Aniline Wax Pull up Sofa Cushion – Failed Attempts.

Aniline Wax Pull up Sofa Cushion – Failed Attempts.

There seems to be several products to resolve my problems but I need to understand how to use them better and become better educated on leather in general. Here is a picture of a leather wax pull up sofa cushion cover that I would like to discuss. Here’s the detail of my steps to remove the stains but here is what I attempted on the leather:
1. Put in washing machine with cold water and 1/2 cup acetone. Let airdry. Did not remove stains, did remove wax coating
2. Tried to dye with pigment dyes like full finish. Had to strip with acetone.
3. Tried to recover wax pull gloss by adding gloss leather protection cream. Darkened areas on cover and look splotchy.
The original color was dark but the seating area has faded due to wear and sun. Customer wants to keep the worn look. Leather is in good shape but now dry, not soft and supple.

Attachment 6638

To remove the darkening effect from picture #2 with this sequence of procedure:

1 – Reverse the cushion to the suede side and inspect if the stain is through.

2 – Apply Degreaser-2.2 to one spot for testing, saturate, massage using a spatula or spoon and towel extract until towel shows clean, Saturate again until the products is shown on the grain side and towel extract until towel shows clean.

3 – Apply Acidifier-2.0 and towel rinse off until towel shows clean.

4 – Apply Hydrator-3.3 and let it dwell to cause soiling particulates to resurface.

5 – Leave dry for inspection – let’s see some picture of this test and we can go further from there.



>>> 1. Put in washing machine with cold water and 1/2 cup acetone. Let it air dry. Did not remove stains, did remove wax coating.

Leather should not be clean with washing machine as it not only drains what we do not want it also drains away the leather constituents that is part of leather otherwise the leather denatures back to rawhide. Acetone definitely dries the fat and oil out of the leather besides removing the wax coating.


>>> 2. Tried to dye with pigment dyes like full finish. Had to strip with acetone.

Pigment coloring is “opaque” and does not match-up with the Aniline “transparent” dyestuff – it is a mismatch.


>>> 3. Tried to recover wax pull gloss by adding gloss leather protection cream. Darkened areas on cover and look splotchy.

The gloss of the wax pull-up derives from the wax crystalline that is deposited on the leather surface when EffectWax-8.6 dries, it is then heat activated with a heat blower to transform to its natural gloss. Additional gloss is performed with AnilineTop-76G.


>>> The original color was dark but the seating area has faded due to wear and sun. Customer wants to keep the worn look. Leather is in good shape but now dry, not soft and supple.

The “dry, not soft and supple” leather is rejuvenated with Hydrator-3.3 > Fatliquor-5.0 > Hydrator-5.0 system.


>>> 4. Is there a product/process to get a glossy wax pull up finish without sacrificing the soft feel? I tried to melt paraffin wax into a true unfinished aniline. It absorbed well but the leather darkened and I cannot get the glossy look.

Use EffectWax-8.6
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/effectwax-8-6/

>>> 1. I often encounter body oils in leather arm and headrests. I now prefer to replace the panel because I have had several callbacks when my dyes get tacky if all the oil is not removed completely. I have used Advanced Leather solutions Oil Extractor product,which seems to work well but if the person has a body oil issue it will occur again. Could you advise me on how best to treat and repair this type problem?

Use Degreaser-2.2
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/degreaser-2-2/
Surface rinse with Acidifier-2.0 to neutralize or pH balance the sweat at the same time.
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/acidifier-2-0/
Penetrated suspended soiling will need Hydrator-3.3 to reverse transfer the soiling particulates during the wicking process otherwise it will interfere with refinishing.
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/hydrator-3-3/
Soften-up the leather structure is highly recommended with
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/fatliquor-5-0/
There are 3 steps to refinishing after dry preparation:
1 – Adhesion Coating with Adhesor-73
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/adhesor-73/
2 – Color or Dyestuff of your choice to match existing finishes
3 – Topcoat strength and level of luster to match existing finishes.


>>> 2. Liquid stains on aniline leather. Is there a way to remove the stain?

First identify the stain group and remove accordingly with this Aniline (A.fs) Full Sauvage Leather Problem Solving Matrix as an example, Aniline Pure is another, Aniline Waxed is another, Aniline Wax Pull-Up is another, Aniline Oil Pull-up is another and so on. . .

