SSW Report post Posted October 30, 2016 This is my favorite office chair of all time. I bought it in Italy in 2000 while living there, and it has moved with me all over. The hardware is in great shape still, but the PU sling-style seat and armrests are dying. The wife wants me to throw it away and buy a new one, but all I can find in the stores around me is plastic rubbish. So the quest. Is it possible to fabricate a new sling-style seat/back and armrests for this chair from leather? If so, at what cost? Will leather be strong enough to hold my posterior for another 15 years, or do I need PU or some sort of backing sewn onto the leather? I don't mind machine sewn if it cuts cost. I could live with PU if it is similar to what's on the chair now (best imitation I've found to date), but I do love leather. I can disassemble the chair and send armrests (definitely required for fit) and old seat sling to use as a template. I'd rather not send the seat rails if I don't have to, but will if that's the only way to do it. Looking forward to your creative solutions/cost estimates! Album with some more photos/descriptions here. I've posted this over on the reddit /r/LeatherClassifieds subreddit as well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TinkerTailor Report post Posted October 30, 2016 (edited) The answer is Yes, Totally can be made out of leather. PU leather is marketing garbage used to sell fake, reconstituted, "leather" that looks nice in the store and has just enough leather to qualify being called such. Real leather is way too expensive for the average person and the average companies profit margin. If you make it out of a nice proper full grain 8-10 oz+, it should last another 100 years if you treat it well. Plus it would look WAY better. There are people riding on 100 year old saddles and that leather can hold there fat rears on a bouncing, moving horse. Those saddle straps are 3-4 inches wide, your seat is 18 or more. Should be fine. I would use veg tan leather myself, however there are some beautiful chrome tans from horween (and lots in italy) that would also work. Key here is choosing a leather with very little stretch. Sometimes by adjusting the design to use smaller pieces it is possible to reduce the waste. Large areas of blemish free leather big enough for a chair usually are more money than hides that may have a mark or two to work around. For instance, if the design was adjusted to have 2 strips of leather across each the back and the seat, it would be much easier to get out of a side. My office chair is 20 inches wide(~50cm), and you can frequently get straps 70-80(~180-200cm) inches long out of a side of leather. By my math it would just fit This is one project where staying away from the belly and paying attention to leather grain direction will be crucial, as a section of belly right where one of your cheeks goes will stretch more than elsewhere leaving a pothole. For instance, if you have the leather running top to bottom with the back at the right and the belly on the left, the left will stretch more and eventually be the chair will be a little crooked. Double butts(bends) are a cut from the cow with the spine right up the middle and includes the back leather on both sides for 12-24 inches depending on the cutter, no belly. This would leave a strip at least 24 inches wide, enough to run right up the seat, just. 32 inches wide would be better. These are probably the best bet for minimal waste and even stretch, with the spine of the animal going up the middle of the seat. Second best would be horizontal bands (18-24" wide) of leather cut so the spine runs horizontally....Nice belly sections are probably fine for the armrests though. I would give you a price quote but i think the shipping would be a little high........ Edited October 30, 2016 by TinkerTailor Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SSW Report post Posted October 30, 2016 1 hour ago, TinkerTailor said: [Technical expert stuff] I would give you a price quote but i think the shipping would be a little high........ Tinker -- thanks for the informative response. Things like what types of leather stretch more/less than others is why I'm not trying to tackle this on my own. I just don't know enough. That, and I lack tools. While I'm a maker by nature, mama's tolerance for new tool purchases is pretty low. Also, it looks like I left out a critical piece of info, which is size of the chair. The measurement from outside edge of pipes (including current PU) is 18.75 inches. If you took off the seat sling and laid it flat, it would be right at 36 inches long (maybe a smidgen more). You'd probably need +3 inches on both sides to wrap the side bars though, so we're up near 24 in wide by 36 in long. That would be tight on the wrap though, so a couple more inches left to right would be better. As for shipping, I use an APO, so the cost would be the same to ship to/from New York. If I was only sending the seating and arms, that shouldn't cost too much. If I was sending the other metal components, it would up the price a little, but probably not prohibitively so. If you want to throw a quote my way, don't let shipping costs stop you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TinkerTailor Report post Posted October 30, 2016 I mostly included the info so you could have some semi informed questions to ask the potential person who does the work. There are quite a few european users on here more than set up and capable of doing this work. I am not a big fan of putting any more money in the pockets of the shipping companies if I can, and I prefer to work local for a few reasons. I already use imported leathers from italy...So you would be shipping the stuff half way around the world twice to buy leather through me that I bought from your neighbour and already paid shipping on. That is alot of oceans to cross and fuel to burn for something that shouldn't be too hard to get done locally. I would add your location to the title (or ask the mods too) to attract some of the people on here from germany.. I am in Vancouver Canada which is 3900km from new york and 8000km from Berlin...... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SSW Report post Posted October 30, 2016 2 hours ago, TinkerTailor said: That is alot of oceans to cross and fuel to burn for something that shouldn't be too hard to get done locally. I can respect that and definitely appreciate the free education! Your first sig quote hits the rivet on the head... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
