OK Furniture Guys

[Mojo]

I just bought a used cigar chair and a recliner/couch. The leather recliner couch is in good shape and has no issues but the cigar chair I will have to reupholster the seat and back cushion at a later date. It is cracked in a few places.

The chair I have seen the style before and is of excellent quality, extremely heavy and very solid. I love the design and it was exactly what I was looking for ( though the seat cusion is about 3 inches to high. I am guessing the cushion is 8 inches in height.

My problem is that I cannot find a tag on it anywhere and have no idea who makes it. But there is a tell tale silver horses head logo that is nailed to the side of the chair near the bottom side corner.

Does this horses head logo ring a bell with anyone ? Have any of you seen this ?

Any info would be appreciated. Thank you.

Chris

[kodydog]

Is the chair old? Pictures please.

[Mojo]

I had to attend a Christmas show at my wifes high school so wasnt able to take any. I will take some tomorrow and post them.

Chris

[gene]

Probably not any help, but I'm thinking of the movie The Godfather.

gene

[sofadoc]

I couldn't help you if you sat the chair down in my living room. I pay absolutely no attention to furniture brands.

The cheap stuff from places like Ashley gets re-branded often because they know that their reputation is shot quickly.

And some of the better quality stuff seems to be regional.

Any time I do try to research the brand on a nice piece of furniture in my shop, it's always an older piece, and the company is now defunct.

And name-brand companies like Broyhill and Henredon have certainly cut corners in recent years in order to compete with budget priced stuff.

Probably not any help, but I'm thinking of the movie The Godfather.

Is the horse head a chess piece? It might be Palladin. ;)

[byhammerandhand]

[Mojo]

Keith, that is not the horse that is on this chair.

I will get pictures soon.

I just bought two full cow hides off E-bay that some guy was using as curtains. if it is not upholstery grade my wife will use them to make purses. For $ 110 for them both which included shipping I figured why not. He said he paid 450 for each one at Tandy.

never heard of someone making leather curtains before.....lol

I like screwing around and sewing with leather. :)

Chris

[Mojo]

I finally got around to taking some pictures. There are 4 that you can page through.

1.) Has anyone seen this horses head logo ?
2.) How difficult will this chair be to recover ?

I would love to recover this with the leather I just bought. I love the chair, it is comfortable, it is the style I wanted but am wondering what you guys think.

Here are the photos: http://s181.beta.photobucket.com/user/throgmartin/media/Upholstery%20Projects/CigarChairbefore4_zps514723c5.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

Thanks for all your help.

Chris

[sofadoc]

As far as leather chairs go, that one isn't particularly difficult. You probably won't be able to save all of those large nailheads (some of the heads will break off when you pry them out).

Is that an attached seat and back cushion? Separate ones would be easier for you, but take more yardage.

Never seen that horsehead logo before.

Have you done much top-seaming? Such as around the seat cushion? You could cord it instead, if you have a welt foot.

If this is your first serious attempt at furniture upholstery, that chair is a good one to start on. Not too hard, not too simple.

If all you have is 2 hides, I don't think you'll make it.

[kodydog]

That chair is definitely a keeper. Looks like if you just recovered the cushions it would be good as new.

[MinUph]

These chairs are probably very comfortable Chris. As Kodydog puts it recovering the cushions might be enough. The Black one's back is pretty shot but that and a new seat cushion would get you playing with Leather and you can take it from there. As SD put it 2 hides might not be enough it would be close. The chairs are not that hard to reupholster. Leather is not as easy to work with as fabric but hey the prices are right. The front arm pleats look wrong. They should fold the other way. If you do them over this will be the hardest part of the whole job. The nails are replaceable even if you use standard #9 ones it would look good. Those large nails always looked a bit gaudy to me.
  Lemme know if you need help or get stuck.

[Mojo]

Thanks everyone. The cushions ( Both ) are sewn in. I am thinking just replacing the cushions at this time. The leather I got is a different tone but I think the contrast may look good.

Paul, you probably should have never offered your help because I am probably going to have to call on you. if it was vinyl, not a problem. But leather scares me a little. :)

I have sewn with leather before and I enjoyed sewing it but this is a much bigger project. Just a touch apprehensive I would say. I need to figure out how to remove the cushions with them being sewn in. Any pointers ?

Chris

[sofadoc]

There's no good way to get the cushions out without removing other parts. Either you'll have to carefully remove the front band, outside arms, outside & inside back panels to access where the cushions are attached, or cut the cushions out. Then you'll have to do something to cover the raw edges left by cutting them out.

I think that you'll be happier if you recover the entire chair. I don't think that the top arms are long for this world anyway. Since you won't have enough leather, you could add a coordinating cloth or vinyl fabric on the outsides.

I agree with Paul about the nailheads. Either replace with smaller ones, or fewer big ones.

I'm not saying that it can't be done (cushions only). But if a customer off the street came in wanting me to do it, I would either turn the job down, or charge more than it's worth.

[Mojo]

I will get the measurements of the hides and then maybe you guys can give me a clue if I will have enough or not.

The one idea I had is identical to yours Dennis. I could cover the arms and cushions in leather and then the back and sides in a coordinating premium vinyl. I may go crazy and buy another hide that is imprinted with an exotic stamp such as gator and then use that in strategic locations.

I toured a manufacturers facility that makes high end buses ( 2.0 million and up ). They used exotic leathers in contrasting colors on center panels of their seats. They were really nice looking and kind of what I had in mind. I will see if I can find a picture or two and post them.

I am not a big fan of these huge nails either. I agree with all of you they appear tacky. Our couch has the smaller ones and I prefer those.

Thanks again for all the help guys.

Chris

[Mojo]

If you look at this slide show, the drivers seat has an inset on the back panel. This was the idea I had.

I toured this facility and got to see their upholstery shop. They have a massive woodshop and custom build all of their furniture ( except the cockpit seats which they order the frames from the manufacturer ).

They have a steam machine and bend all their own wood which is why many of their living room couches and chairs have many curves to them. Their upholsterer is an older Japanese guy that does some amazing work.

Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com//photos/millenniumluxurycoaches/sets/72157629832513172/show/

Let me know what you think about using an inset of a different imprinted leather.

Chris
Chris