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Webbing seat staple length?

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Colleagues,

What staple length do you recommend for 1-1/2" seat webbing? McMaster-Carr has 3/8" stainless steel staples in the standard Arrow T-50 3/8" wide crown pattern but only in 3/8" length. Their "Nickle" staples are in several lengths but at more than twice the cost....

Thanks


Lance
 
What is the seat frame made of? I've never tried it but I'd be surprised if you could drive a T-50 staple into something like ash unless you had a pneumatic gun for them. But maybe I'm wrong.

I use my 18 gauge bostitch narrow crown stapler with 1/2" staples just because it's what I have.

Alan
 
Most seats I redo in webbing I use a short staple, I'd have to go look for the length, maybe a 1/4"? It's not a 1/2", no offense Alan! Like you I go with what I have on hand. Most times it's ash seats so I do have to use a small hammer to tap them in tight. I think I have write up of doing that and if I can find I'll send you a link or post here. Pretty simple to do and I find it relaxing. One hint, if you have a propane noozle on a small tank you can heat up a putty knife blade and then melt the webbing for a clean cut.
 
Thank you gentlemen.

I have two pneumatic staplers. One is a construction gun and not a candidate for this stuff. The other is a current production Bostitch pneumatic stapler that will shoot 18 or 16 gauge staples. I doubt the Bostitch throwing 3/8" staples will care at all that the seats are ash. If 3/8" will do the job that's what I'll order. I need to order some other stuff from McMaster-Carr anyway.

And Alan is correct in that a test drive on scrap ash with a manual T-50 stapler with regular steel staples wasn't the answer I was looking for.

Best regards to all,


Lance
 
As an update: I was in the local Lowes this evening and they have Arrow T-50 stainless steel 3/8" crown staples in 1/4, 5/16. 3/8 and 1/2" for $12 or less a box......

If you have a Lowes nearby and they don't stock them you can always use the free "Ship to store" option.

Best regards to all,


Lance
 
Last edited:
I use 3/8 stainless with a hand stapler for my webbing, have no problem driving them into ash.

Same. Arrow T50 3/8” (10mm) stainless staples from Home Depot.

I cut the webbing long enough that I can use two staples, offset on the bottom of the seat frame, and then fold the webbing under itself and single staple it to the inside of the seat frame.

PC311526 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I don’t have pneumatic staple guns and use a Black & Decker/Arrow Powershot stapler, a forward action design that places pressure directly above the staple instead of at the opposite end of the gun.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Arrow-Fastener-PowerShot-5700-Forward-Action-Staple-Gun-5700/100049752

Just to make sure nothing is sticking up leg scrapy when kneeling I tap the staples fully into the webbing.

PC311527 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Webbing ends folded under and stapled to the inside of the seat frame there is no hot putty knife cut end of the webbing showing and nothing exposed to possibly unravel.

PC311523 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
 
As food for thought when you put a staples straight across the weave of the fabric the staple legs bear on only a few cross strands of the weave. If the staple is driven at a diagonal angle to the weave you load twice the fiber strands with the staple so the fabric is less likely to tear or stretch. I'm not sure just how much this matters with nylon or polyester webbing but it's just a habit from my days learning how to upholster furniture.

Best regards to all,


Lance
 
Has anybody got thoughts on current sources for 1-1/2" polyester seat webbing? What I'm seeing if I shop around seems to be pretty fairly priced at $70-82 USD/100 yds in black but I don't see anything with good color choices for less than $.80 a foot ($240/100 yards). I'll use black if I have to but if I can get a better price by the foot I'd refer to use green with maybe an accent color. I have three seats to do and if I buy a 100 yard roll the remainder will just go into "shelf stock"....

https://customtiedowns.com/product_family.php?family=2645&catid=1&parid=0

https://www.hudson4supplies.com/pol...belt-5k-1-1-2-40mm-401-black-by-the-yard.html

Thanks for the input.


Best regards to all,


Lance
 
Lance, In the past I bought my polyester webbing at Country Brook Designs at what seems to be a reasonable price. The website is a bit difficult to navigate, but if you search around I imagine you'll find what you're after. They have lots of colors. I use 2" webbing, but I think I've seen the 1 1/2 inch on there. Ripstop by the roll has 2" black seatbelt polyester webbing for a bargain price of $7 for 25 feet, which I believe is just enough for 2 of my seats.

