Tom Damitio

Every hard floor needs a nice area rug – but what about walls? Did you know that there are many places in the world where rugs are hung on walls for decoration? One of these places is Russia. Can you guess why?

If you guessed the reason was for insulation and warmth, you’d be right. If you ever visit Russia and are invited inside people’s apartments, you’ll notice that many if not most apartments have oriental rugs hanging from the walls. Up until the country’s recent transition to a capitalist economy, most apartments were built by the government – out of thin concrete. This kind of building gets very cold in Russia’s winter climate. Many Russians were at the mercy of the state for their heat, so they ingeniously hung large wool rugs or wall hangings on their walls to keep that heat inside. The walls tended to be very thin as well, so rugs kept the noise from traveling and allowed families a bit more privacy.

Parts of the Soviet Union, including Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, were places where rug making has been a tradition for millennia. As in the rest of the world, rugs were something only rich families could afford to decorate with until modern times. Hanging rugs or tapestries was also common in castles and large estates for the same reason as in Russia. There was no central heating in castles either, and they got very cold.

There are other reasons to decorate your walls with rugs or tapestries besides warmth. Many rugs are art, and we already hang art on our walls. Rugs can be a surprisingly affordable form of art too, especially compared to original paintings or sculpture. Fabric crafts like rug making have become far more popular among young people today, and our walls are a great place to display our own efforts and masterpieces. For couples on a budget, a rug can double as a headboard for a mattress and a box spring.

Another reason walls are great for rugs is because walls are far less dirty. For truly valuable rugs, a wall is a much safer place than a floor. People who love rugs but also have small children may want to display their treasures on the walls until their kids have passed the age where spilling is a constant problem. Pets can be incredibly hard on rugs too. If you have a pet with a health or bladder issue, hanging a rug up is a great way to keep using your rugs until the problem is resolved.

Of course, whatever your rug needs, Bond Products has the materials you need to keep your rugs maintained and repaired. If you find a beautiful rug with a torn fringe in a thrift store, we can help you. If you want to bind the rug you made yourself from remnants, we have products for that too. Call Bond for all of your rug related issues whether you plan to use it on your floor as furniture or hang it on your wall as art.

 

At Bond Products our motto is, “Every hard floor needs a nice area rug.” A “nice area rug” is a broad term, though. Some people love antique rugs, others prefer hooked rugs. Some families don’t have the budget to spend on an expensive handmade rug. For them binding their own carpet remnants opens up a lot of options, and rug carving can add another dimension of beauty to a piece of carpet.

What is Rug Carving?

Put simply, rug carving is adding texture to a piece of carpet using a carving tool. It’s the process of shearing areas of the carpet’s pile in order to create valleys and texture around design elements. Here is a video we recorded demonstrating rug carving:

Is Rug Carving an Art?

Rug carving creates further depth in the already very three-dimensional medium of carpet, allowing the carver to pull the attention of the viewer to parts of its design or add design to a plain surface. It adds interest and beauty – which is why, when done with skill, it is definitely an art.

Bond Products has partnered with rug carver Tami Sullivan of Carpets By Design for a quarter of a century. Tami does beautiful work making custom rugs for clients and also offers training classes on rug carving for anyone looking to begin a career in this creative, flexible, financially rewarding field. Her next training class begins this March, a 4-day, 40-hour class involving hands-on instruction, design training, pricing lectures, and informative marketing. She will teach all carpet techniques – cutting, seaming, carving, sculpting, backing, and edge finishing.

​Tami has been in Bond Products’ booth at the Surfaces flooring conference in years past. Brian will be at Surfaces in Las Vegas next week. Stop by and say hello! Even if you cannot make it to the convention, mention Bond Products to Tami when you register and you will get a $500 discount off the price of her class.

Bond Products offers a line of rug carvers and accessories for both professionals and DIYers who would like to try their hand at creating a unique look in their own carpets. Rug trends come and go, with yesterday’s hot looks being replaced by tomorrow’s all the time, but there’s something about hand craftsmanship that’s especially satisfying, both for the craftsman and for the rug owner.

