my new art work seats

[BruceGibson]

David,

Awesome, as always. If it's okay with everyone, I'll just sit here humbled.

[whinewine]

http://tandyleatherfactory.com/products.asp?dept=260[/url] )The lace threads into the back end of a solid brass cylinder with a rounded point tip. I've used them before, not for anything fancy just a crisscross type lace, they seem to work well. just wanted to mention it.

the perma-loc needles are great with latigo-type lace.

with use, lace tips seem to become more & more flexible & to continue on, you have to either dip them into a glue or lacquer to harden them up or re-cut the tip. permalocs just screw on. i've used them since the '70s, when they were known as 'life-eye' needles. tandy has 3 different sizes, the middle size being the most commonly used for latigo. i don't use the smallest for anything other than the 1mm & 2mm round lacing, they are way too thick for flat lace.

[Guest]

Hey All,

Thanks for the great comments and suggestions I'll look into all the needle suggestions....I'll try anything that may speed things up. Johanna's comment even prompted me to redraw my patterns to better align the holes. I had patterns that worked and the business took off so quickly that I never thought to perfect the patterns to make them even better. Thanks Johanna! ...sorry for being away for so long....I felt a cold coming on and before I knew it I had full blown pneumonia! Great fun, missed three days at work and felt really terrible.....I've been away from the leather shop for a few days.....and this weekend I did go to see my older son and help him work on his new scoot (a bobber)... I had fun; but for him it was just like being back at the bike shop.....We are shooting to have it done and on the road by the end of July....It's tough when we both have real jobs and need to squeeze in making a dozen seats a month....It doesn't leave much time for bike building. I have one seat order for the Smoke Out that is due in a couple weeks....I'll post some pics when done..... I sure wish I could see the bike before I get started! Oh and they already told me....it is to be black! How can such creative bike builders be satisfied with black seats on everything...@!@#@%$**()$@%(that's cursing in case you wondered).

Dave Theobald

still stunned that people visit here to look at MY posts? Wow, I don't know what to say.

[Roger]

the smokeout is just a couple weeks away. i am still hoping to put together enough cash to make the trip this year.

i use perma-loc needles for all my lacing. most all my stuff is done with 1/8" roo lace and they work great for that.

i have a jumbo that i use for latgo and 1/4" roo

[Johanna]

For anyone reading this thread...this is what works for me. YMMV

I use Life-Eye (Permalock) needles, too. If the leather lace breaks off inside, just hold the needle with a pair of pliers and burn it out. I trim the lace to a point and screw it in. I also sharpen Life-Eye needles. I do not like the pronged (hooked) ones at all. It seems like they lose the lace and tear up my hands. A Life-Eye can take quite a tug, securely. As I'm lacing, I never set the needle down (It keeps the lace from twisting) and I use my left hand for the final tug and pinch. If you do twist the lace with a Life-Eye, you can just unscrew the lace from the needle and yank out the errant stitches, rather than wrestling the lace right side up through the holes with a pointy modeling tool.

Anytime I have to sew two pieces together, if at all possible, I punch my holes with the two pieces right on top of each other (one punch, two holes) and that method helps to line up my holes better. I can't carve leather worth a toot, but I can lace and sew like a wild thing. I had to keep up with Little Jon when we had the shop, and our income was determined by how fast and how much we could get done, with our own hands.

Johanna

[Guest]

I am definately going to get some of the Permalock needles and give them a try. It sounds like they could speed things up a little bit.

I'll try to shed some light on the lacing issues that I brought up previously, First, the seat pan it is 14 gauge steel weighing in excess of 6 pounds. To make things more interesting it has four very wicked bolts welded out the back side of it. Even when they are wrapped for my protection, they have a way of finding their way to the most inconvenient/painful spots as I work. I punch my holes very small (less than half the size of the lace) because I want little or none of the hole to show on the top. This means that each stitch must have an awl....(not a leather awl, a plain old Stanley scratch-awl) pushed (FORCED) through each pair of holes before the lace goes through. This temporairly enlarges the holes. It also slows down the lacing.

With regard to hole alignment, punching the holes in the top and bottom of the seat at the same time is not possible.. They are totally different shapes and sizes. The seat back is 14 1/8" long from front to rear, the seat top is 13" long from front to rear. I'll try to show this in a couple pics.

The seat top and seat back must be tied down to the pan and padding before lacing starts.....so the process goes something like .... enlarge a pair of holes with the awl and pull the lace through, cut out the tie down in the next pair of holes and enlarge this pair of holes with the awl in preparation for the next stitch. Straighten out the lace in preparation for the next stitch. These extra steps mean that you must lay the needle down between each step and straighten out the lace before making the next stitch because you will NEVER get 1/4" roo lacing to turn around in a hole as small as I use. Each stitch is then pulled very tight. Tight enough to pull the seat front and seat back together over the 1/2" or 3/4" padding and 1/8" seat pan. Mind you this is 8-9 oz. DRY leather. All the time you are doing this you fight with a heavy steel seat with nasty, painful bolts poking your legs and stomach at every turn. I can really fly when I'm lacing a wallet, checkbook, notebook or holster. This is nothing like lacing a wallet. But it still beats wet molding for an old guy with arthritis in his hands.

The last photo shows the tie downs that hold everything together as I lace....I now use more of them than shown. The lacing seen here is purely decorative as is the stitching.

I hope this explains why it takes so long.

The two seats shown here are ones that I made for my son. The artwork is his tattoo. The seat on the left is the VERY first seat that I ever made. I/8" calfskin lace and all....It is also a different seat pan very light and cheap when compared to what I use now. The seat on the right has been on his bike for almost a year, he changed when I made the same seat for him in black......another biker in love with black seats.

Dave Theobald

Edited June 3, 2007 by David