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How to Use Upholstery Tacks

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Designing and making furniture is not easy work. Most especially if you would involve upholstery in the process. Upholstered pieces of furniture have a lot of elements to consider before actually making it. Like for example which type of upholstery sewing thread goes well together with what specific kind of fabric like leather, canvass, velvet, silk, and so much more. Not only that, but you should also consider the type, size, and thickness of wood that you would need. In designing and making furniture, you should consider all of the details before proceeding with the construction. You would even have to consider what kind of upholstery nails you would like to use, and how it would add to the overall design, look and feel of your output. If you do not want to have something that is as big and eye catching as an upholstery nail, you could also consider using upholstery tacks as a material to use to finish your designed piece of furniture.

What are Upholstery Tacks Used For

Upholstery tacks have the similar function as upholstery nails, but the main difference is that tacks are not as hugely seen on the pieces of furniture as compared to nails. Both upholstery nails and tacks have the purpose of attaching any kind of material, fabric, or padding to a piece of furniture you are making. More than that however is that it also adds a decorative accent to each piece of furniture that you make so that each piece could be unique and be its own piece. This where detail-oriented and keen eyed people have an advantage, because even the smallest part of a piece of furniture such as a tack or a nail would still actually have a bearing on design and build.

How to Determine Which Upholstery Tack to Use

Upholstery tacks can be divided into two kinds – fine tacks and improved tacks. For fine tacks, these are mostly used for closed weave fabrics because of its design of having a small head and shank. While for the improved tacks, it is the exact opposite of having a design that is thicker and larger, so they can be used for webbings and hessians or other open weave fabrics and materials. Typically, these upholstery tacks are available in three different sizes per kind: 10mm, 13mm and 15mm. In determining which length of tack to use for the piece of upholstered furniture that you are constructing, it would depend on the kind and thickness of fabrics and materials you are working with – ranging from whether you are attaching the fabric as a top cover or as bottom cloth, or maybe even as a frame for your furniture.

How to Work with Upholstery Tacks

One common problem that most people face when working with upholstery tacks is that they have a great tendency to actually bend and break as you hammer it in. It takes some getting used to and a bit of practice to get used to the proper technique of using upholstery nails, and with the right tools, it may not be as hard as it seems to be. Your best friend when working with upholstered furniture is actually an upholstery hammer. This would give you a better angle to attach the upholstery tacks better and correctly put together the fabrics and wood to come up with an actual whole piece of furniture. If it does not work, then you should look into the types and thickness of the wood and fabrics that you are using. These factors would actually play a crucial role in the effectivity of using upholstery tacks or nails to piece together the furniture that you would like to make.

How to Take Care of Upholstered Furniture

With components such as upholstery nails and tacks, you should bear in mind that there are proper ways to take care, clean and maintain your pieces of upholstered furniture. Most upholstered pieces of furniture by nature are designed as indoor furniture because some of its components are not rust-resistant. In this case, most (if not all) kinds of upholstery nails and tacks fit in this description. So cleaning such pieces should be done properly and with care so that your furniture would not wear out easily. With pieces of furniture made with upholstery nails and tacks, all you have to do is to wipe them off with a dry cloth that is soft so that when you rub it on the nails and tacks, it would not damage them in any way. Polishing creams are a big no-no because these nails and tacks have a finish that could easily be taken off with such chemicals. Extra caution should also be taken when dealing most especially with upholstery tacks because they can be very sharp to work with.

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