Why not give it a try?

 

Bond Products is pleased to present our new line of staples to our customers. Our variety of staples and quality controlled manufacturing processes allows us to better equip our customers with the right fastener for the job every time. Both the professional carpet installer and the weekend DIYer will find what they need for their installation work at Bond.

Why Are Staples Essential for Carpet and Flooring?

While ripping up carpeting and installing hardwood floors has been a very popular trend among homeowners for some time, carpeting is still an important part of a nearly every home remodel. Carpet feels warm and soft underfoot and looks homey to the eye, and most people consider carpeting in some rooms to be essential. The best product for carpet installation is staples.

Installing carpeting needs to be done carefully, but it’s not too difficult a process for a handy person to accomplish. Choosing the right type of carpeting staple is crucial to getting the job done right, however, so Bond offers a full selection of staples that make the work quick and easy – narrow crown wood staples, divergent PAD staples, divergent electric staples, and underlayment staples.

Why staples? Staples, as opposed to nails, do less damage to the carpet itself and, with the right tools, are easy to lay and also easy to remove when mistakes are made. They are affordable and easy to load in a stapler. Staples are also useful for installing lighter weight flooring products such as sheet vinyl flooring. Stapling the vinyl to the perimeter of the room is quick install technique, and the staples can be easily covered with baseboard for a fully finished look.

Bond Products also offers staples and a staple gun suitable for rug-making purposes, if hardwood and area rugs are more to your home decorating taste. The staples we offer include galvanized staples and Arrow electric gun staples in 3/8“/10mm and 9/16”/14mm sizes. We offer replacement mullet caps as well.

For staples, staple guns, mallets, mallet caps, L-cleats, or finish nails for your flooring project, shop our Pro Drive HD™ line of supplies. We’ll be happy to supply anything you require for your job or project, so call Bond Products today.

 

 

As the year gets longer and days get shorter, we all look forward to the holidays. In celebration of the spooky month of October and Halloween, we thought we’d tell you about another famous old rug. This one is not just ancient, it’s rumored to be haunted.

The Sacred Cat rug is another contender for the claim of World’s Oldest Rug. It is believed to be 2,400 years old. This rug was taken from a pyramid or other archeological site, almost certainly stolen by treasure hunters. When it came into the possession of the last owner, Abraham S. Mussallem, it was wrapped around a mummified foot. If that’s not creepy enough, this rug was woven entirely from cat hair.

The ancient Egyptians viewed cats as sacred, and the penalties for injuring or killing a cat were severe, including being put to death. As an agrarian society, Egypt revered cats for their ability to control the vermin like mice and rats or poisonous snakes that often threatened their grain stores. To these Egyptians, cats were magical and could bring good luck. Some Egyptians dressed their cats in jewels and even mummified them when they died. Imagine the number of cats and the amount of cat hair that would have to be collected to weave an entire rug from it.

Today the Sacred Cat Rug can be viewed in Villa Zorayda Museum in St. Augustine, Florida, along with the mummified (and jewel encrusted) foot it came with. Is the foot a warning? Legend has it that anyone who sets foot on this rug carelessly will die soon afterwards. It’s rumored that, during the rug’s last restoration, a dead cat was found on the front steps of the museum. Fortunately for all of us and the rug’s longevity, the rug is now kept safely behind glass on the second floor of the museum.

It’s unlikely that any of the area rugs in your house are haunted, and that’s a good thing! However, if any of your rugs need restoration or rebinding, Bond Products has everything anyone would need for the job – except perhaps for cat-hair Instabind. If your rug is woven from the cat hair of ancient Egyptian cats, you may be out of luck if you want a binding made of the same material. For everyone else looking for the binding equipment, rug fringe, thread, or Instabind necessary to turn a horror of a rug into a beauty, contact us today. We’d love to help.

