Aniline (Glazed) - Eel Skin Chairs - Need to Clean for: "Gerson"

[chet]

We have the best customers, how many people have eel skin dining room chairs, these are awesome the way they feel and look. They have numerous spots which are food and beverage drips. How should we proceed to clean?

4987
04-23A Overall group of 9


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04-23B close up of spot


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04-23C More spots

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04-23D more spots

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04-23E A few chairs are faded, the one on right is a few shades lighter than the one on the left. I'm hoping Hydrator and Fatliquor will bring back the color. I don't think it was a client concern anyway.

[Roger Koh]

>>> They have numerous spots which are food and beverage drips. How should we proceed to clean?


Try grouping stain of the same source or type and try out only an isolated spot to predetermine its success and record the sequence of process.

Show before and after and we can move from there.

Use this Aniline (A.g) - Glazed as references:

4992


Roger Koh
Leather Care Consultant / Practitioner
[email protected]

[chet]

Need help, I was trying to re-clean a few of these spots with DGrease2.2 I then covered with plastic for an hour and then rinsed with Acidifier. All the areas are ringing out. Not sure how to stop the rings or get rid of them.


4995
04-24A Rings around spots

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04-24-B More rings

[Roger Koh]

>>> how to stop the rings or get rid of them.

It is a good indication that the stain will be removed completely when it is migrating.

By "reverse transfer" using stretchable paper towel without air space in conjunction with Hydrator-3.3.

Skin is first saturated with Hydrator-3.3 into the thickness letting the stain moves then place paper and stretch it out with horsehair Brush-1 and let it natural dry.


See some pictures if you are doing it right.


Roger Koh
Leather Care Consultant / Practitioner / Instructor

[chet]

5000
04-24C Saturated with Hydrator


5001
04-24D put paper towel over area and sprayed again with hydrator, lightly tamped with horse hair brush

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04-24 E Allowing to dry overnight and hoping for the best.

[Roger Koh]

>>> 04-24 E Allowing to dry overnight and hoping for the best.

Any white you see through the paper is air spaces (should not be there as this air pocket will show when dry.

The top to right shows pick-up of the stain already - you may change paper as more will be transfer through either sooner or later - it works!

[chet]

I've tried to get rid of air spaces but cannot get paper towel to stay 100% tight against the leather. I also tried toilet paper which was worse.

[Roger Koh]

The proven paper (otherwise you will end up in a blotchy effect) is found in this link:
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/towel-5/

[Roger Koh]

Products for this project are found in this kit.

5007
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/leather-doctor-kit-a6-tc-aniline-leather-topcoat-refinishing-kit/

Degreaser-2.2 has move the stain.

Rinse-3.0 is to rinse off any remaining residue.

Acidifier-3.0 is to pH balance when the surface still have tacky feel due to prior alkaline overexposure - returning back to a healthy squeaky feel restore the leather pH chemistry integrity.

Hydrator-3.3 further moves the suspended soiling or stains from within the leather structure - in between the inter-fibrillary spaces to surface for an effective 'reverse transfer' with Towel-T5.

Fatliquor-5.0 is for softening the leather for suppleness when dry.

Anilinetop-21G restore lost of luster for an even light reflection or refraction.

Protector-B+ is for rub resistant and impart a non-stick surface and also impart the classic leather scent.

[chet]

We don't have time to order the towels. We will order some tomorrow, but we need to finish this project ASAP. Is there a substitute for the towels? These eel skin chairs are very sensitive, I sprayed one with hydrator and fatliquor and it looked terrible. I'm hoping it dries out overnight and improves. I will send pictures tomorrow.

[chet]

5012
4-27A I Hydrated and fat liquored this seat, and this is how it dried. Any suggestions? I did not saturate the eel skin fully with hydrator or fatliquor. I'm really nervous about doing that now.

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4-27B Experimented on a spare piece of eel skin last night, saturated with Hydrator and tried the paper towel, the towel didn't stay in contact very well .

5010
4-27C So I then applied stain blotter powder and let dry overnight.

5011
4-27D This is how it looked this morning.

[chet]

5013
04-27E original of

[chet]

5014
4-27F I evenly wet out the bottom seat cushion from pic 4-27A, I used the towel, then the large horse hair brush and ultimately your fine horse hair brush to gently break the surface tension. It took a long time to get to penetrate through the top coat especially where the top coat never gets worn off.


5015
4-27 G Very evenly wet out with hydrator


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4-27-H allowed to air dry and, while gently wiping with terry towel


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4-27-I Almost dry, much improvement, but still unacceptable. I need your suggestions to correct completely.

[Roger Koh]

>>> I need your suggestions to correct completely.

