Pigmented (Mono-Tone) - Stressless chair and ottoman urine and arm wear

Hello,

I have a light mint Ekornes chair that needs cleaning and leather treatment. I also had a cat that apparently peed on the chair. The urine seems limited to the area where the crack of the back and seat meet there are no obvious stains.
There is some discoloration of the arms where my hands rested, and stiffness in the leather where my head rested. Some minor cracking is also seen in both arms. The chair has been in storage for more than 5 years. It also has a foot stool.

I would like a complete kit to clean, treat, refinish and restore the chair and footstool. Please advise. After reading your forum I'm done shopping. I look forward to proceeding

To recap,


1] Urine No stain just urine smell. Perhaps a combination of smell sources. The area is about 8"X20"

2] Hand Rest Discoloration pictured left and right left worse

3] Stiffness but fairly supple, notice a difference where leather was not exposed, 18" x 18" at head rest see deep stiff crease. The entire chair has never been cleaned or leather treated.

4] Minor Cracking at arm rest where hands rested small area perhaps 6"x6"

This is one of the modern classic chairs – Stressless; as famous as the Eames chair!

From pictures, this leather is identified as “pigmented”.

Cat Urine:
Urine is one of the most destructive stains on leather. Urine not only produces smells from bacteria and mold activities, such as putrid, ammonic or musty; it destroy the leather by shifting the amphoteric protein fiber ionic negative (-ve), that slowly repels the other ionic negative (-ve) leather constituents. Leather constituents include the tanning agents, dyestuff if any and the fatliquor. Stiffness and dry rots may develop at the end of bacteria and mold life cycle (see further reading).

Discoloration at Armrest:
This discoloration is mostly due to the perspiration pH that shifts higher towards alkalinity that causes the discoloration.
Sometimes the leather material behaves just like a litmus paper and will shift color depending on the pH of the surface contamination. This color change phenomenon occurs naturally in some flowers as well shifting from red to blue depending on the soil acidity or alkalinity condition.

Minor Cracks at both Arms:
Such cracking is due to failure of both the leather itself and the finish. The main cause of such failure is from the perspiration that shifts alkaline. Leather is not homogenous unlike wood, but a combination of other tanning chemistry including the tanning agents and most importantly the fatliquor. Besides repairing to the finish, the leather is recommended to be rejuvenated; otherwise, the new finish will continue to crack when flex without the leather being soften up in the first place.

Leather Stiffness at Headrest:
Stiffness will eventually leads to cracks when the leather is further flex with compression.


Solution to the Problem

1] Urine No stain just urine smell. Perhaps a combination of smell sources. The area is about 8"X20"

In pigmented leather, the stains may not be visible because of the opacity of the finish. The urine may have flow to the seam and being absorbed by the leather structure especially from the reverse suede side and sideward. That was how the “Titanic” was sunk!
Physical examination from the reverse side may be quite impossible to see the stain areas, treating directly to the affected areas would be ideal then. In this guessing situation of the affected areas is best done with letting the d’Urine-2.1 flow the way the urine would flow naturally, treating for smells such as putrid and ammonic. Where there is musty smell detected thereafter, then it shold be followed with a treatment of d’Mold-3.6.

Use – d’Urine-2.1 > d’Mold-3.6




2] Hand Rest Discoloration pictured left and right left worse

Acidification to neutralize the discoloration may help. It would need first be degreased follows with rinse prior to acidification treatment. The neutralization treatment is for preventive measure, but may help to reduce the discoloration.

Use - Degreaser-2.2 > Acidifier-2.0


3] Stiffness but fairly supple, notice a difference where leather was not exposed, 18" x 18" at head rest see deep stiff crease. The entire chair has never been cleaned or leather treated.

Stiffness is due to dryness of fatliquor (fat, oil and water) originally to condition the leather for suppleness and strength after converting the hide to non-perishable leather. Just like our car engine oil, dries up or diminished and need to be replenished.

