Another color repair.

[harryhides]

Refinishing Leather is quite similar to refinishing wood.
Matching the color is much easier than spot dyeing since often the whole panel is restored and usually each panel is slightly different in color/shade. Best of all NO NEEDLES !!

 

[Heathrow]

Fantastic Tony - I've never done a leather class but will at some stage soon.

 

[Mikey P]

Easy fix for Tony.


No peeling or cuts.

 

[lesterj2]

damm that chair looks brand spanking new...

 

[Stevea]

Great Job Tony,

That almost looks like something you could charge well for. Thanks for sharing this.

SA

 

[Cousin]

Might send mine over, Tony

Does/did that leather have a polyurethane coating over the colour? and if so, do you replace it (with what?) to protect the colour you apply.

M

 

[harryhides]

Might send mine over, Tony

Does/did that leather have a polyurethane coating over the colour? and if so, do you replace it (with what?) to protect the colour you apply.
M

Good question M.

Yes it did.
The first thing to do in these kinds of repairs is to clean the leather.
Next thing should be to restore the moisture content of the leather. The best product that I have found for this is Roger Koh's Fat Liquor ( and no Shorty, it's not very tasty ). He's one of those crazy chemists so I'll shoot him a PM to come here to explain all this in more technical terms. He posts here once in a while. Roger produces the Leather Doctor line of Leather products.
Then the color coat is applied. The color coat does not wear well and could if left unprotected, rub off rapidly.
Finally the "Top coat" is applied to protect the color coat and help to keep the moisture in the leather. I believe it is similar to the original poly applied by the Tanneries. But Roger will know for sure.


Just ship your leather to Shorty M - he has an eye for Leather among other things.

One part of my Leather classes is for each student to burn, carve, color etc their own eye-patch using Vegetable tanned leather ( like saddle leather ). Here is what one bugger did while I wasn't watching - of course I'm no scientist !

:mrgreen:

 

[Harry Myers]

Sure looks purdy. Nice job Tony.

 

[Jack May]

Looks Good Tony. What was the cause of the coloUr loss?

John

 

[harryhides]

Too much sun and wear on both the Leather and on Shorty - gives that old leathered look.
Once the leather is that dried out the finish becomes dry and unstable. A good thorough cleaning and sanding removes all of the color coat that is about to "let go."
Shorty really should try to use a moisturizer on a regular basis. Most leather gets about as much tender care as his face and after a few years it starts to show.

Due to extremely cold winters it gets very dry here in the winter.

 

[Jack May]

I see quite a few leater suites that have been too close to a heat source (wood fires are the worst) and the leather is all dried and cracked. Will Roger's Fat liquer re vitalise these?

Can the above job be done by someone without a full extraction spray booth?

I have my own shop, and a large furniture van for collection and delivery, but up till now, have always turned down these more extensive repair jobs. I've seen too many from another company that originates in your part of the world that don't last... 2-4 years after a re finish, the new top layer(s) are peeling off to reveal the damaged layer underneath.

Maybe I need to contact Roger and get a couple of his products in to compliment my Fenice range.

John

 

[Shorty]

John, check with your local council first.

My council insisted upon a warehouse with a proper spray booth set-up to contain any possible over spray, etc;

This was not economically viable due to the flood of cheap Chinese leathers into Australia, the time it would take to do these repairs and the amount of money gained.

The exception to the above would be high quality leather, which, in Cairns, there are not that many.

People usually buy a cheap leather, are not told how to maintain it, (leather looks after itself :wink: ).

Then, when it looks like crap from the sweat, high humidity (mould), and a couple of years of no maintenance, they call us, expecting us to perform a miracle at little cost. :x

Ooroo :roll:



PS ::: :idea: THAT photo is copywright :wink: & NO publication or copying by electronic media or otherwise is allowed. Offenders may be mutilated or receive unlimited thrashings by the feather duster.

 

[Heathrow]

Offenders may be mutilated or receive unlimited thrashings by the feather duster.

And what do you charge for that Shorty

 

[Jack May]

Good Grief... use the PM feature for goodness sake you two.

John

 

[Roger Koh]

Re: "Leather Room"

It is nice to see the renewed interest in the leather cleaning and restoration aspect of this industry.

May I suggest that a special room be created just for leather, call it the “Leather Room” or something else for quick accessibility?

I assure you that my contribution will be based on the “Universal Tannery Standard” using the “wet operation” for cleaning & conditioning and the “dry operation” for refinishing to its originality that we all will be proud to deliver.

The practical Cleaning & Conditioning that I would like to share with you people will be based on the IICRC S300 Standard beyond just “Pigmented Leather”.

What do you people think?

Roger Koh
Leather Doctor® System

 

[harryhides]

The cleaning agents and rinse agents were sprayed on, with hand held spray bottles ( see pic )
the color coat was brushed on as was the top coat or finish coat.
So, imo you do not need a spray booth but some of those mingy bureaucrats may not agree.

Roger's products can be sprayed on though he recommends that at least the first coat be brushed on for better adhesion. So we seldom use the air-brushes anymore. With a lot of private lessons and exhaustive repetitions John just may be able to manage this stuff.

 

[harryhides]

What did you use to "sand" it ?

Steve, we use this nifty stuff called "sandpaper". The most coarse is a 400 grit, 600 thru to the finest a 1,500 grit.
We do NOT like to use steel wool which some prefer.

 

[Stevea]

Roger, You have my vote.
SA

 

[Shorty]

Mine also.

Ooroo :roll:

 

[Jack May]

Roger, good idea, but will it have enough traffic to keep it going?