Attachment 6639

>>> 3. Is there a way to lighten the color of an aniline type leather? Recently I needed to replace a damaged wax pull up panel on a sofa. The original color was more solid and darker but has lightened due to sun and wear. The customer wants to keep the worn look but I cannot find a hide that matches both the color and the wax pull up finish. I can match color well with full finish type dyes but I will lose the soft feel of the aniline type leather if I use these.

Use Prep-7.7 will cause the surface dyestuff to run and wiping them off reduces the color intensity.


Roger Koh
Leather Care System Formulator
Consultant / Practitioner / Instructor
web: www.leatherdoctor.com
forum: www.leathercleaningrestorationforum.com
email: [email protected]

Thank you. How much of each product should I get to do 3 of these cushion covers?

"Cleaning Products" used will depends on severity of soiling and penetrated versus surface.

Suppleness of leather depends on existing percentage and average differences.

If only 3% remaining it will need about 11% to top up over the entire surface. Leather moisture level is determine with leather moisture meter or equivalent.


Leather Approximate Quantity or Percentage of Fatliquor:

The quantities of fatliquor (fat and oil) contents retained in the leather after an universal tannery fatliquoring process may varies up to 14% depending on the leather types and it usage. This percentage drops as the fat and oil content diminishes or leaches through ageing, water, heat or chemical overexposure.

Leather rejuvenating or fatliquor replenishing is base on weight of the leather in relation to the percentage of remaining fatliquor. A simple calculation of percentage of fatliquor topping up requirement would be as follows:

If the weight of the leather in question is 100gm and fatliquor (fat and oil) content meter reading is less than 1%.

By applying 80gm of Fatliquor-5.0 to it will deliver an end result incremental of 13.3% fatliquor when dry as the 66.6% water contents evaporates.

In the leather rejuvenating Hydrator-3.3 > Fatliquor-5.0 > Hydrator-3.3 system, Hydrator-3.3 plays an important role by relaxing, opening up the inter-fibrillary spaces, facilitating and redistributing colloidal water movement, protonating and doing all the pre-conditioning work prior to fatliquoring including cleaning up any excess surface remnants to have a sticky-free surface. In practice with severe dryness the ratio for Hydrator-3.3 is 2 to 1 of Fatliquor-5.0.

It works out to be approximately 160gm of Hydrator-3.3 plus 80gm of Fatliquor-5.0 to replenish a 100gm dry leather from less than 1% back to the original tannery up to 14% fatliquor content.

Instruction:

1 Warm-up and shake well to a full emulsion for better penetration.

2 Apply Fatliquor-5.0 and redistribute with foam brush until saturation.

3 Repeat applications each time water contents evaporate until fully saturated.

4 Drive remaining surface remnants free of milky fat and oil until it turns clear with Hydrator-3.3.

5 Allow natural drying for extra softness.

6 Suppleness for vegetable-tanned leathers is further stake or massage or flex accordingly with a little wet back with Hydrator-3.3 prior to doing so to prevent cracking from under replenished leather.

Tips:

1 When crispy dry, prior surface contaminations/damages may darkens as soiling particulates resurface.

2 Removes soiling particulates with Eraser-4 for all leathers including nubuck and Eraser-5 for suede.

3 Stretching the darken areas lightly will also lightens the appearance.

This is a 60mm Ø tungsten leather razor tool for shaving unwanted finishes.

Instruction for Wet Shaving of Unwanted Aniline Topcoats:
The leather texture has to be hydrated with Hydrator-3.3 to keep the surface well lubricated prior to shaving from hurting the skin. In a well hydrated condition the leather will be soft and strong allowing the leather to have its maximum stretch against the less stretchable topcoat and may just shiver when pull taut prior to shaving. Recommended to start with the weak areas or area which the topcoat is the weakest and use short firm stroke to shave or stripped the topcoat off. Hydrator-3.3 is sprayed to keep the surface smooth from hurting the skin. It is recommended to remove to the edge of a panel for a seamless appearance. Like all shaving the blade is held at an slant angle for safety and control. Place thumb on the center of the blade between the first finger and grip naturally for a shaving action.

Here is an example of "wet shaving" topcoat during Hydrator-3.3 and "dry shaving" after Fatliquor-5.0

Attachment 6662
#1 Damaged Topcoat from Body Oil, Grease & Sweat.

Attachment 6663
#2 Wet Shaving of Topcoat during Hydrator-3.3

Attachment 6664
#3 Dry Shaving of Topcoat after Fatliquor-5.0

Attachment 6665
#4 Topcoat Refinishing

Aniline Wax Pull-up Leather Problem Solving Matrix:

Attachment 6667