Bleeding is due to a few possibilities and in this situation would be the leather pH integrity becoming unstable rather than excessive dyestuff.
Acidifier-2.0 with a pH value of 2.0 is design to stabilize the fugitive dyestuff.
One of Acidifier-2.0 function is to protonates the amphoteric protein fiber more ionic positive so that the ionic attraction between the cationic protein fiber and anionic dyestuff hydrogen bond increases.
One of Hydrator-3.3 function is to redistribute fugitive dyestuff and excess or migrating dyestuff is ‘reverse transfer’ with a tight Towel-T5 technique to absorb them clear from the leather surface.
A combination of process with the above-mentioned Acidifier-2.0, Hydrator-3.3 and Towel-T5 technique is most likely to solve this unstable dyestuff.
Thereafter damages topcoat is refinished with AnilineTop-21G.
I have not other better alternative than to try out the Towel-T5.
The principle is the same as what you have tested above “4-27C - So I then applied stain blotter powder and let dry overnight.”
“4-27D This is how it looked this morning.”
Towel-T5 technique is less messy, controllable round edges, stretchable and peel off absorbed stains neatly when crispy dry.
Your choice either ‘stain blotter powder’ or Towel-T5 to remove the fugitive dyestuff as it wicks up non-intrusively or constant towel physical contact and absorption.

Roger Koh
Leather Care Consultant / Practitioner / Instructor

[chet]

I have been working on the new swatch for testing purposes before I proceed further.


5032
4-29A I had this looking terrible like the chairs this morning. Then I saturated with Hydrator and covered with blotter powder. I let it dry thoroughly all day and it looked like this.


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4-29B So now I upholstered it to a board with fiberfill underneath to duplicate the curvature of the chairs and then I created water stains on the end to duplicate the chair problems. I then used some special paper shop rags (I'm not sure if they will work as good as your but I'm trying to duplicate the procedure your describing). I will check it in the morning.

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4-29-C Picture of the shop rags I bought.

[chet]

Roger do you have any suggestions to be able to spot clean in the middle of a panel without wetting out the entire panel? In your previous post you mentioned that the dyes could be stabilized with Acidifier, but I disagree on these skins the sample bleeds out excessively from the back side no matter if I wet it out with acidifier or hydrator and it was a new sample to begin with. So it has never had anything touch it except those 2 products.

[Roger Koh]

>>> Roger do you have any suggestions to be able to spot clean in the middle of a panel without wetting out the entire panel?

I do not have any suggestion right now!


>>> In your previous post you mentioned that the dyes could be stabilized with Acidifier, but I disagree on these skins the sample bleeds out excessively from the back side no matter if I wet it out with acidifier or hydrator and it was a new sample to begin with. So it has never had anything touch it except those 2 products.

There is a possibility that the dyes were not ‘fixed’ well and tested out at the tannery level before delivery – that may be the problem – whether this situation can be control at this stage is yet to be known – only with new found products.

[chet]

5037
5-4 A I thoroughly wet out the seat cushion on this chair again with hydrator. I soaked the paper rags in distilled water and applied 2 layers to completely cover the leather. I stretched and used the horse hair brush to smooth out any air bubbles and wrinkles. I then covered the seat with stretchy nylon mesh ( like ladies nylon material) and stretched that over the paper rags and stapled this material to the bottom of the chair to help keep the paper rags as tight as possible. I will let it naturally dry overnight.

I thought the nylon mesh was a good idea, but I'm not sure how I can do it to the back of a chair because I cant staple into it. Hopefully your paper towels will hold tighter on these curved areas..

[chet]

5039
5-4A A lot of color wicked into paper towel as expected

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5-4B Paper towels stayed in full contact and really wicked up a lot

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5-4C It worked, but left a water stain on back, I will repeat and do seat and back at same time. This is a lot of work and not sure if it is worth it. I checked on Eel skin a piece to cover this chair is only $150.00 plus labor. I know I would have to charge at least $150.00+ in labor to do what I'm doing plus the amount of hydrator, toweling and nylon.

All that being said, I have a better understanding of how much work and effort to resolve these type of concerns in the future.

[Roger Koh]

Any plan to restore the topcoat - it is either AnilineTop-21G or the heavy duty AnilneTop-76G?

It will the improves the appearance.

[chet]

Yes, I plan on restoring it when I get all the panels even again.

[Roger Koh]

Like to see how it turns out as you go along!

[chet]

In your experience do I need 1 or 2 layers of paper for wicking? It takes 1 1/2 hours to hydrate and cover 1 chair with 2 layers of paper. I could save a 1/2 hour per chair with 1 layer.

[Roger Koh]

I would do a 1 layer stretch.

I would not use distilled water but Acidifier-2.0 instead with a pH below 2 to stabilize the 'unfix' fugitive dyestuff.

And only layer up those area that will need more material as shown from 5-4A A lot of color wicked into paper towel as expected

[chet]

Just so you know we were using Hydrator to wet out the leather, but I would pre-wet the paper towels in distilled water prior to applying them to the leather.

[Roger Koh]

Tips:

In this situation . .

Use Acidifier-2.0 - for reduce bleeding = less work

Use Distilled water - for increase bleeding = more work

[chet]

5058
5-11A Applying Aniline top Gloss- It is darkening the raw areas. Not sure what to do? have only tried the side of the chair in question.

[Roger Koh]

Tips:

Try stretching the darkening area with a ball tip tool in between drying.

Another alternative may have to remove existing topcoat with Stripper-2.3 for an even appearance prior to top coating it (test out a small section).