[rsk289]

Hi Glen,

The leather I'm using this time, in full thickness as supplied (i.e. 0.040-0.050") stretched sufficiently to fit around the centre 'drop-down' area with little difficulty. The 'grain' is a little stretched in this area but this mirrors original cars, from photos I have seen.
The glovebox returns were a different matter. The larger radius end was not too bad, but took a fair bit of pulling and stretching to get close. I took my time and gradually it moved in the right direction. I use a professional contact adhesive which is extremely strong and once the leather could reach where it needed to be the adhesive held it there OK.
The smaller radius end was really tricky. I tried steam, and a hot air gun (having checked on scrap first!), but in truth this made little difference and in the end it was just down to careful stretching. I ended up using Mole Grips (Vise Grips in the US?? Not sure), pulling the leather up tight by closing the jaws until they locked. 4 pairs of these pulled it up where I needed it, but I was fully expecting the leather to tear. It's tough stuff - it didn't, and looks fine around that end too now.
You can't pie-cut the bit that needs it, because this is the visible area on the glove box hole return. You can do the ends that are unseen for obvious reasons.
I'm assuming the originals were done in a similar way. If you're used to working with leather (I'm getting there, but would never count myself an expert) I suspect this is a lot easier.
I'll post photos when it's all done and dusted.