I check my leather kit and I have all the products that you mentioned (except for the sandpaper).
My next questions are:
How long will this process take?
I recommend you do some kind of testing yourself first.
If you want to do it first time right, you need some practice!
Should I remove the items from the customer’s home to work on them?
Yes!
How good will it looks after the work is done? (I need to set my customers expectations)
Doing it back to the original color and not darker is a bigger challenge, for there are factors beyond our control; that’s why worldwide leather production for aniline leathers is around only 15%; semi-aniline leather is one category of aniline leather that fails to qualify, so downgraded because of too many natural blemishes show through the “transparent” dyestuff.
So if this leather is to be refinish to its original color types – it may looks very poorly done – not sure all the stain are going to be out yet until done accordingly.
To camouflage the stains and looks good, the color has to be darker to cover-up unwanted blemishes.
Otherwise, an option is to downgraded a bit by using hybrid “translucent” dyestuff and it may look good, but no more can be classified as aniline maybe “quasi-aniline”.
Worse scenario is to micro-pigment it to convert to semi-aniline leather of the same color.
So you have to check with your customer their expectation, prior to accepting the job.
Just promising may not be enough, to maintain our credibility, I think better to do a little section for approval.
and lastly what order should the products be used?
1] All Body Contact Areas:
Degreaser-2.2 > Rinse-3.0 (leather Eraser-4 / horsehair Brush-1 / 1000-2000 sanding Velcro round disc with holder for better control)
2] Un-used Areas:
Stripper-2.3 > Rinse-3.0 (leather Eraser-4 / Nylon Brush-2 / 1000-2000 sanding Velcro round disc with holder for better control)
Note: Sanding is only limited to removing topcoat and NOT the leather – as it gets coarser if you sand the grains)
3] Hydrator-3.3:
a. To relax and plumps the leather to reduces creases (coarse breaks), the leather may be soak up from 24-72hrs to completely relax the leather with cross-wise stretching, this dwelling helps to lessen the looseness of the leather making it more taut.
b. To activate the dormant dyestuff to resurface.
c. To wick foreign contamination to the surface and erased with Eraser-4 when crispy dry.
d. To increase the ionic positive (+ve) charges of the leather protein fiber.
4] Dry Inspection:
a. The worn areas are further work with Eraser-4 of wick up residue.
b. Hydrator-3.3 is use to mist spray to check evenness of appearance without any signs of blotchiness (that is to check for surface tension).
5] Dry Inspection:
This is the point to decide which system will match well in the above preparation in preference:
1] Aniline,
2] Quasi-aniline
or
3] Semi-aniline.
In-house training is available to help you deliver what you promise and got stuck!
Roger Koh
[email protected]