UPHOLSTERY MATERIAL

[trini]

I am looking for material, BACKING BOARD , for a 1928 D B upholstery. This material is a black tar soaked paper about 3/16 inch thick. It is used to cover the fender well. It lends itself to shape  around the fender well. The arm rest sits on the fender well. Any luck ?

Thank you.

 

[John_Mereness]

Restoration specialties & Supplies or also https://www.miamicorp.com/

[Rusty_OToole]

Upholstery supply places sell a thick black cardboard material that may be what you want. There is a thin stock for kitchen chairs and a thicker material for sofas. The thick stuff works well for door panels,  and should be what you need. It is used for the back of sofas, chairs etc. under the upholstery cloth.

Edited October 6, 2019 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[trini]

Thank you John for the tip. They have a good web site but  I did not find what I want. I will go the route of Rusty_Otoole 

Cheers.

[PFitz]

When your doing a search, depending on who is selling it, panel board sometimes goes by other names.  And there are differences in thickness and flexability so it pays to call to get details, and/or, samples.

 

Panel board

https://albanyfoam.com/product-category/panel-board/

https://www.perfectfit.com/15347/Chipboard-Car-Panelboard.html

http://www.rochfordsupply.com/shop/Automotive/Automotive_Misc/Panel_Board_-_Waterproof/index.html

 

But another upholstery supplier calls it Cowl board. Odd since they are one of the biggest suppliers to the marine upholstery trade.

https://www.miamicorp.com/products/SUPPLIES @@26 TOOLS/DOOR PANEL BOARD/COWLBOARD.aspx

 

Paul

 

 

Edited October 8, 2019 by PFitz (see edit history)

[Bob Zetnick]

I got mine at a local auto upholstery place...I also wanted it waterproof in case window rubber ever leaked.

[Rusty_OToole]

Door panels should always be backed with plastic sheet, like factory. Doors always contain moisture that runs down the window.

[trini]

Thank you all mates. That is good advice.

[Guest]

One of our local auto upholstery shops (now gone out of business) always used plywood "doorskins".  Same thickness and half the price.

[Bloo]

And plywood is probably better too, and then there is also masonite. Either would be a better long term solution for a door panel than cardboard.

 

But if I understood the original post, he is looking for that black stinky gooey stuff that will form to a compound curve. I have found it in cars with upholstery sewn or glued to it. When I was doing that work professionally, I never knew of a source. I do not recall how we dealt with that. Neither that "panelboard" that trim shops often use, nor plywood, nor masonite will form over a compound curve.

 

I don't remember what I did, but I probably cut wedges out of panelboard, pushed the seams together, glued heavy cotton duck to both sides, sewed it, and then hit any remaining high spots with a mallet. It sure wouldn't look pretty from the back, but it would work (Trimacar is probably screaming while reading this).

 

In my mind, trini's question remains. What was that flexible black stuff, and where do you get it?

 

 

Edited October 9, 2019 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Spinneyhill]

On 10/6/2019 at 1:48 AM, trini said:

This material is a black tar soaked paper about 3/16 inch thick

That sounds a lot like what we called "malthoid". It was used as a damp proof course under house foundations, under the bearers on top of the piles. Roof building paper may be similar? It broke when cold but could be bent when warm-hot. Smelly stuff - "tar" may have been coal tar, which today is known as a toxin.

 

You may be able to buy a bituminous paint and make something from gasket paper or similar?

 

[trini]

The panels on the doors are flat and it looks like a heavy card board used in home construction. (Hard board ? ) come in 4x8 sheets . The originals were not well fitted to the doors and that tells me the workers were probably doing piece work.. I Have it down pat. They are nailed to the doors with 1/2 inch headless nails. At the edge of the doors there are slots with a 1/2 square wood  inside. I would  like to show a picture of those wood but it does not show well. On the 4 doors  panels, in the center are fabrics sewn pockets onto the card board panels. Must have used a giant sewing  machine. The sticky part are the two panels in the back against the wheel well where in some places the material lays flat and it is pronouncedly bumpy on the wheel well. I think you guys are on track when you say it looks like the sheets under roof shingles. Here and there I can see the different layers unravelling. It is a challenge but I am not going to make that a problem.   You can see the dimple of the wheel well on the top with the rusty shade. This one is for the left side    

[trimacar]

None of the discussion bothers me!  Inside quarters/armrests are a big problem, and I've cobbled together some assemblies, as you cannot duplicate the heavy formed compound curves with any material I've found.  There are Fiberglas repros available for some Packards, I understand.

 

I start with a shaped piece of plywood for the armrest, and work from there.  The compound curve over a wheel well from armrest to door can be duplicated by attaching a layer of muslin over the ever present bracing, padding, and installing fabric on that, with no board backing.

 

As to door panels, using a waterproof panel board and putting a plastic backing on it is good practice.  I've never seen an original door panel, pre-WW2, that came from the factory like that, though.  The factory just used water resistant board, and figured that would last long enough.

[trini]

I think I figured it out.The material is laminated with several ,may be 15 or more  layers of the /or similar material used under asphalt shingles. The piece is then pressed on a mold to form the wheel well. Look at the picture closely and you will see the mohair folded and sewn around  the panel. Now I will have to rattle my brain (I do not have much left since I am 83 and a half years old) how to overcome this problem. I will keep you posted.

[Dodgenz]

Could you use several layers of the black roofing paper in pieces and do something like a paper mache shape? If you use the self-supporting type it's thicker and would need less layers, but you'd need an appropriate glue being as it's pretty oily. 

[Rusty_OToole]

Years ago I read about how they made compound curved panels for house trailers out of paper in WW2. Wheel wells and roof corners. They had a mold and built up layer after layer of brown paper dipped in glue. Probably hot horse hoof glue. Today you would use fibreglass.

[trini]

I think I will make a casting with plaster of paris and put the layers one by one with glue.