Messages

Could have sworn my little belt sander was variable, but it isn't.  It's a small stationary upright sander. It did work quite well on the scrap I tried, but I will have to be very careful not to twist the band of leather.  I'm only trying to remove some of the suede off the backside, so once I've cut my strips, and exercise patience I should be fine. May also use the smaller of the two welt cords, it provides a slightly less bulky look.

I tried the grinding wheel last night on a scrap.  That was pretty slick and will work great for buttons (in the future).  I'll cut a sample strip for the welt and try the belt sander.  I can slow that speed down, my good grinder isn't variable speed. Once I'm happy with the welt, I'll be able to move forward with the chair.  Thanks for the great advice!

never thought of the grinding wheel!  What a great idea!  Will give it a go on a small section to see how I do.

Just thought I'd throw in a couple of bits.  My preference for staple guns is air, (I love my air tools), but the cost is prohibitive for a set of dining chairs.  Go electric.   I did my first chair with a manual stapler and vowed never again.  Manual staplers are only good for paper, IMHO.  They lead to more frustration than they are worth when trying to upholster.

Quilt batting - if you bought the really soft stuff, not going to be very effective on the seats.  You'll need the coarser batting, which (at least here) can be purchased in two thicknesses.  I usually get the thicker of the two.  I'd buy a roll of dacron, but storage is a real issue for me so I buy what I need as I need it.

I did the buttons, for the most part they turned out not too badly.  I spent a good part of the afternoon scraping the suede off the backside with a razor until it was thin enough to fit into the button press.  Some were still a bit too thick and the press cut the leather around part of the edge, but I think I have 5 or 6 usable buttons, which is all I need for the seat back.  What I've read about welting is to use the hot glue, "never a staple gun".  I agree though that a staple gun will pull the two edges together far better than using glue, especially if I use a narrow crown - but I'll try a sample first.  I so don't want to screw up this chair.  His wife tells me he spent MANY HOURS refinishing it.   I could tell by the glint in his eyes when he showed me the chair and the leather that he was beyond pleased with himself (he really did do a nice job). Still debating how to do the seat.  It's picture frame the same as the back - I can either cut a 1/4" board to fit in and finish that and drop it in, or I can use webbing.  I think he'll get better support with the plywood (with channels cut for some flexibility)

Some other DIY methods for thinning out the leather would be very much appreciated.  With three frames to double welt, I'll be scraping for a very long time, although I don't think I have to go quite as skinny as I did for the buttons.

I will look into the skiver, thanks!  I'd thought of decorative brass nails, but he wants piping, LOTS OF PIPING!  And BUTTONS!!  I talked him out of the buttons on the seat, and I'll put a few on the back, but even at that I'll have to shave the leather to get it to work in the button press.

loooong time, no post.  I don't do a lot of upholstery, so I'm a bit kerfuffled by this latest project.  It's a carved oak captain's chair, with a picture frame back and seat.  Owner has supplied a hunk of leather for the job.  He wants piping.  Lots of piping.  I was going to do a double welt, which would probably not be much of a challenge if I was using a fabric, but this is pretty heavy leather.  I did a trial run with it, and it tends to not slide on the machine bed.  It wasn't a very successful trial run.  Am I crazy to even think of doing a double welt?  Is there a trick or two to help me out?  Maybe I should sand the back off the leather to make it more pliable?  Do I need to use a leather needle (I don't have any for my industrial) 

Judy

I did one screw with dec washer in each corner of the chair back.  Looks quite smart.  Sending the husband down to Canadian Stainless tomorrow to buy me more screws!  Must have used them all up on the Studebakers.

Judy

 ;D  Decorative screws it is.  Because the board is contoured I can't staple the top - concave to convex just doesn't work somehow.  I could if the vinyl wasn't already glued to the board on either side, but then if I did, I couldn't clue the vinyl to the board on the sides....and then there's the issue of stapling it to the bottom - the back gets screwed to the chair before the back panel goes on.  So even if I COULD staple across the top, I wouldn't be able to staple across the bottom, even if the chair seat wasn't on.

Thanks!

Judy

Thanks, all. 

Have given much consideration to your suggestions -

Decorative nails appear to be too short.  By the time you go through three layers of vinyl and the particle board there's nothing left for the frame.

The upholstery tacks, same thing - too short, and I think even with batting, once I whack it with a mallet, even gently, it will leave a mark in the vinyl.  If I used longer nails with a thin head, by the time they were pounded into the frame it would be disastrous on the outside.

Double welt - too bulky.

I like the decorative washers, and I have just enough #6 to do all 16 backs if I put one in each corner.  I only seem to have two oval head #6 screws though.  Don't know how that happened, but none of the hardware stores carry #6 oval head screws, smallest seems to be #8, so the "prototype may not be delivered to the office until Wednesday while I search out screws.  I suppose I could use regular countersinks but they just don't look the same.

I did have one other thought, which was to glue the vinyl on the sides, staple the top on the underside, flip the back down and then staple across the bottom of the backrest - no one will be looking there, and I can always make up some hidem for that.

Judy

I'm recovering some patient interview chairs for a doctor's office.  They were previously in a tweed fabric, but he wants them redone in vinyl.  The backs are a pressboard panel formed to follow the curve of the backrest and they were attached with a brad nailer through the tweed fabric.  Obviously I can't use a brad nailer on the vinyl.  I thought I could use fine upholstery tacks (actually shoemakers tacks, they're much finer) by installing them through the board first, then covering the board with vinyl and attaching it to the backrest, but the nail heads still show through the vinyl.  Any suggestions?

Judy

Thanks. I'll experiment with that - might also try some polar fleece, it's not as stiff and may just do the trick.

What does COM stand for?

Customer's Own Material
<snip>
But that means that I have to deal with the cheap crap that people find on their own.

I recall a wedding dress I did with COM - cheap crap indeed.  Never again

I just stripped a couple of Astrovan seats to recover and install in our new-to-us motorhome.  I must say, having done mostly Studebaker seats and old truck seats, I'm impressed by the automotive industry's use of velcro.  The seats have a nice contour and the covers hug the buns really well. Bitch to get them off with all that velcro though.

Here's my quandry.  The velcro teeth are embedded in the bun, and the seams are overcast (serged) in a fuzzy yarn/thread.  I have a serger but it's for dressmaking. There's no way I'll be able to replicate the fuzzy on the new covers.  If I incorporate regular velcro fuzzy into these seams they just won't lay nice and flat like the originals.

The other issue (minor) is that the driver's seat has some damage to the foam. I can build it up from the underside and it will probably be okay, but it would be nicer if I could just replace the bun.  Is there someplace these can be purchased aftermarket new? and any idea of the cost? Or should I just use my credit at the wreckers and buy another seat with a good solid bun.  Seeing as they are the same for driver/passenger, another passenger seat would do the trick. They don't seem to get as abused as the driver's side.

Thanks for your input,

Judy

Funny you should mention this - I just finished stripping a set of seats from an Astro Van - same thing - I had to cut the seam in the rear so I could get at the o-ring and clip though.