Pigmented (Micro or Semi-Aniline) - Repair this sectional sofa

Roger, please advise about repairing this sectional. It has 3 corners, 8 armless sections and an ottoman. Appears to be semi-aniline or pigmented. Severe color loss from wear on seats and some on inside back cushions. A few repairs on outside back, and very little on ottoman.
One corner seat has been damaged by the pet and I am getting an upholsterer to replace welt and a few leather panels with new and we will dye to original color during the restoration.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...g?t=1370383285

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...g?t=1370383297

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...g?t=1370383309

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...g?t=1370383746

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...g?t=1370383759

A picture of complete group

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...h_100_8835.jpg

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Leather Identification:
A general look at picture #1 shows that the color on unused panels are monotone and even throughout suggest a pigment opaque finish.
The worn areas shows a range of yellowish tone indicate that they are aniline dye through in the first place prior to the pigmented finishes.
These observations conclude that this leather is micro-pigmented also known as semi-aniline leathers.

Damage Repairs:
An option to replacing the welt is to repair it with leather Bond-3D with donor suede – the way a fiberglass is build or repair.
You will see good result with this technique.

Replacement a few panels:
An option to restore weak or overstretch panel is by these process without the need of upholstery work.
1. Hydrator-3.3 > Fatliquor-5.0
2. Impregnator-26
3. Adhesor-73

The general sequence of process for this job is as follows:

1. Wet Preparation:
Wet preparation is to remove soiling especially penetrated on the worn areas so that new finishing will have good adhesion. This process is done with Degreaser-2.2 > Rinse-3.0.

2. Hydrating Process:
Hydrating with Hydrator-3.3 has a few impacts to this leather.
1st it will reactivate the dormant dyestuff to resurface so that the contrasting difference in color narrows and any future scratches will not be too revealing (a characteristic of a semi-aniline leather).
2nd it strengthen and relax the leather structure so that the leather crust is strong against peeling or rubbing off of new finishes.
3rd it helps to resurface penetrated stains or soiling if any to resurface to be erased with Eraser-4 when crispy dry.
4th it is also a preconditioner for the Fatliquor-5.0 to charge the protein fibers ionic positive (+ve) to have an effective hydrogen-bonding with the ionic negative (-ve) fatliquor.

3. Fat and Oil Replenishing:
The structural strength and suppleness of the leather depends on the presence of fat and oil. This fat and oil diminishes faster in exposed worn areas than the non-used areas. Fat and oil replenishing with Fatliquor-5.0 returns the surface strength to the leather crust enabling to take the new finishes without delaminating or failure.

4. Impregnating:
Impregnating is to re-strengthen the leather structure to those over-stretch panels without the need of replacement. This is done with Impregnator-26 into the leather structure.

5. Bonding Repairs:
Bonding repairs is recommended to pictures #9 & #10.
Technique is to use Bond-3D with donor suede fibers, just like repairs to fiberglass.

6. Adhesion Coating:
Adhesion coating seals and smoothen the surface grains prior to color coating to even out absorbency.

7. Color Coating:
A semi-aniline finish is finer than the normal pigmented finishes and used Micro-54 finishing system. This process decides the color.

8. Top Coating:
A matching top coating normally a satin luster for semi-aniline leather is by using MicroTop-54S. This topcoating seals the color coating for better wear and cleanability to the finishes.

9. Rub-Resistant Protection:
A rub-resistant protection with Protector-B+ will reduce the wear to the leather as seen from existing pictures. When protection is applied on a routine basis, it prolongs the appearance of the leather from friction rubs.


The above is the general structure recommended and we can go into details how each steps should be done accordingly.

Roger Koh
[email protected]

A reference to repairs for picture #10 can be found in this link.

http://www.leathercleaningrestoratio...e-with-fraying

Pictures show how you get your donor suede fiber to work with Bond-3D, it could be from the reverse suede side of similar leather color to match existing color.


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