De Sede Sofa Cleaning & Repair

Hi Roger,

I recently acquired a vintage (likely from the '80s) black leather De Sede sofa that I'm looking to clean, recondition, and repair. The leather has a nice full grain, is quite thick, and appears to be pigmented. When I place a small drop of water on the surface of the cushions or frame it beads up and is not immediately absorbed. Please let me know if there are any additional tests I should perform to confirm the leather type.

Its prior maintenance history is unknown to me, including what products may have been used on it in the past, if any. The color is solid and uniform, without much if any fading, and the leather itself is soft and supple in most areas. There are a few spots, such as on one of the armrests, where it feels slightly harder and rougher to the touch. My guess is that these areas could use rehydration.

My main concern is that the sofa gives off what seems like a musty-smoky smell, which is especially noticeable when it's exposed to sunlight. This leads me to believe it may have been previously exposed to cigarette smoke, as I don't see any stains that would directly suggest a different source. However, I'm open to your suggestions on how to narrow down the cause of the odor.

In additional to cleaning, there are a small number of damaged areas I'd like to repair:

• Small scuffs on the front of the legs, one of which shows through white underneath. These are barely detectable by touch.
• Scrapes on the rear of each leg that are slightly more severe, where the surface of the leather has been removed. These are each approximately 1/4" in diameter and it looks like some black dye may have been applied at some point.
• A longer scrape on the side, but where the leather is still mainly intact.
• An impression ("dent") in the leather along the back that looks like it was caused by being pressed up against something.

Your advice and recommendations on how to proceed with the Leather Doctor system would be greatly appreciated!


Sofa overall:

https://i.imgur.com/OooVwSGh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/5DL0Zzph.jpg


Back left leg:

https://i.imgur.com/n3gub3Hh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/x1wWctuh.jpg


Back right leg:

https://i.imgur.com/GuPp4Aah.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DX1m5ydh.jpg


Front right leg:

https://i.imgur.com/r9NI0RZh.jpg


Right side scrape:

https://i.imgur.com/lb8k9Toh.jpg


Back impression:

https://i.imgur.com/hq5XKalh.jpg


Back scrape/wear:

https://i.imgur.com/MPn6YDjh.jpg

From the pictures I look through, the finish is pigmented, surely not aniline, possibly a semi-aniline also known as micro-pigmented. The semi-aniline evidence is looking at the reverse suede side if it takes a similar color shade as the surface. And if the suede side is dyed through (take a look at the cross-section) then all those surface damages that appear pale in color could be the result of sunlight and UV light fading and possibly lost its color through alkaline cleaners too. If the leather thickness is aniline dyed and dormant dyestuff could be reactivated to move the dyestuff to the surface with a restorative cleaning, pH balancing, hydrating, and structural fatliquor conditioning. This restorative process is a multi-purpose effort to restore the leather chemistry integrity and also to activate the dormant dyestuff simultaneously. During the wet process, smoke deodorizing could be inserted into the sequence of steps as a continuous single process. The few spots on the armrests will need hydration to relax the stiff leather and continue to fatliquor topping up conditioning so that suppleness with fat and oil is restored. Hydration is only the pre-conditioning, to relax the leather structure for fatliquor penetration and distribution. The actual conditioning that returns the leather to suppleness is the fat and oil from the fatliquor. Fatliquor is the lifeblood of leather! Hydrator is just the preconditioner relaxer and without the fatliquor that follows, the leather dries up empty again without softness.

The closest kit that I can recommend if the musty odor is a concern is the Leather Mold Killer Kit A3.mk by Leather Doctor is a good start. Leather Prep-4.4 and Leather Smoke Cleaner-4.7 can be added as individual products.

We will talk about repairs after this decontamination cleaning and conditioning decision is made.

Further questions are welcome after you read my recommendation.

This is the Leather Mold Killer Kit A3.mk
https://www.leatherdoctor.com/leathe...zer-kit-a3-mk/

Attachment 10797

Attachment 10796
Roger Koh
Leather Care System Formulator
Consultant / Practitioner / Instructor / Coach
web: www.leatherdoctor.com
forum: www.leathercleaningrestorationforum.com
email: [email protected],
email: [email protected]

Thank you Roger, I appreciate the detailed reply. I unzipped one of the armrest cushions and was able to get a good look at the reverse suede side of the leather, as well as the cross section along a seam. Since both are black, it appears that the leather was dyed through:

https://i.imgur.com/lGnMRSHl.jpg

I did a thorough inspection of the sofa this week and didn't come across any signs of water damage or mold, so unless there's other evidence you'd suggest I look for, this leads me to believe that the smell is most likely coming from prior exposure to cigarette smoke.

If the smell is smoke-related, would you recommend the Smoke Remover Kit (P3.so) over the Mold Killer Kit (A3.mk), or are the cleaning agents in the mold kit better suited for a deep clean in this case? It looks like the main difference cleaning-wise is in the initial solutions used: Prep-7.7 vs the combo of Clean Pro-1.5 and Acidifier-2.0.