Maybe utilise the existing ToolBox room for now, if Mikey sees enough interest then he could seperate it off.

Maybe Mikey might make you a mod for this room as well to make it better?

John

 

[Roger Koh]

I see quite a few leater suites that have been too close to a heat source (wood fires are the worst) and the leather is all dried and cracked. Will Roger's Fat liquer re vitalise these?
John

Once leather is cracked it is a physical damage like the breaking of a rope, only with help of leatherBond3D™ or leatherBond8C™ will help.

As for dried, wrinkled, creased or even shrunk leathers from heat source; it has to be rehydrated first with relaxer3.3™ to help plump it to the original three dimensional size prior to fatliquor5.0™.

Thereafter the leather will regain its softness and strength.

Vegetable-tanned leather is more fatliquor hungry than chrome-tanned leather.

With a heat treatment thereafter most unnatural crease and wrinkles will disappear.

That’s how leather structures are revived or revitalize according to the “Tannery Wet Operation” principle of Soaking & Fatliquoring.

Roger Koh
Leather Doctor® System

 

[John Watson]

Great Idea, Toonney orriginally said he was going to post these type of repair pictures every week. Maybe with Roger and a few of you others we can get that done. A great asset to this board and deserves it's own room.

 

[harryhides]

Great Idea, Toonney orriginally said he was going to post these type of repair pictures every week. Maybe with Roger and a few of you others we can get that done. A great asset to this board and deserves it's own room.

Oh man !
John, I said that when this board was a wee baby and now it's grown into this monster that I can't even read every post on anymore. And as you know, my focus has shifted in more than a few ways of late so I'm just a little more short of time than in the past.

I agree with John, Mikey has had to cut out a few Rooms in the past for lack of traffic like the Rug Room. However, I see no reason why we can't discuss Leather stuff in here. After all it is just another one of those "off in left field" skills that most of us here are attracted to. I also agree that Roger would be a great addition as a Mod here. He knows more about the subject than Lonnie and I ever did.

ps, Maybe this way John Watson will get his daily fix of pictures and he'll leave me alone.

 

[John Watson]

I do need the pictures, only takes 10-15 minutes (not really) to down load each one. Gives me something to do and also give Helen something to do too!!!




She yells at me to quit cussing at the damn computer cause it so friggen slow.. :roll: :roll:

 

[Roger Koh]

I was just seeing if you used sand paper or steel wool. I've seen too many piece damaged from the steel wool.

Sandpaper is only good for in-between coats to get rid of micro lumps using the 1500 grit.

Sandpaper is also for removing old finishes without removing the grains.

Because the more we sand the coarser the grains will becomes that cause uneven absorption.

The breakthrough system is to utilize an impregnator26™ (an aqueous protein resin blend compound formulation to fill and tighten worn grains and surface micro cracks).

This application sets, even out and smoothen the grain for even color coat application.

Remember, always fatliquor5.0™ before impregnator26™.

Thereafter, color coating by “Hand Padding” (a synthetic plush stapled onto a wooden block) ensures a deeper penetration otherwise Tony uses a Poly-Brush® serves dual purposes of better adhesion without the need of a “Spray Boot” or “Mist Mask”.

These color products are designed for the right viscosity for an even flow coverage to allow coating without the messy “Spraying”.

Therefore the below problems of “peeling” will be things of the past, leather restoration has matured now with this breakthrough system.

Quote
“I've seen too many from another company that originates in your part of the world that don't last... 2-4 years after a re finish, the new top layer(s) are peeling off to reveal the damaged”

Roger Koh.

 

[Charlie Lyman]

A leather room would be awesome. I can think of numerous customers that have beaten up leather sofas that could use some work. Just like the repairs before this room, I simply said nothing and left money on the table.

 

[Roger Koh]

I have my own shop, and a large furniture van for collection and delivery, but up till now, have always turned down these more extensive repair jobs. I've seen too many from another company that originates in your part of the world that don't last... 2-4 years after a re finish, the new top layer(s) are peeling off to reveal the damaged layer underneath.
John

Why Pigment Color Refinishing Don’t Last?

1. Prep Cleaning with Solvent that deteriorate the existing finish causing the lost of adhesion to the leather crust.

2. High pH value prep cleaning that leaves a tacky or slippery feel that can be detected with a wet hand.

3. Lack of impregnator26™ or adhesion73™ before pigment color coat.

4. First coat spray application too dry with poor anchorage to existing coat.

5. Lacking the pH neutralizing and balancing to the leather pH neutral of 3-5 (like poles repel, unlike poles attract - just like Electro-Static Spray Powder Coating - there is an unseen static surface tension that can cause poor adhesion).

6. Existing basecoat too solvent resistant to allow bite.

7. Too heavy coating, the tell tale sign of “grain overloading”.

8. Others.

After caution of the above reasons for possible refinish failure, give the final color coat a Scotch Tape Test!

Use a standard 2” clear packaging Scotch Tape, press against the color coat and rip fast the scotch tape.
If the tape is clean, smile!

Questions on the above are welcome!

Roger Koh
Leather Doctor® System

 

[Roger Koh]

Refinishing Leather is quite similar to refinishing wood.
Matching the color is much easier than spot dyeing since often the whole panel is restored and usually each panel is slightly different in color/shade. Best of all NO NEEDLES !!

No NEEDLES !! Guess what this for?

Roger Koh
Leather Doctor® System.

 

[Jack May]

ummm, sewing?

Seriously, I put up a photo some time back asking about a split seam on leather, I'll see if I can find it and you may have some help to offer Roger.

John

 

[Harry Myers]

A leather punch for sewing.The mechanism moves up and down and creates a locking stitch.