Leather strips for caning seats?

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:30 am

Hi thought about using deer leather strips available thru our local Reserve. My thought is that when wet, leather sags and when it dries it shrinks. I don't know if using varnish or linseed oil over the leather would help or should I even be considering this approach?
Thanks for you input. Cheers Robbie.

willo · Post by **willo** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:31 am

I have wondered about this myself. Since canoes are usually stored upside down or inside the seats don't get a lot of moisture. I would think that a hide that was well coated with spar varnish would work great . If my hand made snowshoes that are now more than 50 years old can survive with a coating of varnish I don't see why a canoe seat wouldn't.

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:28 am

Rawhide lacing is used on canoe seats... it swells when wet and after varnishing, it stays waterproof, and there's no swelling and loosening in the rain.

It might be the same story for leather. Soaking the leather beforehand should make it tighten on the seat frame after drying, like rawhide.

Post by **Patricks Dad** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:41 pm

I'm certainly no expert on this subject but I've heard/read that you should only use full-grain rawhide. Split grain will be softer but will stretch more. I recently built a set of seats using 3/16" full grain rawhide. I soaked the rawhide for a couple hours before starting. After the seat was woven and the rawhide dried, it was extremely tight. After it was really dry, I put 3 fairly heavy coats of varnish on them. I just finished the canoe so can't report on thier long term health yet.

good luck.