>>> I unzipped one of the armrest cushions and was able to get a good look at the reverse suede side of the leather, as well as the cross section along a seam. Since both are black, it appears that the leather was dyed through:

I like the quality of de Sede leather, although it's pigmented, a cheaper leather would not be necessary to dye through, nobody looks at the reverse suede side. And nobody can see beneath the finishing until it is damaged. So freshly damaged is less noticeable because it still shows black through the surface damage. The lightening of the structure is due to aniline dye sunlight fading and the leather is dry of the original fatliquor (fat and oil). These exposed areas aged as dry rot with leather products not safe for suede compound the damages. All suede exposed damages will need pH balancing with Acidifier-2.0, hydrate with Hydrator-3.3, and condition with Fatliquor-5.0 before we talk about repairs system to match.
Note: you can do a hydrating and conditioning test to see if the suede colors resurface, once the dormant dyestuff is activated.


>>> If the smell is smoke-related, would you recommend the Smoke Remover Kit (P3.so) over the Mold Killer Kit (A3.mk), or are the cleaning agents in the mold kit better suited for a deep clean in this case? It looks like the main difference cleaning-wise is in the initial solutions used: Prep-7.7 vs the combo of Clean Pro-1.5 and Acidifier-2.0.

The Smoke Remover Kit (P3.so)will do the job, you can add refills or extra as mentioned on the condition of the damaged exposed suede from leather denaturing. Leather is an amphoteric protein material and is pH sensitive, that is the reason the suffix number of all these Leather Doctor cleaners and conditioners represents the pH value for leather-safe cleaning and conditioning. So, Acidifier-2.0 has a pH value of 2.0, and so on with other products.
Note: Prep-7.7 is not recommended to use on suede because of its alkaline pH value. Suede is clean instead with a lower pH value with Prep-4.4, Suede Cleaner-4.5, and Suede Rinse-2.3.

Note: Take advantage of the shipping weight to add products to less than 1kg, the same rate applies. We are in the process to move our shipping back to Vancouver, Canada instead for a lower shipping rate to North America and Europe customers.

Thank you Roger. So it sounds like I'll need Acidifier-2.0 to correct the damaged-through sueded areas and to make sure to avoid contact with Prep-7.7, Clean-3.8, and Rinse-3.0.

Does Smoke-4.7 contain general odor removing capabilities in addition to smoke, or would I also potentially need to add Odor Cleaner-4.5 to ensure that it's fully deodorized? I suppose I could also consider adding Mold Killer-3.6 as well just to cover my bases.

Since we've identified the leather type, are you able to recommend the products necessary to complete the repairs as well? Please let me know if there's any information you need or investigation I can do. I'd love to order everything at once if possible.

Do you have an estimated timeframe for moving shipping back to North America? This project isn't time sensitive, so if the shipping change is already underway I'm happy to wait until it's complete.

Thanks again!

>>> So it sounds like I'll need Acidifier-2.0 to correct the damaged-through sueded areas and to make sure to avoid contact with Prep-7.7, Clean-3.8, and Rinse-3.0.

Remember that leather is an amphoteric protein material and is pH sensitive, that’s why Leather Doctor’s product is dedicated to ensuring leather-safe with the suffix number representing its pH value. Thus Acidifier-2.0 has a low pH value of 2.0 for pH balancing, water has a pH value of 7, and leather has a pH value of 3 to 5. Baking Soda has a pH value above 10 which is damaging to leather, a common mistake. For suede, cleaning kits it always pairs with Prep-4.4, a pH value within the pH neutral of leather. Cleaner-3.8 and Rinse-3.0 are safe for suede.

>>> Does Smoke-4.7 contain general odor removing capabilities in addition to smoke, or would I also potentially need to add Odor Cleaner-4.5 to ensure that it's fully deodorized? I suppose I could also consider adding Mold Killer-3.6 as well just to cover my bases.

The three mentioned products are specialty products that do specific functions of their own class of deodorizing or killing odor-causing soilings.

>>> Since we've identified the leather type, are you able to recommend the products necessary to complete the repairs as well? Please let me know if there's any information you need or investigation I can do. I'd love to order everything at once if possible.

See this Semi-Aniline Leather Color Refinishing Kit Sa7.cl, the Thickener-48 can be replaced with Bond-3D. And we can further discuss the process. A touch-up may not match perfectly as the new fresh color often does not match the aging color. So, the entire sofa needs refinishing instead and you need refills.
Attachment 10807
https://www.leatherdoctor.com/leathe...ng-kit-sa7-cl/

>>> Do you have an estimated timeframe for moving shipping back to North America? This project isn't time sensitive, so if the shipping change is already underway I'm happy to wait until it's complete.

We are in the process of moving back to Canada, probably 4 to 6 months time, thus colors are not available for Kit Sa7.cl until then.