Restoration Hardware Lancaster Brompton Cocoa sofa - needs some serious attention!

[ja2000on]

>>> Is there a rule-of-thumb or do I need a moisture meter?

Moisture meter is not necessary. To go by the rule-of-thumb, observed that the last application gets absorbed much slower into the thickness of the leather. And any surface remaining is clean off with Hydrator-3.3 to reduce a sticky surface. The purpose of fatliquoring is to restore plumpness and suppleness to the leather structure. Thus creases and wrinkling is reduced to smoothness.

Hi Roger!

So I got my latest order and continued to use another entire bottle of Hydrator on this one cushion. So far I've used two entire bottles on this one cushion. I wrapped it in a plastic bag for 24 hours and it was fairly dry after. It seemed like no matter how much I soaked it in Hydrator it never completely saturated the suede underside. It was cold and damp on the underside but not wet.

Nevertheless I decided to move on to the Fatliquor process because after two full bottles of Hydrator I figured that was sufficient. These photos are after 2 coats of Fatliquor and about 25% dry and about to put another coat. Does this look right?

[ja2000on]

Hi Roger!

So I got my latest order and continued to use another entire bottle of Hydrator on this one cushion. So far I've used two entire bottles on this one cushion. I wrapped it in a plastic bag for 24 hours and it was fairly dry after. It seemed like no matter how much I soaked it in Hydrator it never completely saturated the suede underside. It was cold and damp on the underside but not wet.

Nevertheless I decided to move on to the Fatliquor process because after two full bottles of Hydrator I figured that was sufficient. These photos are after 2 coats of Fatliquor and about 25% dry and about to put another coat. Does this look right?

Here is what its looking like after using about 5 coats of Fatliquor and it takes a while to absorb at this point. The front of the cushion is much darker than I would like and than how it originally came. Its not even brown anymore, its more of a deep maroon/purple color. How can I lighten it up back to a brown like on the bottom of the cushion (like the photo below)?

[Roger Koh]

>>> How can I lighten it up back to a brown like on the bottom of the cushion (like the photo below)?

Remove all the water content, together with the fat and oil and it will lighten up to your desired appearance.

My recommendation is to move on - what you see is not what you get when working with transparent aniline wax pull-up, unlike monotone leather appearance which you do not like (as your post #6).

[ja2000on]

>>> How can I lighten it up back to a brown like on the bottom of the cushion (like the photo below)?

Remove all the water content, together with the fat and oil and it will lighten up to your desired appearance.

My recommendation is to move on - what you see is not what you get when working with transparent aniline wax pull-up, unlike monotone leather appearance which you do not like (as your post #6).

Ok will do. I'll continue moving forward. I'm starting to see that stretching and pulling the leather really lightens it up.

Here is what I have so far. All 4 cushions are cleaned, hydrated, fatliquored, and have one coat of EffectWax 8.6. I need more wax and still haven't done the AnilinTop 76G so waiting on the wax to do that. Really happy with the results so far.

1. How do these look to you so far?

2. Should I do about 5 coats of wax and then a few coats of AnilinTop 76G?

Thanks!

[ja2000on]

Ok will do. I'll continue moving forward. I'm starting to see that stretching and pulling the leather really lightens it up.

Here is what I have so far. All 4 cushions are cleaned, hydrated, fatliquored, and have one coat of EffectWax 8.6. I need more wax and still haven't done the AnilinTop 76G so waiting on the wax to do that. Really happy with the results so far.

1. How do these look to you so far?

2. Should I do about 5 coats of wax and then a few coats of AnilinTop 76G?

Thanks!

Hi Roger,

I had one more question:

Should I be doing all the coats of wax (3-5 coats) and then all the coats of AnilinTop 76G (about 3 coats)? Or is it better to do Wax, AnilinTop 76G, Wax, AnilinTop 76G, Wax, AnilinTop 76G?

The reason I ask is because I saw this thread that Matt mentioned he had Excellent results doing wax/AnilinTop 76G/wax/AnilinTop 76G, etc. in post #15 -

http://www.leathercleaningrestoratio...-Hardware-Help!

[Roger Koh]

>>> Should I be doing all the coats of wax (3-5 coats) and then all the coats of AnilinTop 76G (about 3 coats)? Or is it better to do Wax, AnilinTop 76G, Wax, AnilinTop 76G, Wax, AnilinTop 76G? The reason I ask is because I saw this thread that Matt mentioned he had Excellent results doing wax/AnilinTop 76G/wax/AnilinTop 76G, etc. in post #15 -

It does not matter which sequence you prefer - my recommendation, you activate the wax crystalline only one time versus 3 times done by Matt.

[ja2000on]

>>> Should I be doing all the coats of wax (3-5 coats) and then all the coats of AnilinTop 76G (about 3 coats)? Or is it better to do Wax, AnilinTop 76G, Wax, AnilinTop 76G, Wax, AnilinTop 76G? The reason I ask is because I saw this thread that Matt mentioned he had Excellent results doing wax/AnilinTop 76G/wax/AnilinTop 76G, etc. in post #15 -

It does not matter which sequence you prefer - my recommendation, you activate the wax crystalline only one time versus 3 times done by Matt.

Ok I'll follow your instructions and send you the photos. Much appreciated!

[Roger Koh]

>>> 1. How do these look to you so far?

a- Some dark natural marks are to stay.
b- Dark patches mark may need to be pull or stretch out to even out the appearance.
c- Light patches mark is most probably the lack of Fatliquor-5.0.
d- To darken it evenly out, use an iron on silk setting and iron over a white print paper.
A wax pull-up leather is alive and healthy with sufficient Fatliquor-5.0 and EffectWax-8.6.


>>> 2. Should I do about 5 coats of wax

Use about the equal amount of Fatliquor-5.0 (primary structural conditioner) to EffectWax-8.6 (secondary structural conditioner). Recommend applying a very heavy EffectWax-8.6 (instead of shallow surface coatings) and repeats before it dries to saturate the leather structure with the pull-effect. The wax component that stays on the surface when dry is activated by a hot hair dryer to shine.


>>> and then a few coats of AnilineTop-76G?
This AnilineTop-76G is applied by foamBrush-3 or folded Towel-5 to shine, to satisfaction.

[Roger Koh]

>>> Does this look right?

Pictures 4 and 5 still shows the texture dryness that is the leather is not plump with fullness.
The fullness of the leather is achieved by Hydrator-3.3 wetting it out through the suede side.
Thereafter continue with Fatliquor-5.0 to satisfaction.
As a rejuvenating system Hydrator-3.3 helps to relax and plumps up the leather, however it is the remaining 1/6 of the Fatliquor-5.0 fat and oil when dry determines the desire result.
You may continue Fatliquor-5.0 > Hydrator-3.3 > Fatliquor-5.0 > Hydrator-3.3 in repeat sequence to satisfaction before EffectWax-8.6.


Roger Koh
Leather, Skin & Hair Care System Formulator
Consultant / Practitioner / Instructor / Online-Life-Coaching
online store: www.leatherdoctor.com
forum: www.leathercleaningrestorationforum.com
email: [email protected]