This is my first post and I'd like to thank the collective group for all the good advice that has helped me to get a couple of phones in working order.
I just finished reconditioning a 1945 Gallon. It worked fine to begin with and was in nice shape, but just needed a good disassembling and cleaning. Particularly the dial needed some cleaning and lubrication. Most of the suede feet were dry rotted, so I found this thread and followed the instructions.
I ran into two major obstacles in my first attempts to recover a Galion foot. The first was finding the leather; the second was that the leather bunches up when you assemble the foot and the leather.
I recommend that you disassemble a foot in good condition and have a good look at the leather. This will not only give a sense of the thickness needed, but also the shape that your template should take.
My first attempts used leather recycled from an old bag, which was too thick. It had a leather liner which was too thin to use. Anyway, neither the bag nor its liner were suede or the right color. Fabric stores were not helpful, and the closest Tandy Leather is 18 miles away. Scraps of .3 to . 4 mm are not available online, so I found that I needed to visually match up to find the right thickness before purchasing. I did find a pair of ladies' chocolate brown suede boots for $7.99 at a a thrift store. This turned out to be a tad thinner than the 70+ year-old original. The results were not perfect but still serviceable.
I attach a scan of the original leather from a disassembled Galion foot. I ironed it flat, scanned it, and used it to create a template. You can see that unlike the templates shown earlier, this design is important. It has evenly spaced tabs and all the extra leather that bunches up has been cut away. However, it seems that this cover has shrunk over time and is smaller than the outlines I had used before. There is no way that I can stretch a cover of this size to fit on the foot, so through trial and error I scaled it to my needs. Basically, drop the JPEG file into Microsoft Word, right click on it and select Format Picture/Size. Deselect the 2 boxes, "Lock aspect ratio" and "Relative to original picture size". This allows you to stretch the height and width independent of each other. Then I entered the 2.1" H x 2.26" W measurements, which worked for me, and clicked OK. Print it out on photo paper or card stock, cut the outline with an Xacto knife, and you have your template. Proceed with the directions already given, and you should be able to recover your feet.
I will say it takes patience and effort to tuck the leather in and seal the 2 metal halves of the foot. I used a small regular screwdriver, the kind you would use on the terminal screws inside a phone. You have to use the insert to hold the leather in while you tuck in around the edges. It can get frustrating as one side will come undone while you're tucking in another side. Be patient and you'll persevere. Once I was satisfied that my edges were all under the insert, I was able to press down by hand to close up the foot, and I used a small hammer to tap it all the way home
The results are not perfect, but I'm happy overall. I'm attaching a couple of photos. There is still some bunching up around the edges. I think the leather could be just a little bit thicker, but the feet hold together fine.
