The Stacked Leather Project

Made a new press for making stacked leather blocks. 1" steel top and bottom plate with 1.25" paperstone in between and 1/2 all thread. The steel should keep any flex out and the paperstone will keep the leather flat and clean. Used what I had laying around minus the all thread.

I've crumpled the frame on my cheapo hydraulic press and tweaked the threads on a Wilton vice compressing leather before. This should get us the pressure we need, my only concern is the threads stripping over time but that's easy enough to replace.

It'll make 5"x6" blocks up to a foot tall if need be lol. It should keep everything straight and even while compressing.
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Gonna work out perfectly. Easy to keep level and creates an insane amount of pressure. Some eye candy in the press, this is a dagger my boy and I forged a while ago that we work on when we have time, he wants a stacked leather handle on it.
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The bottle kept it's pressure the whole time surprisingly. Popped it with a spike at the end and it sprayed out a nice cloud.
 
How much interest is there in me making a detailed WIP of the process of stacking the leather? My process of making blocks is a little different than what you normally see. With the new press it could be interesting, plus it's always fun to wait for a possible complete fail!

Let me know with a post, likes can be decieving.
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
How much interest is there in me making a detailed WIP of the process of stacking the leather? My process of making blocks is a little different than what you normally see. With the new press it could be interesting, plus it's always fun to wait for a possible complete fail!

Let me know with a post, likes can be decieving.
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Would definitely like to see it, especially with the new toy!
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
How much interest is there in me making a detailed WIP of the process of stacking the leather? My process of making blocks is a little different than what you normally see. With the new press it could be interesting, plus it's always fun to wait for a possible complete fail!

Let me know with a post, likes can be decieving.
Click to expand...

Always interested in seeing your WIPs and I'm definitely curious about the stacked leather process.
 
I think a WIP for this would be good for a guy like me that doesnt know what you're even speaking on.

I was under the impression that stacked leather handles were slid on over a rat tail tang then glued or epoxied into one piece then shaped?

I'd love to be shown how and why I'm wrong.

what's one more thread to watch? 😶😶😶😶😶

Redmeadow Knives said:
How much interest is there in me making a detailed WIP of the process of stacking the leather? My process of making blocks is a little different than what you normally see. With the new press it could be interesting, plus it's always fun to wait for a possible complete fail!

Let me know with a post, likes can be decieving.
Click to expand...
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
I think a WIP for this would be good for a guy like me that doesnt know what you're even speaking on.

I was under the impression that stacked leather handles were slid on over a rat tail tang then glued or epoxied into one piece then shaped?

I'd love to be shown how and why I'm wrong.

what's one more thread to watch? 😶😶😶😶😶
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You're not wrong at all, the traditional way is by stacking and gluing individual pieces over the tang one at a time, and it works great.

From what I've found is that if there is one issue with stacked leather it's when the leather shrinks and you get a loose pommel over time (it takes a LOT of time and neglect, but it still plays a role).

I think lot of the stigma that stacked leather gets is from old knives that sat around and dried out and the pieces shrank down. I think this is the why stacked leather and gets poo-poo'd by some as not a strong enough handle, too many examples of loose pommels.

Since leather is porous I compress the begeezus out of it to begin with so shrinking shouldn't ever be an issue. It's basically wet forming the stacks into a block. Not necessarily a better process, just the way I do it. Personally I'd like to see stacked leather make a come back and would love to make that happen.
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
You're not wrong at all, the traditional way is by stacking and gluing individual pieces over the tang one at a time, and it works great.

From what I've found is that if there is one issue with stacked leather it's when the leather shrinks and you get a loose pommel over time (it takes a LOT of time and neglect, but it still plays a role).

I think lot of the stigma that stacked leather gets is from old knives that sat around and dried out and the pieces shrank down. I think this is the why stacked leather and gets poo-poo'd by some as not a strong enough handle, too many examples of loose pommels.

Since leather is porous I compress the begeezus out of it to begin with so shrinking shouldn't ever be an issue. It's basically wet forming the stacks into a block. Not necessarily a better process, just the way I do it. Personally I'd like to see stacked leather make a come back and would love to make that happen.
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thanks for the explaination. you're not getting me to change my vote on a Whip thread.

Remember when you send your dad back in time that he needs to find my dad and give him (WINNING this time) lottery numbers.

thanks.
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
How much interest is there in me making a detailed WIP of the process of stacking the leather? My process of making blocks is a little different than what you normally see. With the new press it could be interesting, plus it's always fun to wait for a possible complete fail!

Let me know with a post, likes can be decieving.
Click to expand...
Yes, please :)
 
Are others using this method? Or is this something you conjured up? I have some other questions, but I assume they’ll be answered in due time.
 
Nature Boy said:
Are others using this method? Or is this something you conjured up? I have some other questions, but I assume they’ll be answered in due time.
Click to expand...
Oh I doubt I'm the first to try it but I've never seen it. There's a guy that stabilizes stacked leather in blocks but I would think you lose the characteristics of leather (good grip, warm, lightweight) when it's impregnated with resin.

When I started researching stacked leather mostly I found info on rehandling old ones that someone found in Grandpa's toolbox with a shrunken handle and loose pommel. Good compression of the leather was another thing that was consistently mentioned so I thought about what the best way was to compress it and wet forming came to mind.

Initially I think I thought I would wet form them in a stack and then seperate the individual layers, make washers and glue them in one at a time but when I had to use pliers to peel them apart, making a block just made sense.
 
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