If you make furniture for people who have wood floors, I think you should adhere pads to the feet. Adhesive pads prevent the furniture from scratching the floor. The pads make less of a noise when the furniture is pushed forward or back. And they add a note of professionalism to your work. Customers notice.
Hardware store pads are terrible. The adhesive lasts about 20 minutes or two meals, whichever comes first. To get around this problem, I’d taken to adhering my pads with epoxy, which greatly improved their life.
Recently Tom Bonamici, the clothing designer at Lost Art Press, mentioned that he used the wool-blend furniture feet from Lee Valley Tools and that they were excellent. I have never encountered a pad that was acceptable, much less excellent. Challenge accepted.
I bought a bunch of the pads and have been using them on the furniture pieces that we abuse the most: our kitchen and dining room chairs. Our floor is old heart pine and is uneven and imperfect. And so these pads get a workout. After months of abuse, all the pads are intact.
These are the same price as the junk at the hardware store. You stick them on and forget them. Like life should be.
— Christopher Schwarz
Chris, you expoxy these on, too, or do they hold ok on their own? Hope all is well, Happy Thanksgiving!
No epoxy needed
First thought as it caught my eye was “Why is he putting up pictures of hamburger patties”?
I thought it was sausage!
I like the shape of the oddly shaped bits in between the circles. I’d like to see a blog post on the most interesting ways to use these.
With the square Chinesium versions purchased from the BORG I’ve cut them up and used them on the back of picture frames; used in the corner in lieu of purchasing separately the small plastic or rubberized dots. For these I think you could do the same for the in-between scraps.
You could make 90º corners with these scraps, and use a square to square them off, and…
I was so excited to see you mixing up this years list with a nice hard salami.
I bet they look the same both ways just like the old saying, “go hang a salami I’m a lasagna hog.”
Very interesting, and duly noted!
I have also had a fair amount of success with the screw-on type of pads – we’ve had them on our kitchen chairs for going on fifteen years now, and they’re still as strong as when we installed them. They add a bit more height, though, compared to the self-adhesive ones (maybe 3/16″ or so), and of course they’re more expensive at about a dollar apiece rather than 20 cents.
Mattias
Even the product description on the LV site sounds a bit like you Chris:
“The high-tack adhesive creates a tenacious bond with virtually any clean, dry surface – you won’t discover these stuck to a slipper (or the cat) at a later date.”
I will have to try them out next time I order from LV.
I have used contact cement to attach the hardware store pads but that is only good for about 4 months. I will be ordering these. Thank you for the info.
Thanks Chris! I am in the midst of remodeling my home and have installed beautiful French Oak flooring where there once was carpet. I have been fretting on how to best protect the flooring from the furniture. I have found it thanks to you!
I wouldn’t worry to much. Just remember what Obi Wan Canoli said, “Stretch down from your ceilings and use the scratch. The scratch flows through all living timbers. It haunts and decorates our furniture.”
I tried everything and settled on discs made from scrap leather glued on with TiteBond. I have rarely had to replace one.
Same here. I still have a big box of leather scraps I got almost for free. So far I made backing for coasters, pads for the chairs, table, cajon, stool,… glued it to vise jaws, used some as handle wrapping, made leather lifts for my tool chest.
Thanks! I wasn’t aware LV had those.
We have installed oak flooring as part of our whole house remodel. After many Covid induced delays we are nearing completion, and your recommendation could not have better timing. Thank you for sharing, I am ordering today.
H̶o̶a̶r̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ , Sorry I mean ordering complete! 😅 Got some before Schwarz effect takes hold…
The pieces between the LV pads would be perfect as a Christmas ornament.
Who needs salami when you have have a hog of a woodworking tool sale on Columbus Day.
Flexi felt is good stuff. I have switched over to it from the usual stuff one finds. Light years better.
They make all different sizes too.