well does it hold up with the wax? I think the soaked epoxy would be best but I probably should have done that at the start.

Does look like there are any black lines so far. We'll see if they show up when polished.
 
If properly maintained and waxed it should last a lifetime or more. That said, I remember my Father's Kbar he brought back from Vietnam and the handle had rotted off it. Of course there's no telling how old it was and I'm pretty sure it never saw any wax after being issued.
 
Compressed leather can be ground on a belt grinder, filed by hand, and sanded by hand.
Regardless of what you are doing with it, ALWAYS grind/file sand/polish in the same circular direction.
This keeps the fibers compressed in the same direction.
 
Thank you for all of the respomses! The general consensus seems to be sand it down, possibly buff, and then wax it really well. I'm heading out to work on it now so I'll try sanding with progressively finer grits and see how it's looking.

I was wondering how a heavy coat of polyurethane would work if I let it soak into the leather, but I don't know that I want to do that just yet. I might stack some scraps up and try it on that.
 
Smith & Co in Richmond, CA, makes a penetrating epoxy which soaks into wood farther than anything I have ever seen. I haven't tried it on leather but I would expect it to do the same. It is not a finish resin, however, so it needs to be covered with something. An epoxy with UV protection added would work or a marine grade exterior clear LPU paint would be even better. Google them for a phone number and call them - they are very helpful and knowledgeable.
 
I ended up just sanding and using paste wax. I think the wax did fine as a finish but I need to try something different with how I sand/polish the leather. There are some darker lines from the epoxy but I don't think it looks bad. This was the trial run and most things on this knife didn't turn out how I was picturing it but I think I'm happy with it. I'll try to post a picture in a bit. Thanks for all of the responses! I'm going to have to keep playing with the stacked leather and try some different things
 
I refinished an east wing axe handle with stacked leather. I just cut out squares and manually cut a slot for the tang in each one, slid them into the tang one by one with no glue or epoxy or fancy compression other than a length of pipe that I slid over the tang after every 10 leather pieces and mashed them down with a mallet. Once I got to the end of the tang, I put a metal oval with two holes drilled in it over the two end prongs of the tang, and penned the prongs down over the metal oval plate. This provided some final compression. I used a band saw to trim some excess leather and rough out the handle shape. Then I went to the belt sander, up to 220 grit only because that’s all I had. It was pretty smooth though. Then i went over it with two layers of Shellac. This made a nice smooth finish, very waterproof (this is a camp axe that lives outside by my fire pit). So far it’s holding up really well. Only complaint wth the shellac was that it can be slick when wet so I wear gloves when it’s wet for grip. Overall, very fun process and looking forward to doing a stacked leather handle knife.
 
Hey everyone. I'm new to this forum and new to leather all together I've made a few sheaths and such, but I'd like to make a stacked handle with a bowie blank. I understand what to do with the steps except for one. I have no idea how to put the butt of the handle on (without using tools i dont have) can anyone help?
 
This is an ol thread but a good question.
You either have to make it so you can screw it or peen it
 
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