Inquiring minds want to know!

[gene]

1. Do you use contact cement in your upholstery work? How often if you do, and for what types of projects?

2. I glue a mortise and tenon joint, or a dowel joint, and clamp it until the glue dries. Or, I glue a mortise and tenon joint, or a dowel joint, clamp it, put a brad nail or two into the tenon or dowels, and then take the clamp off. Will the second technique be just as good as the first?

3. How often are you able to work on personal projects at work, or do never make the time for such things?

4. How often do you use fabric adhesive, if at all? I needed to make 8 straps for back cushions today that are held to the chair frame with these straps, so the straps are visible. I cut them out and was going to sew them, but then thought of using fabric glue. For this application, the fabric glue was much faster.

5. For those of you who have been doing upholstery for a long time, is there a type of furniture upholstery that you no longer see that you enjoyed doing?

Thank you for indulging my inquiring mind.

gene

[kodydog]

1. Daily, mostly to glue pieces of foam together and to glue dacron to foam. There have been times I've glued fabric to foam.

2. I do it both ways. If I can time the glue job right I like to fix the joint with glue and clamp it and let it sit overnight. When I have a repair job that needs to be used right away I use your second method but instead of a brad nail I use a screw. Corner blocks will hold a joint together also.


3. I upholstered 4 dining seats for Rose 4 weeks ago. Personal projects usually go on the back burner and sometimes stay there for several years.
 

4. Occasionally I use tacky glue to fix a mistake. I've never tried the method you speak of.

5. I was thinking about this last week. I can't remember the last time I recovered a hide-a-bed. But the list of furniture we no longer do is getting longer every year. For instance recliners. We're getting ready to finish a church job we started 2 years ago. And as long as we stay busy this will likely be our last. It's not that I don't like doing pews but I've never liked working in remote locations away from my shop. 

[SteveA]

1- Contact cement - I use constantly - I glue down the foam, the dacron, and even cotton after I form a nice padded even layer.  Heavily used in my shop.

2- Nice woodwork - I clean up the joint and clamp over night.  No brads since they can split the wood and make it harder for the next guy.
    On frame work covered by fabric - glue and the nail gun - 4 penny size brads.  Just one nail is all you need

3- personal projects - all the time - in my shop I always have down time while things dry or harden.  Also that's the fun stuff because it's mine -

4- Fabric adhesive - the clear one - all the time to cover sins -

5- I'm not getting as much cane work as I used too.  I like doing that - it's a break from the usual stuff although matching colors is a pain.

[65Buick]

1. Have realized the extreme benefit of contact adhesive and looking into spray gun setup now.

3. Not as much recently as designer jobs come in.
4. don't really know about fabric adhesive
5.Not quite your question but really enjoy 'mid century modern'  but in my area there's not a huge market for it.

[MinUph]

1. I dont consider foam cement as contact cement. I use contact cement like weldwood on occasion to glue bile leather or vinyl to metal frame work. And other uses but not much. I do always have a can handy. As for foam cement we us quite a bit of it. Obviously to glue foam to itself or wood. Dacron, a light coat to one surface is good.

2. With the newer titebond glues overnight is really not necessary. A couple of hours is sufficient as long as you careful with the joint. Glued and screwed is about as good as it gets. But again is mostly unnecessary. The screw helps hold the joint till the glue dries. A virgin glue joint is very strong. I hate seeing DIY repairs on wood joints.

3. Sometimes, I can work it in. I have 2 sofas to be done. I will get them when we get slow. Hopefully that will be never but maybe.

4. Fabric glue. For little repairs on goofs I like the new clear elmers. Anything serious gets replaced. Glue guns are the new sliced bread aren't they.

5. I guess it would be Antiques, not as many in Florida as the NE. But they are time consuming. I used to enjoy making wood sections to match the original in shape and form when it was missing or no good anymore.

[baileyuph]

1. Due to my diversification, glue (all types is a way of life. remind you that I also do marine and auto.

2.  When dealing in wood related repairs, don't cut corners and always use the best materials for it all.
Most of the wood related work is on expensive furniture and on this work, do it the best - usually better than new.  An additional point, as technologies have changed, especially in new furniture, so have
materials used in building the furniture.  Just a glimpse of what I am referring to is so much of the newer needs repairs more often which deals with plywood.  Our techniques change but not the objective of
giving the customer a reliable product.
3. I miss the work that used tapestries.  Most of those materials are so beautiful and were always
associated with quality builds out of expensive wood.  Wonder when that material will be popular again?
4.  Adhesives in furniture fabric work.....wouldn't say not much demand  to do what I set out to do.  Adhesives are routine in some auto trim work and not an option.

5. There is other work in all the different dimensions and just do it!  Caning and outside webbing work
to give a hint.

I like what I do, whatever it is.

Doyle

[sofadoc]

1) I use Camie adhesive for foam, which is a form of contact glue. Rarely have I used actual contact cement such as Weldwood.

2)I do both.

3) Every minute that I spend working on my own stuff is costing me double. So I don't. The lovely Mrs. Locke buys her furniture at the store just like the rest of America.

4) Rarely use fabric adhesive. Occasionally along a small area as a repair to save major teardown.

5) I used to make an extra $500 or more every week (in very little time) re-sewing trampolines.  Then Wally World flooded the market with cheap POS trampolines. They pretty much killed that fad entirely.

[Darren Henry]

"4. How often do you use fabric adhesive, if at all? "

I assume you mean something like Sluyter 476 in a spray bomb. I live by that stuff! I call it "liquid pins". I don't expect it to hold much most of the time ---just keep things in place until I sew them.

e.g ) zipper install---spray the edge, fold over 1/2" and sew in the zipper. Add a piece of vintex to a boat tarp where it may chafe ---glue the patch in place and then scrunch the tarp under the needle. Etc...

[gene]

Thank you for the replies. This was much appreciated.

I am self taught. My mentor was a set of DVDs by Merv Knutson, a retired upholsterer who learned to use a camera after he retired. It's great to have a "reality check" with other upholsterers to see how I'm doing and if I'm doing things in a similar manner.

I think these answers will also help anyone else reading this forum who may be interested in the upholstery business.

gene