Mark
 
Has anybody got thoughts on current sources for 1-1/2" polyester seat webbing? What I'm seeing if I shop around seems to be pretty fairly priced at $70-82 USD/100 yds in black but I don't see anything with good color choices for less than $.80 a foot ($240/100 yards). I'll use black if I have to but if I can get a better price by the foot I'd refer to use green with maybe an accent color. I have three seats to do and if I buy a 100 yard roll the remainder will just go into "shelf stock"....

https://customtiedowns.com/product_family.php?family=2645&catid=1&parid=0

https://www.hudson4supplies.com/pol...belt-5k-1-1-2-40mm-401-black-by-the-yard.html

Thanks for the input.


Best regards to all,


Lance

You might check out strapworks: https://www.strapworks.com/Webbing_Strapping_Narrow_Fabrics_s/20.htm

They sell 1.5" wide polyester webbing including colorfast seat belt webbing by the foot in a variety of colors. Prices vary from 48 to 95 cents per foot.
 
Is seat belt webbing necessary?

Even 1” poly webbing has a 600 lb breaking strength, and there are a dozen strips interwoven in a canoe seat. Do the math.

The 1 ½” stuff runs 800+ lbs breaking strength and the “heavy” poly webbing stuff 1145 lbs per strip. I am willing to bet any staples, or the seat frame biscuits/joints will fail before then.

http://www.rochfordsupply.com/shop/...bing/Webbing_-_Heavy__15_inch_Poly/index.html

Seat belt webbing is like 6000 lbs breaking strength. Times 12 woven webbing strips. . . . . 72,000 lbs.

dang, I’m fat, and sometimes plunk down heavily on the seat from on high at awkward launches. But I’m not 72,000 lbs fat. I’d have to fall from a fair height and reach terminal velocity to test the breaking strength of seat belt webbing.

Maybe there are there other advantages to using seat belt webbing; extreme UV resistance or durability?

As food for thought when you put a staples straight across the weave of the fabric the staple legs bear on only a few cross strands of the weave. If the staple is driven at a diagonal angle to the weave you load twice the fiber strands with the staple so the fabric is less likely to tear or stretch. I'm not sure just how much this matters with nylon or polyester webbing but it's just a habit from my days learning how to upholster furniture.

Good suggestion, I’ll try to remember that next time.

I think the installation, the staples tapped fully seated, the stapling technique, having sealed webbing cuts with straight melted ends and cut ends, folded under unexposed, has as much to do with webbed seat longevity as anything.

Duck your head in and really look at the manufacturer’s simplistic staple efforts on bottom of most webbed seats.

If that no-one’s-ever-going-to-see-this-side slopjob lasts for years and years I expect that a better cut/sealed, folded and multi-stapled webbing DIY on a canoe seat should last for decades.

I re-webbed some seats early on with 1” nylon webbing and 3/8” SS staples. I did neatly hot putty knife cut & seal the webbing ends, wetted it out for some nylon stretch and folded under the bitter ends before stapling. Those nylon webbed seats are going strong 20 years on.
 
Thanks, pblanc. A few days ago strapworks was out of the $.42 a foot webbing an all but one color. I'm not in a rush though so I'll wait a bit....

Best regards to all,


Lance
 
I have sometimes found that the polyester seat belt webbing is a little softer and smoother than some other polyester webbing. Seat belt webbing is also regularly exposed to UV for prolonged periods of time so it has to be reasonably colorfast. I think any decent polyester webbing will be plenty strong enough.
 
I have sometimes found that the polyester seat belt webbing is a little softer and smoother than some other polyester webbing. Seat belt webbing is also regularly exposed to UV for prolonged periods of time so it has to be reasonably colorfast. I think any decent polyester webbing will be plenty strong enough.

As a mostly sitter the smoother slipperiness of seat belt webbing was not an advantage. Poly webbing seems pants-arse grabbier, which for me is a good thing; I don’t want to suddenly slide to one side.

The seat belt webbing I used was 2” wide (or 1 7/8”), and 1 ½” poly gives me more opportunity for even spacing.

It really doesn’t matter much to me, I use a grippy pad of some sort strapped down between my arse and the webbing.

I think seat belt webbing is overkill; if there was a viable reason to use it the high end canoe manufacturers would brag up their use of seat belt webbing in their outfitting construction.
 
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