Advise on what leather to buy for seat

@LORENZOJOSE

That helps a lot. Thank you. I probably need to buy online, which is part of my problem. Also, I am buying for a chair I’m making for a client. I’ve asked her to look through Tandy’s web pages, select a few. Tandy has a store about an hour away, so I’ll drive down, look for things they actually have that are close to what my client picks, and then haul back what she doesn’t want.

If anyone knows of leather supply houses in the broader DC area, please let me know! Tandy is out in Baltimore. Something closer to DC would be better, especially on the MD side or Northern VA side.

Ed wrote:

@LORENZOJOSE does the rotary Olfa cutter work on thick foam, like 4″ high density? Do you do things as Paul does, namely thick foam on a ply base, or do you use frames, webbing, etc., with thinner foam?

The 45 mm Olfa style cutters will cut the 4” foam Pauls shows, closed cell foams like the 1/2” ensolite I mentioned, fabric, and leather. Just make sure it’s sharp.

You have to squash the foam under something like a board or a straightedge so the 45 mm wheel will go through in one pass. It might take more than one pass otherwise.

If you are cutting several chairs at once, it is sometimes worth taking a couple minutes to make a pattern out 1/4” or 1;2” MDF or ply . I have a pattern I keep for a style of leather tool roll I like which saves time when I have to make a couple up. Just place the pattern on the work, press town, and trace around it.with the cutter.

I’ve done upholstery over ply , tempered Masonite, and a web frame. The web frame is a bit cushier, which is why I use the ensolite uder the foam on solid chairs.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 1 week ago by Larry Geib.

More leather questions…..I ended up buying a full hide. I have about 4/5 of it left and need to figure out how to store it given that I have very little room. I was going to fold it into a box, but apparently you’re not supposed to do that because it can crease. I’m not a leather shop, so I can’t leave it on a “horse.” What are practical ways for a woodworker to put aside a full hide?

By the way, Tandy Leather does not seem to have managed the hide well in that they did not have it flat or on a horse in the store. Instead, they folded it over and then rolled it loosely. So, there is a mild crease down the spine. Maybe I’m being unfair and this is typical?

For furniture making, would you ever cut a piece that goes across the spine or would you always put the spine at an edge where it will be pulled under and stapled? If so, I could split the whole hide down the middle along the spine and this would make it easier to store. I’ve resisted doing that because it reduces the size of the biggest piece I could take from the material.

Thanks Sven-Olof. Strength is one consideration. Another is whether there is a change in orientation, stretchability, etc., at the spine that would cause the stretched leather to always show a line along the spine. This could be via a line of wrinkling, a line of puckering, etc. Just to clarify, I was going to split along the spine, not across the spine, i.e., a cut from neck to tail along the spine.