 

When you’re shopping for the perfect area rug or binding a carpet remnant for your floor space, you’re probably not thinking about all of the people who came before you and have bought or repaired their own rugs, but people have been decorating rooms with carpets for thousands of years. You are in some excellent company.

How old is the world’s oldest rug?

The Pazyryk Rug is believed to be the oldest known pile rug in the world. It was excavated in Siberia in 1949 by Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko who unearthed the Pazyryk mounds, including the burial mound of a 4th or 5th-century Scythian prince. The permafrost environment of the Pazyryk Valley (which is located where the borders of modern Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China come together) kept the items in this tomb in remarkable shape for thousands of years.

Made of wool, and woven in the symmetrical double-knot, or Turkish knot, technique, the Pazyryk Rug is composed of more than 1,250,000 knots. The design depicts men on horseback and also dismounted. There is a border of griffins and a border of fallow deer, and the central field is filled with crosses containing lotus buds. It is a striking piece and reveals a great deal about the people who made it and rugmaking in the ancient period.

It’s unlikely that Scythians knotted it themselves, however. They were a nomadic people, at home on horseback and knowledgeable about the art of war. Both the Scythian men and women fought in battle and were known to be fearless, and the Pazyryk Valley is near to several trade routes that merchant caravans traveled in order to sell their wares. Due to the sophistication of the Pazyryk Rug’s construction, it’s much more likely that it was woven in a more settled, populated area with enough wealth to support various artists. Textile expert Ulrich Schurmann believes it originates in Armenia. How it got into the possession of these Scythians is anyone’s guess. It may have been bought or stolen or both.

If you want to see the Pazyryk Rug, you’ll have to journey to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg where it is now housed among many other of the world’s most fabulous works of art. If you do ever travel there to see it, remember that the ancient Scythian prince who owned it and treasured it enough to be buried with it enjoyed it for the same reason we like our own rugs: they make our rooms warmer and more comfortable and more beautiful to look at. Our rugs are unlikely to last 2400 years, but, again, no one expect the Pazyryk Rug to survive that long either. Anything is possible.

In our last blog we talked about the history of glue and glue guns which is interesting, but not as practical as knowing which glue gun to purchase for a specific application. So this time around we’ll discuss the pragmatic details of which gun you need for the different kinds of projects you might be doing, including applying Instabind.

Bond Products offers a variety of different glue guns as well as a different types and sizes of glue sticks that are required to use them.

Glue gun – Bond offers two different glue guns that are perfect for crafts and hobbies. The low-temperature gun works well for applying delicate trims like lace and cloth and is safer to use around children. The high-temperature gun gives a stronger bond between rougher materials. These guns have heat up times that range from 3 to 5 minutes and run on voltage of between 110 and 250V. They both use standard 1/2″ glue sticks (#272) which are excellent for applying Instabind for either of these, and our extended “orange” nozzle fits perfectly on either of these guns.

Industrial glue gun – This is the largest electric gun we sell and has an output of over 7 lbs of glue per hour and runs on voltage of 110V with a plug-in thermostat for optional heat regulation. A high temperature glue gun offers a sturdier, longer lasting seal, bonding tougher, rougher materials together better. This gun uses BR175L glue slugs.

Pneumatic glue gun – This one is for more heavy duty applications and will produce 11 lbs of glue per hour output. It attaches to your air compressor for stress free trigger pull and is also available in a spray nozzle model. This gun takes sku#: BR175 glue slugs.

Spray glue gun – This pneumatic spray gun is perfect for industrial projects that require large coverage areas or involve heat sensitive objects. It uses glue slugs #420 or #430.

All of the above models can be used for carpet applications. How often you work with carpet and the type of carpet project involved will determine how much you want to invest in a glue gun. Carpet professionals will want a high capacity gun with heat regulation, while weekend do-it-yourself homeowners will need less from their glue gun. In addition to bonding materials together, glue guns can also be used to fill gaps and assemble and repair foam shapes.

