With the holidays just over it is difficult to start new household projects, but perhaps you’re considering re-covering some furniture as part of your renovations for the coming year. Re-covering furniture can range from simply re-covering a chair seat to a major upholstery job of a chair or sofa.
Some simple upholstery tools will help you get the job done right. First, you generally will need tools to remove the existing fabric, although in some cases new fabric can be smoothly put in place right over the old fabric.
A heavy duty staple remover and a pair of pliers or diagonal nippers will help you remove the existing material. Pull off the fabric if possible and remove protruding staples with the pliers or cut them with the nippers. If it is not possible to simply pull the fabric off, then begin removing each staple. Frequently, you will find that you don’t have remove every staple to remove the fabric. Either cut off protruding staples or hammer them flat so that they do not interfere with anything.
Older pieces may have tacks instead of staples. These can be chiseled out with a ripping chisel and hammer. Don a pair of safety goggles first, because the tacks will fly out and can hit your eyes. Push the chisel head against a tack and hit the end of the chisel handle with the tack hammer’s side. Cut off or hammer in any tacks that remain after the fabric is removed.
In my next post, I’ll discuss the tools needed to replace jute webbing.
