Naugahyde poker table railing cover

We’re now ready to attach the Naugahyde to the padded railing. Lay the Naugahyde down on the floor with the finish side down. Place your padded railing on top of it with the padding side down. Because the piece of Naugahyde is larger than the railing, you’ll notice there won’t be a seam. Attach the outside of the entire railing by folding the outside material over the rail and stapling it to the frame. Work around the table, stretching it and stapling it tightly to the frame. Once you’ve gone all the way around, cut off any excess hanging loose beyond the staples.

Figure 22.1: Layout to begin stapling Naugahyde

Figure 22.2: Cut diagram

The next step is a little tricky, as we need to start securing the Naugahyde to the inside of the railing. You’ll need to be very patient and methodical. Draw on the Naugahyde, and then make the cuts to the center portion of the Naugahyde as you see depicted in Figure 22.1 (making sure to STOP EACH CUT SHORT AROUND 3” from the inside of the railing) in the following order:

1. Do the green line cuts first. These need to be aligned with the 90-degree radius point (see point A) of each inside railing corner arc. In a nutshell, you’re separating the straight lines of the railing from the curves. If you are working with a completely rounded off end table, you’ll only have one 90-degree radius point right down the middle of the table.
2. Do the red line cuts second, again along the 90-degree radius point (see point B) of each railing corner arc.
3. Lastly, make the blue line cuts extending out towards the railing from the center point of each corner arc. Note you’ll be estimating these cuts to be perpendicular to wherever your target (see points C) is on the railing. This is done so that you can stretch the Naugahyde squarely across the railing when working on the corners.

A helper will be useful with holding the frame in place as you attach the inside material to the frame with the staple gun. Don’t skimp on the staples, and make sure all the staples are tapped down with a small hammer to ensure they are tightly holding down the material. Start on ends first, and then finish the straight sides of the table.

The corners will be the most difficult, and should be done last. As you make your way around each turn, fold the V-shaped material over the bottom of the padded railing and attach it snugly to the bottom of the frame with the staple gun. If you ignored the 3” warning and made your cuts too close to inside edge of the railing, you have a problem, as it will be seen. Try to keep a consistent stretch when working the inside of the rail. If you get one section tighter than another adjacent section, a “wave” or “low spot” in the padding will appear on the top of the pad. You will have to loosen it up to take the wave out and re-staple it. Add some additional staples as you see fit then cut off excess leather and you should end up with your railing looking like this.

If done correctly, the inside of the riling should have no visible cuts or wrinkles, which his a lot easier said than done.

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