Bond Products stands by all of our glue guns as high quality and long lasting. If you’re looking for a great glue gun and glue supplies, give us a call today.

What is a glue gun exactly? When most people think about glue guns, they think about doing crafts or small home repairs, but glue guns are used all the time in hundreds of different ways to make the products we use every day. Both glue and glue guns are essential for many modern applications and that’s because, in terms of safety, accuracy, and convenience, they are such an improvement on how glue used to be applied.

What is glue made of?

A hundred or more years ago glue was commonly made from the spare parts of butchered animals. Horns, bones, hooves, and other tissues were boiled down for the collagen they contain – which works fairly well to stick some things together. This is where the expression about an old horse – “He’s only fit for the glue factory now” – comes from. One problem with this kind of glue is that it is organic and water soluble, which means that in hot, humid places the glue would often break down over time. Some other glues were also made from resins of trees – particularly coniferous trees.

These types of glues were typically applied with a brush. They were heated until very hot and then brushed on. Factory workers often burned themselves using it, and even when they did apply the liquid glue carefully, exactitude was tricky, and the glue took time to dry. Imagine trying to attach Instabind to a piece of carpet with boiling hot Elmer’s glue, and you’ll get the idea.

Many modern glues are not organic, but plastic. Paul Cope invented a thermoplastic adhesive for Proctor and Gamble in the 1940’s, and later in that decade George Schultz invented the Polygun, an industrial glue gun, after seeing workers burned and bandaged fingers at a shoe factory. He is credited with inventing what we know as the glue-stick glue gun today and went on to found the Industrial Shoe Machinery company which 3M bought in 1973.

How does a glue gun work?

The glue in a glue gun is not water based. It’s a thermoplastic adhesive and will hold its shape and grip on a material over time. The glue sticks used in glue guns must be heated to apply. They are fed into a glue gun, melted, and then passed through the barrel of the gun onto the targeted area where the glue cools, solidifies, and sets, creating a secure bond.

The advantages to glue guns over old fashioned glue pots and brushes are many. They aren’t water soluble so they won’t dissolve in humidity. They can be applied in a straight line easily, and the glue cools very fast and makes a tough bond between materials. Also, glue guns are designed to make sure that fingers and glue do not come into contact, making them a much safer option over the traditional brushes.

Bond Products carries a number of different types of glue guns for carpet, craft, or other jobs. They’re a must have in the carpet business or for do-it-yourselfers. Check out our glue and glue gun selection today!

 

 

Previously we’ve talked about how to turn a carpet remnant into a rug and also automotive uses for Instabind, but today we’d like to highlight the work of some our customers. There are a number of tutorial sites online demonstrating their beautiful work. These are people who have been so pleased with how simple and affordable carpet binding with Instabind can be that they’ve made their own tutorials or written down their experiences and triumphs. Let’s highlight some of the best Instabind feedback, with their comments, for inspiration.

Mom Writes Life (Adventures in Binding a Carpet Remnant/Rug) enjoyed the process of binding the carpet with her husband: “When we were working on the binding it was probably the most quiet we’ve been in a long time because we were in tune with each other’s pace of glue and sticking the binding down!”

House185 (How to Turn a Carpet Remnant into a Rug): “I used Instabind from Bond Products. They offer affordable DIY binding options plus how-to videos that make the process a breeze and provide a professional looking edge. Before I ordered anything from them, I purchased a color card and picked out the binding color I liked best for the rug.”

Carpet Edging (Instabind, the Ultimate Carpet Binding Tape) : “The main advantage of carpet edging is the fact that it helps in turning waste carpets to efficient rugs that can be used for a number of purposes around the house. This in turn helps in reducing wastage of worn out carpets. Instabind carpet edging also aims at enhancing the interior décor of a house.”

Karl’s Place (DIY Carpet Binding): “We’re pleased with the results of using Instabind to protect the edge of a carpet remnant that we bought for our basement.”

