Newbie Motorcycle seat.....process

[shaylajade]

I love to see how well artists from other mediums transfer to new things. Your work looks far beyond a beginner leather worker.

[tomknox]

thanks shay! i've done a little more tooling but im not ready for pics yet....hopefully more tomorrow.

[David]

Welcome to the forum Tom. The seat is looking good. I think Tom's expertise with an airbrush explains his skill in tooling. Lots of folks out there bring experience in other fields to our leather work. I'm a technical illustrator, which could explain the detail that I like to put in my tooling.

As far as a critique goes, the only thing I would say is that the holes do seem a bit large and widely spaced. I use 1/8" holes spaced about 3/8" apart and 1/4" kangaroo lace. Try a roll of that from Jim Downey. Not cheap but you'll get several seats out of a roll and you'll never use calf skin again. Kangaroo lace is not unbreakable, but it is pretty darn strong. Don't try to stretch your hides to pull the edges together, that just won't work. Pull your lace tight enough to have a very tight braid around the edge. If the lace isn't tight you have lacing that looks lumpy. When you're finished don't forget to tap your lacing with a mallet to force it to lay down flat. And no twists in the lace....keep it straight.

Very nice work thus far Tom and excellent airbrushing.

Dave

[tomknox]

Thanks dave, that means alot coming from you!! Thanks also for answering my noobie questions when you didnt have to!! The hole's are a little big and probably spaced too far apart, i tried a test piece and the holes were smaller and i could'n get the lace through twice. Question- dave, i know you use hole templets with seats that you have made before but my question is this, if i mark the back for the holes spacing, and all i have is a rotory punch, i obviously can't punch through the back because it leaves an unwanted impession on the front, how do i transfer the holes to top accurately? Am i worrying about this too much?? Also, i dont have to do the basketweave, is there another weave that would work well and maybe hide the holes being too big? This thing doesnt have to be perfect, just want to see if i could generate any intrests here locally since i paint alot of bikes. Thanks for looking guys!!!

Tyler

[David]

Thanks dave, that means alot coming from you!! Thanks also for answering my noobie questions when you didnt have to!! The hole's are a little big and probably spaced too far apart, i tried a test piece and the holes were smaller and i could'n get the lace through twice. Question- dave, i know you use hole templets with seats that you have made before but my question is this, if i mark the back for the holes spacing, and all i have is a rotory punch, i obviously can't punch through the back because it leaves an unwanted impession on the front, how do i transfer the holes to top accurately? Am i worrying about this too much?? Also, i dont have to do the basketweave, is there another weave that would work well and maybe hide the holes being too big? This thing doesnt have to be perfect, just want to see if i could generate any intrests here locally since i paint alot of bikes. Thanks for looking guys!!!

Tyler

Tyler,

I hate to disillusion you about marking the holes..... I simply lay my pattern over the leather to be punched and trace the inside of all 100 holes with a ball point pen....lol yeah you read that right.... the holes trace out smaller than the punch I use so all the ink is cut off the leather.

A different weave pattern... now that is an easy one to answer. I do a little trick that Shirley Z taught me.... I call it a fast basketweave. It is done exactly like the complicated basketweave EXCEPT every time you would take the lace under another piece of lace, go on top instead..... the result is a nice looking herringbone weave pattern. It takes less than 1/4th of the time a full basketweave takes.

hope this stuff helps.

Dave

[tomknox]

Dave, if you did'nt have the pattern/template or a seat you've never done before, then how do you go about marking the holes? Thanks!

[David]

Dave, if you did'nt have the pattern/template or a seat you've never done before, then how do you go about marking the holes? Thanks!

On a new seat pan I lay out the holes on the top leather first. I just draw a faint pencil line 3/8" in from the edge of the top leather then mark the hole position with a heavier dot from my pencil.

"I create a top leather with all the holes punched and a bottom leather with just two holes punched on the centerline at the front and rear of the leather.

Then I tie the front to the rear using only those two holes on the centerline and with the pan and padding sandwiched in between. Now I can pull the two leathers together and mark the rear leather for all the other holes. I mark a few holes then punch them using a rotary punch. About every three holes I add another tie down.

It is a slow but effective method."

See the thread Christian Bike Seat under motorcycles and biker gear. I did this several years ago. It was lost during the board crash and then saved by Johanna and Kate.

Dave

Edited December 18, 2009 by David

[tomknox]

thanks dave, also very sad what happened to chris henry. i think he was a top 10 wr in the league hands down, such a terrible thing, just when he was getting on the right track. he was the same age as me and it happened here in north carolina, kinda hit home. its just very sad.

[KenE]

Tom,

Thanks man! I was looking at the Iwata HP-BCS already, but it is really nice to get a recommendation from someone who has done alot of airbrushing and some leatherwork too. I think the $90 is money well spent if it is a good tool. I am afraid if I use an inferior tool for something like this I may never venture into detail work, or I may become turned off by airbrushes in general. I'm thinking I can buy alot of the bottles and store my die in them so they are ready to go, easy cleanup. I'm assuming I will need to spray some denatured alcohol or water through the airbrush to clean it after use or between colors, depending on the dye). Perhaps a basic airbrush book would be helpful for this kind of thing.

As always, thanks to Dave for the inspiration and help for us Newbies.

~Ken

[tomknox]

yeah you'll have to just clean it with water for water-based dye and solvent for the spirit dyes. definayly DO NOT buy a 15 dollor one on ebay!