Hello and Question

Johnny Coleman · Newbie

Hello and Question

Terry Goode · Guru

how are you going to keep it from moving , i.e. stretching from ware and shrinking from being wet and drying at times unless you coat it with something?.

oh by the way welcome to the board.

-- Edited by Terry Goode on Monday 13th of September 2010 07:12:36 AM

Doug Williams · Senior Member

Johnny, that's an interesting question, I've worked with leather before and there are a lot of variables involved. I think the main one is that to be able to carve leather it has to be thick enough for carving and that might not lend itself to being wrapped
around a small diameter.

like Terry stated, it would have to be coated to keep it from water staining, etc.

don't let us discourage you tho, I would like to see your finished product, post pics.

btw welcome to the board

Johnny Coleman · Newbie

Terry and Doug,
Thanks for welcome.
I was thinking of inletting the cork the thickness of the leather then use Barge cemet to apply to the cork. Then apply one of the epoxies over all of it to seal out the water. I do not see the leather coatings holding up to extended use.

Doug,
for the thickness of the leather, was planning on carving 4-6 oz then skive down thw thickness to 2 to 3 oz (1/32 to 1/16) then wrap the cork, but still playing with ideas at this point.

Terry,
Awesome artwork on your site!

Johnny

Terry Goode · Guru

aaaw shucks, thanks , killer lion by the way

Doug Williams · Senior Member

johnny, that might work, go for it and see what happens, you might start a craze.

I think I caught a fish one time that looked like Terry's avatar, had to throw it back tho, it was underweight

Terry Jones · Senior Member

We had a guy bring a rod to one of our meetings taht had a grip with cow hide (hair and all) glued on with no apparent seem visible. The next time I saw it he had epxoed the wholething anf it lookd really good...very natural..he did a goood job of getting the epxoy on it with out it looking wet....raw cowhide might really turn dark unless CP would protect it.
His grip also turned out really fat from the overall thickness....
Cool idea though...

Kevin Graybeal · Veteran Member

Welcome to the forum Johnny!
One of the main issues with leather on a rod's grip is, as I'm sure you know- water.
You can use the techniques suggested, but bear in mind that cork can compress - if/when it does, it may separate from the adhesive holding the leather down. I might suggest using a core of something more dent-resistant... like CA impregnated Balsa, or Basswood - I use them under my rattan grips for the same reasons.

Also, I bought a hide of Stingray to try the very same thing, but haven't found my "round toit" yet. Stingray leather is billed as being water proof, and some call it fire proof as well. The ancient samurai would use it as flexible armor, so it's extremely tough... from what I can tell about the hide I have, it just might hold up to a nuclear bomb too.