Help with leather

[Lynn]

Hi Everyone,
I have a question for all of you amazing upholsterers who work with leather. I have done lots of boat seats, cars seats, furniture with vinyl, but very little with leather. Now I have an opportunity to do aircraft seating which is all leather all of the time. They are private planes and small passenger jets. Am I getting in over my head having only a small amount of leather experience under my belt? Or will my general knowledge of boat and car seats be enough?
I plan on doing the Coachtrim course if I get the job.
Thanks in advance,
Lynn

[sofadoc]

I think you'll do fine. Just make sure that you are working with a good quality leather, and make sure you don't under-charge. Figuring leather yardage can be a little tricky. And there might be a learning curve if there's a lot of top-stitching.
There was an auto upholsterer in my town for many, many years. He got the opportunity to do aircraft seating. He loved it so much, that he sold his auto trim shop, and did the aircraft seats out of his garage. He retired at 50.

[gene]

NDAV8R is a resident airplane expert on this forum. Search 'airplane' and similar words on this forum.

Good luck,

gene

[NDAV8R]

Hey there Lynn:
 I went through Coachtrim's advance leather workshop...It is a must! You will learn so much, also the confidence in know where to make the right cuts in your leather hide. Aviation is a NO CUT CORNERS industry...So much liability.....just watch what your doing and the main thing is to hook up with a reliable IA Aviation Mechanic to go through all the Regulations with you, and so he can sign off your work.  You will do fine. Get some good Liablity Insurance for sure. Here is a link to Dennis Wolter's AirMod Web site on his business...
http://www.airmod.com/technical/index.htm
...go through every page on his technical work...this guy does it right!!! I have attended alot of his seminars at AirVenture Fly IN at Oshkosh, WI.
  It gets hecktic at times when the aircraft owner wants the job done overnight! :o  If you have any questions, send me a PM. I am still on the learning curve (as we all are).

There was an auto upholsterer in my town for many, many years. He got the opportunity to do aircraft seating. He loved it so much, that he sold his auto trim shop, and did the aircraft seats out of his garage. He retired at 50.

Wow, I would like to know what this guy was doing...I'll be double nickels in a couple of months and retiring is not in my near future at all!

Gale.

[Lynn]

thanks Gene!

That's going to be really helpful. If i secure the position (I'll know in a couple of days), I'll actually be working for an aviation company. I know there is a lot to learn, but I'm really excited to do something different. I'll post as soon as I know!

Lynn

[baileyuph]

Go Lynn, you will do fine.  It will be exciting to learn new things and doing new things.  Your background is invaluable.  You there now, a little tuning and you will be in there to win.

Let us know.

I too would like to learn more of the finer points of leather working.  I have done some on original auto seat work and really liked it.  But, I could also use the course offered by Coach Trim, I think he has a course tailored to almost all backgrounds in the trade.  Every one of his students highly regards his course.

Doyle