The Upholstery Forum

@John Long ,

I think you need to practice on that chair of yours Mr.

LOL. I guess I am going to have to. Someone on the hotrodders.com forum said it looked like it had been blown up with baked bean damage.

@John Long ,

Thats exactly what I was thinking

@BigRig Now it's not that funny. Three rolling on the floors would have been sufficient......

John

@John Long ,

I was having fun hitting those icon buttons You are a master trimmer and we would love to see how you handle that chair.

@BigRig

Have you considered, my skill set may be the very reason I have not attempted it yet?

John

@John Long ,

We can spot a seasoned trimmer Nothing you have posted has been anything but perfect! I bet if we all posted our work chairs they would look the same, mine is bad and that vinyl on that chair tears like that on them all. I have seen lots of those chairs.

Hey, all, new guy here and I need a work table.

I was thinking of getting two 30" x 80" hollow-core doors ($40 each) and putting a couple hinges between them (on bottom) for a partially foldable 60" x 80" work table. Has anyone used hollow-core doors for this? I bet they'd stay flat -- just not sure they're durable enough.

Also thought about plywood, but then I'd need to fasten 1x6" boards on both sides to get 60" wide, and I'd want a skirt or stringers to keep it flat/stiff...I have the tools to do all that, but not sure I want to spend the time making it if a couple of doors will work well for $80.

Thanks for any thoughts and happy holidays to all.

B

@Blucher, The 2 doors sound like a good plan to me. They should also provide a smooth surface that plywood would not.

Thank you, John. If I go that way, I'll let the forum know what I find out...

@Blucher , if your doing this as a hobby then those doors should work fine. I really dont think they will have much tolerace to shifting seats around on their base though. It may seems like a gentle cut and sew but things can get banged up pretty quickly.

Really interesting Idea. I have never seen that done before but it might work well if you are just using is as a lay out table. Probably wouldntbe strong enough if your using it for a work table as well.

@John, I agree a hollow door is not goingto take the rocking of the seat bases very well and I often pick up and drop down on a leg as we all do. You might end up with holes in the doors But way to improvise

Thanks, guys. Maybe I'll glue down a layer of masonite or 1/4" lauan on top of the work surface...planning to do boat canvas, curtains and stuff like that more than auto seats, at least at first, and may use horses for auto seats if I get into that. So it'll really be mainly a cut table, rather than a workbench.

I've heard of people using ping pong tables ... are they strong/durable enough to use as work tables? I was thinking the doors would be stiffer/more stable (and cheaper) than a ping pong table, while serving the same purpose.

@Blucher ,

I like the idea of gluing down some masonite. Really make due with what you got and can afford, the ping pong table would be a great cutting table.

Blucher wrote: ↑Sat Dec 28, 2019 12:36 pm Thanks, guys. Maybe I'll glue down a layer of masonite or 1/4" lauan on top of the work surface...planning to do boat canvas, curtains and stuff like that more than auto seats, at least at first, and may use horses for auto seats if I get into that. So it'll really be mainly a cut table, rather than a workbench.

I've heard of people using ping pong tables ... are they strong/durable enough to use as work tables? I was thinking the doors would be stiffer/more stable (and cheaper) than a ping pong table, while serving the same purpose.

For canvas work bigger is better.
I started with 4 saw horses and a sheet of plywood.
Even cheaper than the doors.

@BigRig, @miket, My buddy that introduced me to auto trimming gravitated toward boat work. As his work began to involve more and more canvas work, he built himself an "air table." Basically it was an 8 x10 foot table with a double top about 4” apart. The top was coated with slick tempered masonite and had holes drilled every so often and was air tight except for those holes. He had a blower hooked up to the space between the tops and when he was sewing a large canvas piece, it kind of hovered 1/8" off the table. He could move the whole thing effortlessly sitting at the sewing machine. It was fun to watch.

That is such a cool idea!

John Long wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2020 6:19 pm @BigRig, @miket, My buddy that introduced me to auto trimming gravitated toward boat work. As his work began to involve more and more canvas work, he built himself an "air table." Basically it was an 8 x10 foot table with a double top about 4” apart. The top was coated with slick tempered masonite and had holes drilled every so often and was air tight except for those holes. He had a blower hooked up to the space between the tops and when he was sewing a large canvas piece, it kind of hovered 1/8" off the table. He could move the whole thing effortlessly sitting at the sewing machine. It was fun to watch.

Thats cool!

@John Long ,

That really is a cool idea! I would really like to see that in action.