Use - Hydrator-3.3 > Fatliquor-5.0

4] Minor Cracking at arm rest where hands rested small area perhaps 6"x6"

Use – Degreaser-2.2 > Acidifier-2.0 > Hydrator-3.3 > Fatliquor-5.0 > Impregnator-26 > Adhesor-73 > Pigment-64 > Topcoat-56S > Protection-B+




Further Reading:

Urine Decontamination
Urine is a waste discharge from human or animal, besides the typical coloration it has the uric acid and the ammonium salt to deal with. When deposited urine attracts the natural bacteria from the atmosphere and starts to ferments, a putrid odor will develop from the protein component of the urine and ammonia odor will develop from the ammonium salt. When ammonia odor is detected, the pH of the contamination would have shifted above 10. Such high pH above the neutral average 3 to 5 of leather causes the leather protein fiber to shift ionic negative (-ve); that causes the leather to repels its other ionic negative (-ve) constituents like the tanning agent, fatliquor and dyestuff. Animals especially cats have the tendency to deposit on the same spot. The heat on the old deposit tends to leach out the tanning agents that manifest as darkening stain, while the leach out fatliquor appears as whitish powdery residue. In such severe situation, quite often the leather turns slimy and may show signs of damages. The best approach is to treat it with a low pH acidic ammonia neutralizer, to help dissolve the urine salt and slow down the bacteria activities. Such acidic treatment will help neutralize the ammonia alkalinity; simultaneous ionic charges the leather protein fiber positive to stabilize the leather chemistry, and retards bacteria activity from off gassing putrid odors. Remaining protein components are removed by using a leather protein stain remover follows with a second acidic treatment to neutralize the alkalinity once again for the sake of the leather chemistry stability. Another approach is by treating the area with culture bacteria; with the logic that the cultural bacteria will consume the food source in the urine thus eliminate the source of the putrid odors. Base on this logic, the sensitive cultural bacteria narrow pH range of neutral to alkaline has to be maintained; besides keeping them in a sufficiently moist and conducive warm environment; time of 1 to 2 days has to be set aside for it to work on. Controlling and maintaining these favorable conditions for the culture bacteria to stay alive seems a daunting task before we can see tangible results for severe problems; but may be feasible for mild situation. Thereafter the ammonia problem is to be further deal with by using an ammonia neutralizer as mentioned above, to complete the decontamination process. Leather rejuvenation follows with hydrating, first to remove suspended soiling within the leather structure follows with fatliquor replenishing to softening the leather with suppleness and strength when dry. In mild situation, forgotten and at the end of the bacteria activities, mold activities might take over and detected by a musty odor instead. This situation is typical of coated pigmented finish where stains evident are not as apparent as other smooth or napped aniline leathers. Leather safe fungicide is a preferred treatment instead for such situation.
Odor Killer - Musty
Musty odor killer is design to kill musty odor from mold growth. A leather safe fungicide should have a pH range from 3 to 4, without the negative side effect to the pH sensitive leather. This is applied to the leather after decontamination cleaning. A long-term preventive measure is to choose one that have active residue to deter mold growth for a period over the high humidity season. Advance stage of mold grow will weaken the leather as the fatliquor is depleted by the nutrient hungry mold, that may lead to dry rot. The leather is recommended to be hydrated to relax and even out the surface tension prior to fatliquor replenish it. Sinking pits are physical damages to the leather and will require precision surgical removal follows with refinishing.

Degreaser
Degreasers are specialty leather cleaning agent that may be solvent-based or water-based; formulation are available in both liquid spray and direct gel application. It is designed to be used primarily on heavy penetrated oily, greasy and sweaty soiling derived from skin and hair contact. Dwell time is one of the essential fundamental for effective soil suspension to take effect. Solvent-based comes in the form of aerosol spray as well as gel type. These products extract the oil and change it into powder residue to be vacuumed thereafter, and the remaining gel removed with solvent-based related products; besides the indirect cleanup mess, health and fire hazard is another consideration. The water-based pH specific type functions as an emulsifier, transforming the contamination milky in color for direct towel extraction; follows with an acidic matching rinse to complete the degreasing process. This acidic water-based system helps with bleeding control and simultaneously charging the protein fiber ionic positive, for a more effective hydrogen bonding with the other ionic negative charged leather constituents like dyestuff and fatliquor; thus stabilizing the chemistry integrity of the leather while removing foreign contamination. In most degreasing situation, existing fatliquor or natural oils are inevitably removed to a degree and leather rejuvenating for suppleness and strength is accomplished by proceeding to hydrating and fatliquor replenishing it. Protective latex glove is recommended, as almost all degreasers will remove oil from our skin as well. For the solvent-based types, a dust and mist mask is recommended during the process from breathing the airborne mist or dust.