Jalopy Journal (Home Brewed Carpet) on installing carpet in his restored car: “I was about to give up when my wife told me that she had found a product on the internet that claimed that their process would allow you to easily bind any carpet with professional looking results. After reading a lot of positive reviews I decided to give it a try. It proved to be very easy to work with and the results on my opinion look great.”

If you’d like more ideas or help on using Instabind, Pinterest has an Instabind page. Of course there’s always our YouTube instructional video too.

Remember, Instabind is simple to use. Once you’ve trimmed your carpet remnant to size, there really are only three things you need in order to bind it. They are:

• A hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Clear tape

If you have a carpet project you’ve done that worked out beautifully, we at Bond Products would love to hear about it. Contact us any time. We would love to see your pictures too!

 

Have you ever considered purchasing your own carpet serging or binding machines? With the right training and equipment plus a little acquired skill, you can create attractive, fully finished carpeting ranging from functional to art and expand your services and customer base.

Bond Products offers a wide variety of stationary and portable tools capable of producing bound and serged carpets of the highest quality. If you are unfamiliar with the basics of carpet binding machines and equipment, we’ll describe them here:

Stationary: Stationary machines remain in place while the carpet moves through it. Binding a large carpet with a stationary tool requires a large workspace and a large table, so it can only be done in house by a professional. Machines like Bond’s BBL 1 and BBL 2 are high-speed, self-lubricating machines that are built to last a lifetime.

 

Heavy-duty binders can be used to produce large volumes of bound carpet. Bond’s TMB-1 Double-Puller Binder/Fringer is capable of binding 10 to 18 yards per minute. It’s one of the most powerful binders on the market. For larger area rugs, an air table or rollers are required, however. There is less flexibility in terms of where you can operate them.

Portable: Portable machines move around the perimeter of the carpet which remains in place. With portable machines, any kind of carpet can be bound or serged anywhere. These are great tools for on-site carpet work such as new building construction or commercial remodeling projects. They can be used in the shop as well, and they are fast. Bond’s PBL-XB Zig-Zag  Portable Binder offers both a straight or a zig-zag stitch and binds over 10 feet per minute.

Bond’s PBB-2X Bobbinless Portable Binder will tackle the thickest and hardest carpet backings while running high speed so you can bind high volumes of carpet cove base and area rugs. The PBB-2X is also fitted with our custom adjustable hook and loop guide for either 2 or 4 inch tapes!

If you’re looking to add to the capabilities of your carpet business for a lower price, Bond also offers a number of refurbished machines in our clearance section. We offer both portable and stationary equipment for binding and serging, although our inventory is subject to constant change. Check our Clearance page often for great machines at a lower cost to you.

All of Bond’s binders and sergers are backed by Bond’s 90-day warranty, and we also offer servicing of all models of carpet binding equipment. If you’ve been considering expanding your services into carpet binding and serging, contact Bond Products today. We’d be happy to help you select the best binding or serging machine for your needs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know that the invention of hook-and-loop fasteners, more commonly known by the brand name, Velcro, was inspired by a walk in nature? The idea came to George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, after he’d taken his dog on a hunting trip in the Alps. Both he and the dog had gotten burrs all over their fur and clothes because you only have to brush against a burdock plant fro them to attach themselves. They stick very stubbornly and are very hard to remove from fur. Later, when de Mestral examined the seeds carefully under a microscope, he learned why that is. Each burdock seed has hundreds of tiny hooks that latch onto anything that has loops – like fur or clothes or hair.

Inspired, de Mestral set about inventing a material that could be used as a fastener replicating this same natural “technology.” This is called biomimicry. His first attempt was made from cotton fabric, but he found that cotton degraded quickly over time. At the time nylon was a new fabric, introduced to the world by DuPont who debuted a toothbrush made from it in 1938, and scientists were coming up with all kinds of new uses for it, including wartime ones like parachutes. Nylon is a synthetic material, made from coal or petroleum. It does not degrade quickly and proved to be the ideal cloth to use for de Mestral’s invention, which he called “Velcro,” combining two French words, “velours” and “crochet” (French for “hook”).

