Hi James, et al.,
You bring up a good point in your note, one we have perhaps
overlooked. That is, "What is the purpose of the leather/vinyl
treatment?" In your case, the purpose may well be to preserve the
object just as it is. For others, the purpose might be to rejuvenate
the leather to be more supple. For that, the products needed might
be quite different.
Here is my process and goal when refinishing automotive
leather. It is simple: Clean, Feed, Finish. In detail, and this is long...
Clean:
1) Carefully clean the surface of the leather without flexing it
too much. Old leather is dry and cracks easily. This is
because the natural oils and fats have evaporated from the
leather fibers. (Okay, at least the volitle components of the
natural oils and fats have evaporated.) When the fibers
break, cracks form -- then tears. Also, Connolley leather
is not vat-dyed. Rather, it is 'painted' with lacquer. That is
why the leather in <older> British cars feels hard, shines and
shows surface mars so easily. The surface is all that you see
and all that you can get to. The inside of the leather is
unreachable! It is sealed by the lacquer and never gets any
of the treatments that we lavish upon it.
2) Saturate the leather with a high-colligan leather treatment to
rehydrate and strengthen the fibers. This does not get to the
inner fibers <for the reason described above> but it DOES
get into the fibers in the cracks where the leather is already
damaged. The goal here is to minimize the potential for damage
while further treating the leather. I use Leatherique's Rejouvinator
Oil. (No commencial interest in the product or company.)
Avoid, like the plague, any treatment containing silocone.
3) Strip the old lacquer off of the leather with small amounts of
lacquer thinner. This is a violent process so you see the need
to feed the distressed leather first. Use lots of paper towls to
wipe away all traces of lacquer as this stuff is the seal that has
prevented you from feeding the leather all along. Allow to dry
for a day (or a few hours). Re-examine the leather for traces
of the old lacquer. They will be obvious once the leather is dry.
Spot clean, as needed, and allow to dry again.
At this stage, the leather is 'open' and easily damaged as the
lacquer thinner has stripped away some of the oils from the
surface of the leather, especially from where the lacquer was
still impermeable. Handle with care avoiding excessive flexing.
Feed:
1) Saturate the leather with Revouvinator Oil. If the weather is
hot, it also helps to cover the applied area with plastic wrap to
keep the fats from evaporating too quickly <allowing more to be
absorbed into the leather fibers>. I do this process multiple times
over two or three days. You will notice with even after the first
application that the leather is MUCH softer. That is because the
fibers are flexing easily and not breaking! Continue this process
until you are satisfied that the leather has absorbed all the fats that
it can absorb. I just can't put into print how much of an change this
makes in the leather. Old boots versus new driving gloves perhaps?
2) Clean the surface of the leather with a very light washing with soap
and water. The goal here is to remove any fats that are on the surface,
not to clean the leather. This is the 'prep' stage to refinishing.
Finish:
(1) In any project, it is hard to cover dark colors with light colors but
it can be done. It just takes more time and more coats. The leather
will be 'funky' looking now as it has no finish on it but does have
lots of staining from bits of the original lacquer soaking into the
leather. Do not dispair.
(2) I use Leatherique's dye to finish the leather. It is NOT a dye but
rather a surface finish not unlike what Connolley used -- except that
this new product is water based. It smells like latex paint and I would
be surprised if it didn't have a latex base. It can be brushed on,
rubbed
on or sprayed. I always spray it. It is NOT like anything painters are
used to as it is water based and dries VERY slowly compared to
solvent based paint. If you put it on like regular paint it will all
run to the
bottom like Windex on a window. The first few coats need to be applied
just as a mist or a dusting and allowed to dry for some time.
Subsequent
coats adhere better as some of the moisture in the finish is absorbed
into
the underlying finish. Again, very thin coats are needed. I typically
will
use 10-15 coats with the final coat just thick (wet) enough for an even
surface
appearance. Allow the final job to dry for a day or two. Please don't
rush
this step. The finish has to cure.
3) At this point, the surface is pretty much resealed making it really
important
that you took all that time to get the underlying leather in top shape
before
finishing. How long did the original finish last? Quite a while.
With 'healthy'
leather underneith, this finish will last a long time also -- and look
great.
I have pictures along the way on various seats, panels, etc., from the
Ferraris
that I have restored. I also have used the Rejouvinator Oil on my BMW M3
but as the seats are black, redying has not been needed. This is also my
daily
driver and the goal has not been to make 'new looking' seats, just soft
seats
that are not being damaged by daily use. Anyone wanting to see some of
these
pictures, e-mail me privately.
Again, I have no interest in Leatherique but I do use their products
exclusively
now. I hope these comments, however long, have helped some of you.
Best regards,
Rick
> For leather objects (as well as most metals and wood) in my museum's
collections, we use a micro-crystalline wax sold under the trade name
Renaissance Wax. It can be found at University Products
(http://www.archivalsuppliers.com/user-cgi/display.cgi?id=588).
>
> James Tichgelaar
> Assistant Director
> Arkansas State University Museum
> http://museum.astate.edu
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