# Making leather pen blanks



## DRAT (Apr 10, 2012)

Several years ago I purchased a band of leather at a flea market.  This band of leather is 12 feet long, by 5" wide and just a little over 1/4" thick.  I have cut a piece of it into 1" strips. So now, if I stack three of these 1" strips on top of one another, I have just about a 1" by 1" thick chunck of leather which is 5" long.

I want to know what type of glue you would recommend I use to adhere these three pieces of leather together.

My plan is to glue them up, use my belt sander to shape them into fairly even 1" x 1" pieces, place it into a vice and drill out the core and glue in pen tubes, then turn it on my lathe (using only sandpaper or really sharp lathe tools) to make really hefty leather pens.

So my first set of questions to you are these, have you ever done this before with leather?  If so, what type of glue did you use -- rubber cement, super glue (also known as CA glue), or gorilla glue?  Or do you recommend using some other type of adhesive to fasten the leather pieces together?

My second question is how do you think these leather pens could best be finished.  I'm thinking about these options, 1) wax, 2) CA glue, and 3)polish.  However, part of me wants to sand them smooth and then leave them natural so that the oils of ones hand will naturally color the pens.  So, what do you think is the best finish for a great result?

Thanks ahead of time for sharing your thoughts about the right glue to use, and the best finishing ideas.

DRAT


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## pensmyth (Apr 10, 2012)

there are several threads on here about making leather pens, here's one
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/my-first-second-leather-pens-85689/


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## pensmyth (Apr 10, 2012)

here's another good article. 

http://content.penturners.org/library/pen_blanks/Leather_Cigar_pen.pdf


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## johncrane (Apr 10, 2012)

i use Med CA, and i use a hollow punch to cut the circle's then ca them together.i got a 12 PC Hollow Punch set from 1/8 to 3/4 from ebay


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## rherrell (Apr 10, 2012)

Use WHITE glue, NOT wood glue. 

Use a punch and punch out the holes in each piece before you glue it up, drilling leather is a PITA.

Leave the tube in the stack while gluing.

After the white glue dries, glue the tube in with CA or epoxy.

Soak the entire blank in thin CA and allow to dry before turning.

Apply thin CA as needed while turning.

Finish with CA.

That's how I do it, anyway.:biggrin::wink:


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## PTsideshow (Apr 10, 2012)

The proper glue for leather work and what is used by shoe repair. Is called barrage cement a special formula of contact cement. Like regular contact cement it isn't forgiving for repositioning. 

Using wax paper between glued layers, and when aligned pull the wax paper out helps greatly. Along with roughing up the finished side the leather, so which ever adhesive you use.

I used leather disks 1"dia in making the parrot toys, I glued up some with CA thick type after Depending on the type of leather tanning that was used, it worked ok. 
The leather should be clamped till set up, I use to scrap blocks of wood with a hole to match the tubes I use for gluing the blanks up. The tube's I use are 10" long 1/4" or 7mm dia and a vise grip type hand squeeze clamp on the blocks.

The easiest way to drill holes in leather is with a paper drill which is a hollow tube sharpened and fits in a drill press, only draw back is you have to stop and punch the plugs of leather out when the tube and drill chuck fills up. I will take a photo of the later. You can make one out of brass tubing if you want.

In addition to the gasket hole punches, the proper leather /gasket punch is called an arch punch.

Tandy leather stores has a sale site on line if they don't have a local store.

The contact/barrage cement solvent based  and its fumes are Highly Flammable, use lots of ventilation.
:clown:


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## Steve Busey (Apr 10, 2012)

Anthony, this is my current everyday pen - rawhide leather strap wrapped around the tubes, glued with epoxy. Made a little spinning dowel jig to carefully wrap the strip, trying to avoid any glue from seeping thru the seams. No finish on it, just the natural leather - has a great feel! Had to spin it on the lathe to sand the ends to match the hardware OD, but the bulk of it is the natural thickness. Michael's has different colors/styles (like a camo pattern) of rawhide trips, but I haven't tried them yet.