Initially de Mestral meant his fastener to replace zippers, but this wasn’t a use that took off. Instead it was incorporated into space suits, ski suits, scuba and marine gear and then eventually used for children’s clothing. When the Velcro patent expired in 1978, many companies replicated and sold it far less expensively, and it became much better known and widely used.

Today there are so many ways to use hook-and-loop fasteners, from clothing to crafts to carpets. It can be sewn onto material as it always has been or adhered to plaster, wood, or metal. Bond Products offers a number of different hook-and-loop products designed with peel-and-stick application to adhere carpet to floors. These come either tapes or coins and in a variety of colors to match your carpet.

If you’re looking for hook-and-loop fastening for larger products or bulk needs, call Bond Products today to order. Take some time and browse our other narrow tape options as well. Our company has long specialized in narrow fabrics, and we still have a large selection for any consumer need.

 

Have you ever wondered where braided rugs come from? This is a fabric art with a uniquely American history, but braided rugs can be made or adapted to complement many different styles of decor. Let’s talk about their history and construction.

You may know the story of Plymouth Rock, but the actual circumstances of the “Pilgrims” who came to settle in what was eventually Massachusetts is rather complicated. They didn’t intend to travel there; their ship was headed for more southern climes closer to Jamestown, and it got lost in the Atlantic and then redirected because of the onset of winter and harsher conditions at sea. Before everything was covered in snow, they had to choose a spot, and Plymouth was it. Unfortunately for them, they arrived in November, well past the time they could grow anything. To survive they ate corn they found in an empty Wampanoag village and hunted game.

The Massachusetts climate is much colder and snowier than the one they’d left behind in England, even though it’s further south. England has a moderate, maritime climate, but New England was intensely cold. In the beginning, the Pilgrims built and furnished their homes exactly like they had in England. It’s what they knew. Over time, however, they adapted to their new surroundings and made changes for comfort. This is how the braided rug came into being.

Cold floors, whether dirt or wood, take a toll on health, and this was long before the advent of central heating. A steady fire was their only heat source. A floor with a rug is warmer and insulated. The early settlers didn’t have large looms or flocks of sheep, but they were thrifty and inventive. They bought bolts of wool from England and made their clothes from it, and any scraps they had they used to make other things, like braided rugs.

Braided rugs are comparable to quilts in this way. The settlers who sewed them used the bits and pieces from other projects to make interesting patterns that were pleasing to the eye. The material they used had a number of wonderfully practical properties to use as a floor cover as well. Wool is warm and naturally repels water because of the lanolin the sheep produce, and even when damp, wool will still hold warmth. Dust mites dislike wool, and sparks from fire will most often smoulder and die when they land on wool. Wool is also mildew and stain resistant. It’s an excellent fabric for many purposes.

Because these rugs were both beautiful and practical, the settlers used them in their homes, their churches and public buildings – anywhere that could use some warmth and color. They also bartered rugs with the Wampanoag and other Indian tribes for tools and other goods. These rugs were hand sewn by women and were found throughout the colonies as a preferred rug choice in the homes of the working and middle class. With the Industrial Revolution and the advent of large looms other types of rugs eventually came into fashion, but braided rugs remain popular because they are still attractive and warm.

Braided rugs are all one piece and do not need to be bound, but like any other rug, they can be a slip hazard. Fortunately, Bond Products has what you need to keep your braided rugs safe and well maintained.

In our previous blog we talked about seam peaking, and in this blog we’re going to talk about another unsightly carpet seam issue: seam splitting. Both of these are visible problems and will ruin the look of your carpet. Any good carpet installer knows that one of the most important things about laying carpet is to make sure it looks smooth and unbroken, as if the carpet were one big piece, only trimmed around the edges to fit the room.

