Hello,
I am intrigued with the idea of building a leather desktop for the desk i plan to build. I went through a Kittinger gallery recently and was very impressed with the look. However, i have no knowledge of how to do this. I would like to get advice on the process and/or any links for online info would be helpful aswell. The desk will be made of cherry.
thanks
dp
Replies
Van Dykes Restorers sells leather that can be ordered plain or with a tooled boarder ( which seriously complicates the installation). I've only done rather small leather inserts, but the process would be the same no matter the size. I used wheat paste to glue the leather. Make the recess a little deeper (1/64") than the leather is thick. Glue the piece in working it flat but avoid stretching it. Then comes the tough part, making a prefect cut. I've clamped a metal straight edge on the leather, and with a sharpest of knives carefully cut to the edge of the recess, angling the knife handle away from the leather. I usually don't get nervous when making furniture, but putting in a piece of rather expensive leather makes me sweat.
Rob Millard
I just finished a table with a leather top. I used liquid hide glue and it worked phenominally well. I built mine like a picture: I built a mitered frame with a rabbit, and then made the insert thinner than the frame by the thickness of the leather.
BTW, I have extra leather (black) in you are interested.
Thanks for the help guys-dp
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