Pigmented (Micro/Semi-Aniline) - How to Remove Oil and Grease from Lazy Boy Semi-Aniline Leather Reclining Sofa Headrest?

[penstone]

Roger

I would like your assistance with my sofa headrest. Could you please walk me through the steps, procedures and products, and quantities, that I will first refurbish my headrest and If it proves to improve the sofa I will do the entire sofa. I would also like to know what I can do to prevent this from happening again as well as what products I should use for spot cleaning.

Thanks
Tim

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/PA220001.jpg
http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/PA220004.jpg
http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/PA220009.jpg
http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/PA200028.jpg
http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/PA200029.jpg
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http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/PA200031.jpg

[Roger Koh]

Could you share with us how the stain has come to this stage?

What was the original stain - hair oils?

What products have been used - looks better or worse than the original stain?

Test with a wet finger and rub against the leather - does it feel sticky, slimy or squeaky?

The close-up pictures of the stain show the leather structure creased up - a sign of fatliquor drying up - and does this area feels stiffer when flexed?

The objective is to remove all foreign contamination not only from the surface but also from the structure is just as important.

Remember that leather besides the protein fibers has other constituents like the tanning agent, preservatives, fatliquor, dyestuff and finishes.

The overall healthy pH of leather from all these chemistry make up has a pH value from 3 - 5.

Leather with other chemistry constituents holds together by hydrogen bonding, and high pH with alkalinity may affect the chemistry balance that weakens these bonds.

Prolong oxidized oils may cause a yellowing effect too; therefore it is unlikely to achieve the original appearance once the dark stains is removed.

These are the likely steps to be taken:

Prep Cleaning Process:
Step 1: Neutralize alkalinity residues and rinse off with acidifier2.0™.
Step 2: Remove grease and oil with d’Oil4.4™.
Step 3: Remove sticky residue with clean3.8™.
Step 4: Acidifier rinse with rinse3.0™.
Step 5: Hydrate the entire panel through the thickness of the leather with relaxer3.3™.
Step 6: Replenish original fatliquor to soften and strengthen leather structure with fatliquor5.0™
Step 7: leatherBrush1™. nubuckBrush2™and anilineErase4™ wick up residue.

Refinishing:
Step 1: Surface grain repair - strengthening and tightening with impregnator26™
Step 2: Adhesion sealer coat with adhesion73™
Step 3: Matching semi-aniline color coat with semiColor74™.
Step 4: Top coat protection with semiTop57M™.
Step 5: Sensuous classic leather scent buttery feel non-stick conditioning with leatherScent’B™.

Routine Maintenance:
Step 1: Remove dry soil.
Step 2: Precondition soil areas with preClean4.3™.
Step 3: General cleaning with clean3.8™
Step 4: Acidifier rinse with rinse3.0™
Step 5: Sensuous classic leather scent buttery feel non-stick conditioning with leatherScent’B™.

Periodic Maintenance:
Step 1: Remove dry soil.
Step 2: Degrease soil areas with d’Grease4.9™.
Step 3: General cleaning with clean3.8™
Step 4: Acidifier rinse with rinse3.0™
Step 5: Sensuous classic leather scent buttery feel non-stick conditioning with leatherScent’B™.

Oil & Grease Spot Cleaning:
Step 1: d’Oil4.4™.
Step 2: clean3.8™
Step 3: rinse3.0™

I believe your concern lies in the “Prep Cleaning Process” as the first stage of your project.

Please email me the products you need.

And viewers can contribute your proven success on how to solve a problem like this too!

Roger Koh
Leather Doctor® System

[penstone]

Roger

Here is my response to your questions

1) The sofa was a floor model and when we purchased it Lazboy assured us that they could fix the stain. They couldn't and the would not refund our money so we were stuck. I tried to clean the stain with the cleaner the suggested, Excelsior NuBuck, tried a nubuck shoe cleaner, Pink Solution and in the last desperate attempt tried to bleach it out with a mild water and bleach solution. All the products worked somewhat to remove the soil but even after spraying with the nubuck protectant the stain continued to get worse.

2) I believe the original stain on the headrest was hair oil and the armrest probably oil from skin.

3) See answer #1, but most of the products improved the look but did not resolve the situation as the leather just darkened up again.

4) The wet finger test felt sticky. I tried the test on other areas that were undamaged with the same sticky feel.

5) The area in the headrest is definitely stiffer, like when leather gets wet and then dries without being massaged. As an aside, when I was drying the areas, using a hair dryer on cool setting, I massaged the leather as per the instructions of the lazboy technician. He also told me to use a stiff brush to bring up the nap, as he called it.

6) I followed your instructions, see pictures, and got a pH of between 6.25 and 6.5.