Of course, that isn’t how carpet is made. It’s not woven to be 15 or 20 feet wide. This is why careful seaming is crucial. The placement of the seams is also very important. Every room has traffic patterns, and those should be carefully considered when you’re deciding where to put the seams. Foot traffic on an already more vulnerable area will result in pulling and splitting.

Time and hard use are two enemies of carpet seams, the other is poor quality carpet or seaming tape. Choose your materials carefully – it’s less expensive to buy better carpet than to replace it when it wears out early. Also use a carpet pad with a higher density cushion. It will help the carpet to withstand traffic longer.

Another tip to keep a carpet seam from splitting is to use a seam roller during the installation to create pressure against the seams and force the backing of the carpet into the melted adhesive. You want to make sure that the glue fully adheres to the carpet backing, so putting weight on the carpet while the glue dries is also crucial.

Of course, a split seam doesn’t have to be the end of the world. If the carpet itself remains in good condition, you can measure the length of the split seam and then cut a length of peel and stick seaming tape to fit. When you have the correct length of seaming tape, pull back both sides of the carpet and draw a line down the floor where one side of the carpet ends. Then pull both pieces of carpet back and carefully lay the tape down the middle of the line you drew. Remove the tack paper from the front of the tape. Roll both sides of the carpet down slowly on the carpet tape, and place a heavy weight on top of the seam so that the carpet backing will adhere to the tape.

Carpet tape is sticky, so take your time when you are working with it. You don’t want to have to cut it and cut it again because you got it stuck to your fingers instead of the carpet. It should be noted that double-sided sticky tape is not intended for stretched carpet. The tension will pull it apart. A hot melt seam is needed and all old glue should be removed when re-seaming.

Good luck! Remember, take your time and invest in good materials. For staples, staple guns, mallets, mallet caps, L-cleats, or finish nails for your flooring project, shop our Pro Drive HD™ line of supplies. If we can help you find any products to make either installation or repair of your carpets easier, give Bond Products a call.

Last February Bond Products’ Brian Milnes had a televised interview with Michael King, the Cajun Contractor, and a few weeks ago the HomeTalk host aired his radio interview with Brian.  The show is dedicated to the American consumer, and the two took some time to discuss DIY carpet binding.  

As you may already know Bond Products makes and carries all varieties of narrow fabrics necessary for carpet binding – including cotton and polyester tapes and Instabind  for the DIYer. Bond Products has been manufacturing narrow fabrics since 1910 when John Milnes opened what was then known as National Tapestry Company and began producing woven high-­end upholstery fabrics with intricate designs on jacquard looms. We are proud of our company’s history and the fact that our products are still made in America by American workers.

Today Bond Products also manufactures the binding equipment to sew tapes onto the edges of carpet, as well as serging yarns and equipment, seaming tapes and equipment, and rug backings and underlayment. We have everything that the weekend DIYer would need to tackle home projects, and we also have the equipment an energetic entrepreneur would need to start or grow any company involving the installation or binding of carpet.

We often sell to businesses who already service or install carpets and seek to add other income streams. Carpet installers often have their garages full of carpet remnants, for instance. If they purchase the equipment and tapes from Bond Products, they can easily sell fully finished carpets and make a profit from what might otherwise be discarded.

If you have a minute, check out Brian’s interview with Michael King, and let us know what you think and how Bond Products can help you with either your project or your business.

Bond Products is excited to announce its Instabind app is now available in the iTunes App Store and for Android. We’ve designed this app to be as simple and convenient as possible for our customers to use anytime, not just at a work or home computer.

Once you’ve downloaded this free app, you’ll be able to easily access our video tutorials, order carpet binding supplies, browse our selection of binding tapes, find out about our specials, and get help directly right from your smartphone, iPhone, iPad or iPod. It’s simple to install, and literally puts all of our products and services at your fingertips. Search for “Bond Products” in the App Store, or go to any of the below direct links and get started today.

iPhone

iPad

Google Play

Bond is also pleased to offer a new webpage for Bond’s certified refurbished equipment. If your company is looking to add further capability to its service offerings, check out our deals on carpet binders, bobbinless binding machines, puller serger, bevelers, and much more. What we have available changes all of the time, so stop back frequently for reliable, useful equipment at wonderful discounts.

