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dcbrew53
02-13-2017, 12:16 PM
I had a child sit in my brown chair and drag her fingernails across the arm of it. This left dark marks similar to an ink pen might have and no amount of rubbing with various leather cleaners or treatments seems to remove the dark lines. The marks feel slightly raised but not rough. I can not find any information about why the scratches turned dark or how to remove them from an almost new chair.

Help please!

Roger Koh
02-14-2017, 12:00 PM
Can you find a sample of this leather type to do a testing?

dcbrew53
02-17-2017, 01:17 PM
Can you find a sample of this leather type to do a testing?

No, I don't have anything like that. The best I could do is test an inconspicuous area.

Thanks

Roger Koh
02-17-2017, 07:08 PM
>>> I had a child sit in my brown chair and drag her fingernails across the arm of it. This left dark marks . . .

You may scratch with your fingernails on an inconspicuous area to prove that you are able to produce the same dark marks, give it a try and show us your findings, I do not think you can do it!

dcbrew53
04-04-2017, 07:30 AM
>>> I had a child sit in my brown chair and drag her fingernails across the arm of it. This left dark marks . . .

You may scratch with your fingernails on an inconspicuous area to prove that you are able to produce the same dark marks, give it a try and show us your findings, I do not think you can do it!

I was not able to make the dark marks by scratching, so you won that bet. Now I am totally at a loss of what to do and I have tried so many things that I now have a couple of spots where the cleaner/restorer has actually lightened the leather. I would like suggestions first on restoring the color and finish and hopefully there is a way to remove the dark streaks.

Roger Koh
04-05-2017, 11:15 AM
>>> Now I am totally at a loss of what to do

1st is to identify the leather finishes type and here is an example (the leather is question has to be positively identified to match any of the 30 leather problem solving guides we have). Here is an example . . .
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/aniline-sauvage/ And the guide is used to help in returning back to its desired original condition (see below).
Aniline leather is soft and natural. They are usually first treated with transparent dyestuff to make the grain and natural characteristics more visible. Modern tannery dyeing is done in a rotating drum in a continuous process follows with fatliquoring. When dried thereafter, the leather goes through another selection or grading to decide the best treatment to bring out their potential softness and natural look. Thus, further sub-divide into various varieties. However, the bulk of aniline leathers after dyeing may reveal uneven grain dye absorbency and too many faults, so that the variation in color over the entire grain surface is too great for many leather fabrications.
Varieties of aniline leathers may be referred to as “full sauvage aniline” with differing intensity of dye absorbency appearance.
Use this Aniline (A.fs) Full Sauvage as reference guide when comes to cleaning and restoration. Identify the problem from the left column and the top row the product recommended and the numbers is the sequence of steps. When leather have compound issue combine the soiling, stain and odor types as the cleaning phase-1 and the leather rejuvenating with Hydrator-3.3 > Fatliquor-5.0 as the second phase-2. Structural problem as third phase-3, Finishing as phase-4 and protection of the finishes as phase-5.
# Aniline (A.fs) Full Sauvage Leather Problem Solving Instruction/Guide/Matrix

>>> and I have tried so many things that I now have a couple of spots where the cleaner/restorer has actually lightened the leather.

Aniline leathers uses “transparent” dyestuff with a clear top coating and the dyestuffs is pH sensitive, any cleaning products that have a pH value more then 7 will lightens this pH sensitive leather (specialty products when used with a high pH above 3 - 5 will need to be neutralized with a pH value of 2 like Acidifier-2.0 to return the leather to its pH neutral (isoelectric point or pI) otherwise the leather will continue to fade faster in the present of moisture in the atmosphere. All cleaner/restorer mismatched products residues have to be removed and pH balanced to bring the leather pH chemistry integrity back to the original.

>>> I would like suggestions first on restoring the color and finish and hopefully there is a way to remove the dark streaks.

The dark streaks comes inherent with the leather, remember leather is grown from the fields, where the benevolent animal have made wire bard scratches and is part of the identity of “originality from the field” and not from a press of a button for artificial leather. A camouflaging intensifying of the “transparent” range will return back to the original color scheme. Please check out the original color from some hidden areas to verify the level of intensity you wish to achieve.

Recommend kit for your reading . . .

7659
http://www.leatherdoctor.com/kit-a7-cl-aniline-leather-dye-refinishing-kit/
Leather DoctorŽ Kit-A7.cl - aniline leather dye refinishing kit is designed for dyestuff and topcoat refinishing from the simple sunlight fading to the severely sweat damages from body oil and grease. Most severely penetrated, prolonged and neglected stains show a darkening effect with a sticky feel have its topcoat and dyestuff probably deteriorated by the sweat. When the stain feels sticky, it is a sign of leather denaturing and reverting to rawhide from breaking of bonds with the tanning agent. When sign of color is transfer to a white towel, it indicates that the dyestuff has also break bonds with the protein fiber. When leather is stiff or shows signs of whitish residue migrating, it shows that the fatliquor is breaking bonds as well with the protein fiber. The main component of the leather protein fiber is amphoteric while the other constituents are not; shifting of the pH mainly caused from sweat to alkalinity affects the pH imbalance. To revert from denaturing into rawhide prior to topcoat refinishing, contaminated alkaline soiling is removed with Degreaser-2.2, a waterbased (pH 2.2) multifunctional degreaser that emulsifies greasy contamination besides controlling dye bleeding and charging the protein fiber ionic positive for strengthening the attraction between the ionic negative tanning agent, dyestuff and fatliquor. Deflocculated and suspended soiling is towel extracted, thereafter rinse and pH balanced with Acidifier-2.0 to prevent the leather from reverting to rawhide. When leather feels sticky or slimy it is a sign of leather denaturing, a squeaky feel when wet is a sign of a healthy leather. Hydrator-3.3 relaxes stiff leathers and removes surface tension free from surface blotchiness prior to fat and oil replenishing. Fat and oil is replenished with Fatliquor-5.0 to rejuvenate the leather for the desired suppleness when dry. Custom redyeing commences prior to topcoat refinishing. Protector-B imparts a non-stick rub-resistant protection with a buttery-feel that shield against sticky soiling and reduce friction noises. Protector-B+ is the classic leather scented version. Note that the mentioned product suffix number denotes its pH value in this holistic leather-safe aniline leathers dyestuff and topcoat refinishing system.

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