Best Upholstery Tools and their Functions

Upholstery tools

A seat needs to be dressed to look appealing and be comfortable. A comfortable seat is essential for the health of individuals. There are a lot of steps involved in upholstery. The steps involved in upholstery include stripping down, frame examination and repair, webbing, placing springs, stuffing, and stitching among other upholstery work. To complete these processes, several tools are required. Some of the tools include rubber mallet, scissors, needle-nose pliers, stapler, upholstery needle, webbing stretcher, and claw tool.

Staple gun

In upholstery, staple guns are used to drive heavy metal staples into wood, metal, or plastic. The pins hold together fabrics to the primary material such as wood. Staple guns are hand-held machines and are also known as trigger tackers. There are three different types of staple guns, and they are pneumatic, manual, and electric staple guns. The power source defines the classification of the staple gun. Manual staple guns can cause fatigue and cannot apply staples faster like the powered staple guns. Staple guns have different forms in the way they are manufactured while some have long noses others have wire guides and others like the forward action. The staple guns with a long nose are very effective in driving nails into recessed areas while the forward action staple guns can put pressure where the staple is ejected. The wire guides in other staple guns help in guiding the staple guns from driving the staples into wires. To staple webbing, in place, the upholstery staple guns are used.

Mallet

A mallet is used in helping to remove staples. Some staples do not come out even after using staple pullers and other tools. A mallet can help in applying more force to the staple puller and therefore easing the removal of staples.

Tack Pullers

To remove the old fabric from the upholstered furniture, an upholsterer will use tack pullers. The layers underneath the upholstery fabric will need to be inspected before replacing them because their wear might be only on the cloth.

Pliers

There are various types of pliers in upholstery work. They include pulling pliers, and they are used to pull out staples. The pulling pliers can penetrate narrow spaces the design of the nose ensures that it is easy to take hold of staples, and getting underneath the staples. There are spring clip pliers which are used to join springs and seat wire. Another plier type is flat nose pliers, and they are used to straighten bent wires.

Side cutters

There are instances whereby staple pullers will not work because maybe the staples are lodged in narrow crevices, and the side cutters are used to remove them. Side cutters are used to cut wires as well, and their design enables this. The head has a special design to facilitate viewing, gripping, and pulling.

Staple pullers

During the upholstery process, some staples are lodged in the wrong way, or during reupholstering the staples need to be pulled out to ensure that the upholstery is smooth.

Ripping hammer

The ripping hammers help in dislodging staples and fabric from the frame of the furniture. These hammers have double-edged, and this feature helps in dislodging the staples and the fabric.

Webbing stretchers

Webbing stretchers can be used to tighten webbing that has been existing or attach new webbing; the tool enables the upholsterer to gather webbing material close to the frame.

Tack hammer

A tack hammer is a very useful tool during the webbing process. The tack hammers have a magnetized split end, and it helps in holding the tacks in place before they are driven into the wood or plastic. Before hammering the tacks the tack hammers hold them in place also known as securing webbing with tacks.

Spring stretcher

Springs that have many curves or are very windy can be tedious to tighten or hold, and therefore they require a spring stretcher. The spring is attached on one side, and the lever on the spring stretcher is used to pull it to place.

Wire cutter

Every piece of furniture has a different size, and thus springs need to be fitted. To cut springs so that they can fit the appropriate length depending on the furniture, the upholsterer will use a wire cutter.

Spring end former

In the springing process, spring end formers are used to bend the spring ends to ensure that it does not dislodge once it is mounted on the furniture frame.

Upholstery regulator

Before applying the top cover of the upholstery, the various layers on the furniture should be smoothed and the upholstery regulator is used to do that.

Seam stretcher

To sew blind stitches, an upholsterer will require a seam stretcher to smooth out wrinkles and stretch out seams. They can also be used as a caliper.

Scissors

The fabric needs to be cut to an appropriate size for the furniture. Scissors are used to trim and cut fabric used for upholstery.

Hot glue gun

Hot glue guns are used for welting.

Decorative nail gun

Sometimes furniture needs decorative nails, and to drive them in the upholsterer will need a decorative nail gun. The decorative nail gun will require to be loaded with a substantive amount of nails to avoid reloading frequently.

Curved needle kit

There are a lot of functions for the curved needle kit. It is used for slip-stitching and attaching the outer fabric to seat work, edge rolls, and box edges.

There are a lot of tools that are used in the different stages of upholstery and they are essential in the entire process.