Wooden Chair Padding

[REDTAILHAWK]

Hello,

I was curious about a project I am in the middle of. I bought an old oak chair at a garage sale for $20 with the idea of making a leather seat on it instead of the gaudy floral material that is uphostery tacked on there now. I was curious if I should use closed cell foam like the folks here are using for motorcycles seats or what would you suggest for padding? Thanks.

[groovytech]

I would suggest a lighter density foam, the chair isn't gonna need the shock absorbtion that bike seats do. Are you gonna try to replicate floral design?

[REDTAILHAWK]

Sounds like a good idea. Won't be sitting on a Harley motor I guess. Here is a photo of the chair. Actually did the seat today. I haven't stuck a finish on the leather yet, I think I will still tack it down with some bronze colored upholstery nails.

[JustKate]

I like the design you chose for that. I've done a few chair seats similar to this. The foam I used, which worked out nicely, was the cushion foam you can get at fabric or craft supply stores. I found a few photos I shot while putting one on a stool that you may find helpful...

This shows how I mark the foam for cutting. Basically, I make a line about 1-inch inside the outer edge of the leather seat. This way, there is room for the leather to just come down over the edge of the foam all around, and make contact with the wood. With a square-shaped seat, I cut off just a little more at the corners.

After cutting the foam to size, I insert my tacks in the leather. That stands them up to be tapped into the wood seat easily while holding the leather and foam with one hand and the hammer with the other.

I just tap the tacks in part-way on the first pass, so that if anything goes wrong while I'm getting them all started, it's easy to remove them and redo any part of it you might need to.

Once all the tacks are tapped about halfway in, and you're happy with where everything ended up, you can go around a second time and confidently tap the tacks the rest of the way down.

Finished.

[REDTAILHAWK]

Thanks for the step-by-steps, JustKate. The design of the bison skull I was using was from a Southwestern pattern pack I think by Peter Main. The border I borrowed from a saddle I bought over the summer that Ann Stohlman had made. I was thinking about hitting a local fabric shop tomorrow to see what they might have. I'm getting the feeling I've used too thick of leather already. That will probably make the seat not as cushy as what I was shooting for. I also picked up an old rocking chair this summer that was missing its caning. That will probably be my next project. I was thinking because it had predrilled holes it would make for an easy lace-on leather design.

[REDTAILHAWK]

Thanks for your help everyone! Here it is:

[Anti19]

Might not be cushy like you wanted it to be, but that is one nice looking chair! Thank you for posting the results!

[REDTAILHAWK]

Thanks Anti19. I should have done this before I put the leather on to be safe, but I just got some wood stain out and touched up some of the chips and scrapes in the wood. I wonder how long it will be before somebody gets up the nerve to sit on it. I may never know how cushy it is or isn't. It was an interesting project to try.