We are dedicated to making our customer’s experience as easy and positive as possible so that carpet installation, binding, and repair is as accessible and possible for the weekend DIYer as it is for carpet professionals. Contact us today if you have any questions or need help with your current carpet project.

 

Last year we talked about how more people are installing artificial turf for a number of reasons, including the weather changes caused by the drought in the American Southwest. Artificial turf isn’t just for football stadiums anymore.

In which kinds of places is artificial turf appearing? While it can go anywhere carpet goes in the home, it’s designed for places that need a waterproof alternative to carpet. Some options, in addition to the lawn, include:

A flat rooftop used as additional living space

People are moving back to cities to experience the opportunities urban living offers, but they still crave being outdoors. Adding a little bit of green to a rooftop or a wide balcony can mimic the great outdoors in city spaces.

A home putting green

Golf fans can practice conveniently at home with the installation of artificial grass.

Pet runs

Turf is waterproof and easy to clean. Pets often damage real lawn by digging or urinating, so artificial turf can be used instead for an always green and tidy area.

Play areas

Artificial grass can be a good choice for areas where lots of kids play. Children are almost as hard on grass as pets are, and this type of floor/ground cover is easy to clean up but a softer surface for small bodies than tile or cement.

Around pools and tennis courts

Again, depending on the desired look and the amount of maintenance you prefer to do, artificial turf can be less expensive and hold up better in the long run than real grass does. Chlorine will not kill artificial grass and it can’t be trampled by too much foot traffic.

Anywhere grass does not like to grow

Whether as a result of too much shade, too much traffic, or other factors, sometimes grass doesn’t grow well, and even with a great deal of care never looks quite right. This is what artificial turf is for.

Anywhere chemical free

Many people prefer not to use pesticides and fertilizers or have a commitment to water conservation. For these people the only kind of perfect lawn is an artificial one.

Obviously, installing artificial turf is more complicated than laying down grass seed. You need the right tools and you need to invest in quality turf and supplies. In our next blog we will discuss the challenges of installation, but if you’d like to talk about what you need or how Bond Products can help, please contact us today.

 

 

Bond Products is proud to introduce our new PBL-TXB zig-zag wide-tapestry and narrow-tape portable binder combo machine.

Bond Products offers a variety of carpet binding and serging equipment to allow for binding of any size carpet on site anywhere. These machines are a great addition to your workroom or retail-business store, allowing you to make extra income. Charge $7 to $12 dollars per linear foot to add wide tapestry borders to rugs and carpet. Simply blind stitch the wide border on, flip, and glue it to the back side of the rug.

If your current binder only has one-stitch ability, the PBL-TXB will be a definite upgrade. This extra heavy-duty construction machine does the work of three machines, allowing you to go from a straight stitch to a zig-zag stitch easily. Its zig-zag lockstitch binds ¾” to 3” widths of tape in a single pass. It also has a tapestry blind stitch up to 6 ½ inches wide, adjustable stitch length, variable speed, a walking-foot top and feed-dog bottom for consistent pulling power, and a high lift needle for thick rugs. The PBL-TXB binds over 10 feet of carpet per minute, uses regular portable style A, HD bobbins, and is available in either 110 or 220 volts. An optional 3-inch sisal tape folder is also available with this model.

This portable binding machine has four heavy-duty caster wheels for stability, an 8-foot cord, and is, of course, backed by Bond Products’ 90-day limited warranty as all of our equipment is. It comes with a tapestry guide and your choice of a narrow folder.

If you’ve been looking to invest in a portable binding machine to expand your business’s portfolio of abilities or allow you greater flexibility in your work load, now is the time to take a look at our inventory. Bond Products has all of the binding machinery and products you need to get any carpet job done either in your shop or on site. Call us today to discuss which binder option would work best for you.