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## its_virgil (Apr 10, 2012)

This may be helpful:
Http://www.RedRiverPens.com/articles
Look at #11 
Do a good turn daily!
Don.


Sent from my  Samsung Epic using Forum runner


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## IPD_Mr (Apr 10, 2012)

If you try it with CA, don't use the belt sander idea. The heat generated from running it on the belt sander will cause the CA to fail. I think Glen has the right idea with using a contact cement but this is something I have never done so the advice is what you paid for it. :biggrin:


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## DRAT (Apr 10, 2012)

Am I crazy to think about putting a lathe tool to spinning leather?  Please remember, my leather strips are 1" x 1" x 5", and not small little square pieces.  Thanks for your thoughts.

DRAT


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## Padre (Apr 10, 2012)

I have made them, and I posted my first experience with a leather pen here.


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## Dragonlord85 (Apr 10, 2012)

Here is another tutorial on using leather to make pens.

http://penmakersguild.com/articles/slimlinemodificationspart3.pdf


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## PTsideshow (Apr 10, 2012)

DRAT said:


> Am I crazy to think about putting a lathe tool to spinning leather?  Please remember, my leather strips are 1" x 1" x 5", and not small little square pieces.  Thanks for your thoughts.
> 
> DRAT



The only problem with doing it long ways as you describe, You would have to Clamp the block between wood to try to drill the center hole. As the leather sandwich would not have enough back bone to drill the long hole with a solid drill bit, I am waiting for the camera battery to charge up. To take photo's of the hollow drills.

As you might know some heels on boots are glued up stacks of leather. Granted they are done with barge cement and pressure clamps then shaped with sharp bits to the final shape.

Depending on the method of tanning used and the thickness and weight of the leather 1/4" thick is 16 ounce
Some of it has high oil content and requires a special cement.

With the barge cement we used to make drive belts 20/25 feet long for fan motors same kind of drive belts used on old farm equipment.
Rather than square you would be better served to Knock off the corners so there is less chance of the chisel snagging.

There is something called a shoe rasp that has a coarse and smoother teeth on it that removes leather pretty fast. One of those micro plane files might work to.

You also have to remember that leather tends to get darker when wet either by water or solvents in the adhesive.

One other thing that is used all the time and isn't true. The leather laces yellow color with a darker outside layer. Often miss labeled as rawhide boot laces. That is either oil tanned or chrome tanned leather.

Rawhide is only white if bleached, or a natural tan color that is transparent.  Think dog bone type chew toys. 
:clown:


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## PTsideshow (Apr 11, 2012)

Here might be some other choices. Lee Valley has a good assortment of the micro planes files/rasps












Arch punches are also called gasket punches, like with a lot of tools depending on the trade they are used in they can have numerous names.








The two large ones can be made shorter or longer as needed, they are made from E.M.T. conduit and the ends are sharpend on the outside of the tube. Since the inside of the tube is unfinished(rough) I use a Die grinder with a mounted point to clean up and smooth it.

The center short one with the leather disk, is a commercial paper drill bit. It is designed to snap into a paper drilling press. IT will chuck into and drill chuck.

The brass one is another shop made one The white plug in the top end is to keep the tube from crushing when inserted in the drill chuck.

The slots in the brass one and the one on the right side are to make getting the material slugs out easier. you just have to stop the drill press and push/hook them out.







This is what rawhide looks like and a side of oak tanned leaher.




These will also work for the leather. But if you do make any cork blanks  these will cut the thru hole with out tearing up the blank. After gluing up the disks I have been thinking that it might be a good idea, to stabilized the disks with cactus juice before mounting the blank on the tubes. So you get penetration form both inside and out side.
:clown:


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## Haynie (Apr 11, 2012)

Cool, Thanks Mr. Sideshow.


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