I hope the his help you to get a better idea of what I should do next.

Thanks in advance for your generous help.

Tim
PS Sorry I left the camera at home so I will post the picture of the pH testing tomorrow.

Tim

[penstone]

http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/th_PB030001.jpg (http://s418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/?action=view&current=PB030001.jpg)


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/th_PB030002.jpg (http://s418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/?action=view&current=PB030002.jpg)


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/th_PB030003.jpg (http://s418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/?action=view&current=PB030003.jpg)


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/th_PB030004.jpg (http://s418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/?action=view&current=PB030004.jpg)


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/th_PB030005.jpg (http://s418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/penstone/?action=view&current=PB030005.jpg)

[Roger Koh]

When you are ready with the products we shall go into more procedural details.

[Roger Koh]

Here we go!

Step 1: Neutralize alkalinity residues and rinse off with acidifier2.0™.

a. Adjust the stain surface to a horizontal level.

b. Spray or sponge acidifier2.0™ and soak the product into the stain area (with a foam brush / leatherBrush1™ - soft agitation only).

c. Let dwell minimum 30 minutes.

d. Extract (blot - reduce surface damage) thereafter - use dry absorbent towel (Kimberly-Clark RAGS on a ROLL® or equivalent).

e. Cover the area with a layer of thin tissue paper (highly absorbent Kleenex® or equivalent).

f. Spay wet it with acidifier2.0™ to have a no air bubble surface contour contact.

g. Add extra layers before covering it up with a thick bath towel.

h. Leave it overnight for the complete wicking process (do not remove the tissue until completely dry).


Objective:

What we are doing is to neutralize the pH nearer to the leather pH neutral of 4 (hopefully to lighten the stain in the process if the dark stain is pH related).

Sometimes leather behaves like a litmus paper and are pH sensitive (darker with alkalinity and lighter with acidity).
If the darkening is pH related rather than oil, then d’Tarnish1.3™ may help to reduce the darkening color effect.
(We will leave the d’Tarnish1.3™ until the final treatment when necessary).

The covering up with tissue and towel allows capillary motion or wicking of the residue through the tissue (residue to be caught by the thereafter dried tissue rather than staying on the leather surface otherwise effort lost).

We like to see the steps you take with pictures before we continue.

Roger Koh
Leather Doctor® System

[chet]

Roger, we have a product "stain blotter powder" (diatematius earth) which we use to absorbe wicking of stains for fabrics and carpets. Could this be used instead of the tissue?
Chet

[Roger Koh]

Of course in theory it can be use, but if I tell you the practical problems, you might not believe me.

Until you experience the problems associate with “stain blotter powder”, then you’ll appreciate why the tissue paper.

Roger Koh.

[penstone]

Roger

Do I start from the beginning again? Could you give me a couple of steps at one time or are the next steps dependant and the result of the previous?

[Roger Koh]

Prep Cleaning Process:
Step 1: Neutralize alkalinity residues and rinse off with acidifier2.0™.
Step 2: Remove grease and oil with d’Oil4.4™.
Step 3: Remove sticky residue with clean3.8™.
Step 4: Acidifier rinse with rinse3.0™.
Step 5: Hydrate the entire panel through the thickness of the leather with relaxer3.3™.
Step 6: Replenish original fatliquor to soften and strengthen leather structure with fatliquor5.0™
Step 7: leatherBrush1™. nubuckBrush2™and anilineErase4™ wick up residue.


For your information - The above steps 1, 2 & 3 is now replaced by one step using degreaser2.2.

degreaser2.2 – for Pigmented, Aniline and Nubuck leather types.
This is a pH 2.2 hydrocarbon degreaser to degrease leather of penetrated oil and grease stains from skin and hair contact prior to refinishing.
It’s also used to remove blue jean dye transfer and other solvent based stains like paint, permanent-marker, nail-polish etc.


Refinishing:
Step 1: Surface grain repair - strengthening and tightening with impregnator26™
Step 2: Adhesion sealer coat with adhesion73™
Step 3: Matching semi-aniline color coat with semiColor74™.
Step 4: Top coat protection with semiTop57M™.
Step 5: Sensuous classic leather scent buttery feel non-stick conditioning with leatherScent’B™.


And if it’s Aniline leather, most likely then Refinishing Steps 1, 2, 3 & 4 is replaced just by using Topcoat Aniline79M – Matte.



That will bring you result from picture #1 to #2.

#1 before
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn4/Rogerkoh/1-11.jpg

#2 after
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn4/Rogerkoh/15.jpg

Roger Koh
Leather Doctor®

[Roger Koh]

How is the progress?

Roger Koh
Leather Doctor®