Finally finished - First One

[jdwintx]

Well, in between helping my sister move into her new place and work and.... life, finally finished my seat. Here are some pics. I had a tough time getting the wrinkles out of the back as you can see. I think I didn't put enough fill or that I cut the piece to short and stretching it out may have caused that ripple. Any suggestions, comments or advice as always is welcome. My bike is white so I'm thinking of doing the background in a darker brown and the rest in a light tan. I'll post some more when I finish that.

[McJeep]

Wow Nice work That might be yer first seat but it's not your first leatherworking

Got a shot from directly above it? Love to see more detail on you bordering work

[MADMAX22]

Looks great. That style seat probably aint the easiest to cover.

You know IMHO I would just oil it and seal it and leave it at that. I think the naturel leather look goes really good with white.

[jdwintx]

Thanks McJeep. Actually I started leatherworking 3 months ago and this is the first thing I've actually assembled. The rest of the time I've just been working on carving and tool utilization.

Max, when you say "oil it", what exactly do you mean. Mink Oil or something similar?

Thanks.

[McJeep]

Wow! Yer a much quicker study than I am that's fo sho ;0) Nice job! <golfclap>

[tashabear]

Thanks McJeep. Actually I started leatherworking 3 months ago and this is the first thing I've actually assembled. The rest of the time I've just been working on carving and tool utilization.

Max, when you say "oil it", what exactly do you mean. Mink Oil or something similar?

Thanks.

Neatsfoot, I should think. Nice work!

[MADMAX22]

Thanks McJeep. Actually I started leatherworking 3 months ago and this is the first thing I've actually assembled. The rest of the time I've just been working on carving and tool utilization.

Max, when you say "oil it", what exactly do you mean. Mink Oil or something similar?

Thanks.

Yeah as Tashabear was saying I personally would just go with some neatsfoot or some virgin olive oil, if you oil it it will darken the leather up some (more if you give it a quick suntan) and should look really nice.

Once you oil it and its all dry I would go with some leather balm with atom wax a few coats. Then what Iusually do is a good coat of sno-seal or aussie wax. This will really keep as much water out as possible.

Now this is just an idea. You do whatever you want, I bet your gonna have many more chances to try different things. Try a few things on some scrap from the same hide and see what you like.

[jdwintx]

Well I went ahead and finished it out. I used a mixture of 6:1 Fiebings Light Brown for the background and then Walnut Oil for the rest of the seat. Preferred that over neatsfoot as the color is less grey and has a nice hue to it. Had some sitting around from a cutting board I did a few weeks ago. All in all I think it it came out pretty good. I'll post some pic's this afternoon, tried to take them last night but the artificial light was a bit harsh.

[MADMAX22]

Well I went ahead and finished it out. I used a mixture of 6:1 Fiebings Light Brown for the background and then Walnut Oil for the rest of the seat. Preferred that over neatsfoot as the color is less grey and has a nice hue to it. Had some sitting around from a cutting board I did a few weeks ago. All in all I think it it came out pretty good. I'll post some pic's this afternoon, tried to take them last night but the artificial light was a bit harsh.

Sounds real good, looking forward to some pics.

[hidepounder]

<golfclap>

That's funnny!!!

[jdwintx]

OK, here's the finished product. I give it about a B to B-, but all in all I don't think it's bad for a first seat. Lots of lessons learned. Now on to the pillon, bags, etc.. Thanks everyone for the advice and comments and still looking to find out how you avoid wrinkles when you stretch it out on a seat this size. From what I've seen on other sites it appears some builders just do a skirting that hides it and the factory splits it into 2 seperate pieces a top and bottom side, but I didn't think that would look good. Oh well, I'll just keep swimming

[azrider]

I think yours came out looking good. I learned a lot doing mine as well.

[MADMAX22]

Great finish and nice looking roadie. I think it goes with the white bike excellent.

The factory guys do split the bottom portion into two segments. Ateast on my roadliner they did. It looks fine on synthetics but not sure how it would look with leather, Im still working on that.