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Anyone ever thought about branding the leather on their seats instead of embroidery?

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Old 10-29-2009, 07:51 PM
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Default Anyone ever thought about branding the leather on their seats instead of embroidery?

Mike (sommer86) were chatting over lunch about a piece I just waterjet cut for my motorcycle (silhouette of a chick holding two guns with PHK under her ) and the negative that came out of it (my plate for the bike being the positive) was the silhouette of the chick.

We were joking about turning it into a brand (you know, heat the metal, burn your skin) but then while at the leather shop today (to get something for the bike) we were talking and we wonder how it would look to brand the leather on car seats, shift boots, whatever...

Probably going to make a brand out of the chick, take a lighter and a torch and go try it out in a junkyard but I'm wondering if it would look cool on headrests etc... (instead of embroidering "6LE" for example I'd just make a brand and use it...

Thoughts? Anyone done this?
Old 10-29-2009, 08:04 PM
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that's actually a good idea... i don't think you can just take heat up a peace of metal though, i think the leather would just burn. time for some research...
Old 10-29-2009, 08:10 PM
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ok this looks like the way to do it... http://www.ehow.com/how_2044341_do-l...-stamping.html

i've never messed with the seats, but if you can peel the leather off and get a piece of wood, say in the headrest, then you just need to put on your "stencil", hit it will a mallet and it would stamp it into the leather.

unless you want the branded look, i suppose heating up a stamp and pressing it on the leather would work too now that i think about it.
Old 10-29-2009, 08:12 PM
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Stamping is more difficult/time consuming to do right. The shop I go to has plates cut to stamp and they are done by a printing company (only people they can find who still do what they need done). They are a $100 each and you need the leather off the car, pliable to put in a press.

Branding on the other hand I could waterjet any shape I wanted, cheap, heat it up and brand away
Old 10-29-2009, 09:59 PM
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lol, this is ssssssooo white trash!!! lol. I can't wait to go to the junkyard and do some R&D, lol.

Too bad we dont know dick about leather work, lol.
Old 10-29-2009, 10:08 PM
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Is the material on our cars actually real leather tho? I thought it was simulated leather? Or does that even matter?
Old 10-29-2009, 10:12 PM
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i think the the front is leather, but the back of the seat is definitely not.
Old 10-29-2009, 10:14 PM
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I was thinking the same thing as ChevyChad. I'm pretty sure our leather seats, aren't actually leather. It would probably burn or melt. Try it out how you're thinking and see what happens! Lol.
Old 10-29-2009, 10:19 PM
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I only ask that you take some good video of this experiment in progress
Old 10-29-2009, 10:31 PM
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^^^lol, I've got my iphone, so we definately will!
Old 10-29-2009, 10:47 PM
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or you could have someone tattoo the seats, i've seen that done before
Old 10-30-2009, 12:05 AM
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If it catches on fire keep the camera going HAHA. But im interested if you could even do this or not ... pics
Old 10-30-2009, 12:22 AM
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We kicked a car over in a yard before, I guess burning one down is the next logical step...

P.S. I don't know if this would work on factory seats or not but my seats are real leather so should be fine... I'm going to try vinyl as well though
Old 10-30-2009, 08:20 AM
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the seating portions of our seats are real leather (pretty much any part that touches your body when you are sitting on them) but the rest of the seat and headrests are vinyl.

branding will not work on the vinyl at all. it will melt and become a ugly melty mess.

the branding may work on nice high grade leather but the stuff they used on our cars is more like Australian sheep/kangaroo leather so it may not turn out so well.

I would like to see someone try it though.
Old 10-30-2009, 08:26 AM
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Like this guy stated^^

If its not a true hide type leather branding will probably not work. Most simulated materials will just melt & not actually brand like say cow hide. Could be a good idea but honestly the stamping would be the best route for automotive seats.

Unless you have them recovered in cow hide, LOL.
Old 10-30-2009, 10:24 AM
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I m thinking the cow has to be alive for the brand to heal over for it to look right...but I have no clue.

Is the King Ranch logo on the Ford King Ranch trucks branded in???
Old 10-30-2009, 11:32 AM
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Originally Posted by 97ramsst
I m thinking the cow has to be alive for the brand to heal over for it to look right...but I have no clue.
That would take alot of planning ahead. lol

To brand a cow, then "wait" for it to be turned to leather, and then made into a headrest.
Old 10-30-2009, 12:05 PM
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Actually, we did this on my seats. Branded the cow before hand with my initials...

It came out, and you can see it. But it's not nearly as bold as you would think. The brand needs to be extremely deep and then allowed to heal and scar properly... So, my initials are branded into my passenger seat, its just sorta hard to see... If I can get my damn batteries back today I'll grab some pics...

So yea, you can do it.
Old 10-30-2009, 12:08 PM
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Also, You can stamp the leather as well... which might be better for this type of thing...

Just do the head rest portion with some 9oz leather and press it in... or just emboss it with standard 3-4oz leather...
Old 10-30-2009, 12:10 PM
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Also, you cannot brand your seat... The actual brand stamp you can see in a hide is actual scar tissue formed as part of the healing process... if you try to brand a leather hide it'll just burn and smell awful.


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