Rinse
Rinse is aqueous solution that has a pH range of 2 to 4, design for removing residues after degreaser or cleaner. Browning or resoiling can occur without first removing the remaining residue. Effective rinsing will result in a squeaky-feel, free of suds feeling. Rinse is also used in routine cleaning to neutralize perspiration residue from browning the leather or turning it sticky.

Acidifier
Acidifier is a low pH acid solution use for dye bleeding control and neutralizing alkaline overexposure that cause browning, marks, streaks, brightness, or sliminess from spills or cleaners and stickiness from perspiration contamination.

Leather Rejuvenator – Hydrating Conditioner
A leather safe hydrator has a pH range from 3 to 4, it is an acidic surfactantcy solution that is design to harmonize with the neutral pH of leather with a multipurpose functionality, such as:
• To hydrates dried, stiffed or shrunk leathers to separates the crushed, stick together fibrils and relaxes them in the inter-fibrillary leather structure for effective distribution of subsequent fatliquor.
• To Facilitates colloidal water movement within the leather structure during the wicking process to move soiling particulates to the surface.
• To reactivates the dormant dyestuff to resurface thus reducing the contrast between the color coat and the leather crust.
• To reduces the interfacial tension as a preconditioner to eliminate blotchiness on subsequent application especially on absorbent leathers.
• To charges the leather protein fibers ionic positive below its iso-electric point to hydrogen bond with the ionic negative charged fatliquor.
• To checks surface cleanliness, since molecular layers of oil can prevent adhesion of subsequent coating.
• To facilitates better finish penetration during refinishing thus providing good surface properties, especially the uniformity of surface dyeing during aniline refinishing.
When use as a surface interfacial tension inspection purpose; a very light mist-spray suffices, to check for evenness of absorption to avoid blotchiness for subsequent application like fatliquor replenishing or dyestuff refinishing. When used as a leather structure rejuvenator, a complete plumping of the leather structure is highly recommended to realize its full potential. A check with thumb and finger with a little moisture oozing out would be the optimum level of hydration. When this level of moisture is reached, the damp leather is recommended to be sealed off with plastic cling wrapper to control evaporation. Dwelling while fully hydrated for up to 72 hours will deliver the result desired when the leather is further treated for optimum physical appearance.

Leather Rejuvenator – Fatliquor Conditioner
Fatliquor is a concoction of oil and related fatty substance derives from animal, vegetable and mineral sources; formulated as a stable emulsion that resembles the look of fresh milk in a bottle. The objective of fatliquor is for lubricating the leather fibrils like millions of interlocking miniature chains of hinges for flexibility and softness. Preconditioning the leather prior to accepting fatliquor topping-up has its share of contribution in many ways, in terms of appearance, without the blotchiness. The stiffness of leather if any, needs to be relaxed for an effectively distribution of the fatliquor. Leather fiber pH chemistry stability charge need be strengthen ionic positive (+ve), to hydrogen bond with the ionic negative (-ve) charge of the fatliquor. All these benefits from preconditioning the leather derive from the dwelling power of an acidic leather safe hydrator. It is a process of penetrating and distributing which lubricates the fibrils so that after drying they will be capable of sliding over one another smoothly. In addition to regulating its stretchability, compressibility and flexibility, the fatliquor contributes greatly to its rip tensile strength. Thus, helps to keep leather at its optimum physical performance and prevent premature ageing.


Roger Koh
[email protected]

#1
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...psb501f17b.jpg


#2
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...psb367a926.jpg



The solution to such condition is to rejuvenate the leather to return to its original softness by reducing the “coarse breaks” or creases, prior to refinishing the leather.


System product kit will follow.

Products mentions are found in this kit, colors are available in standard and popular, while color-matching service is available too.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps15d76b2a.jpg
Leather Doctor® Kit Ap6.w

Email me for pricing and shipping

Roger Koh
[email protected]

Thanks Roger. I'm worn out just looking at the kit. I kid of course! Email sent for pricing and payment method. I look forward to the project.

Regards,

Tom

Roger,

How will coloration be accomplished? Spray? Brush? I have the small Can I color only the arm rests, which as you know, are removable.
I have some small jars and charged cans like those in the attached picture.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o...jpg?imgmax=512

See this general structure of refinishing for the armrests:

1] Restorative Cleaning
Degreaser-2.2 > Rinse-3.0 (wet preparation)

2] pH Balance
Acidifier-2.0 (may improve or correct the discoloration, plus charging the protein ionic positive (+ve))

3] Leather Rejuvenating
Hydrator-3.3 > Fatliquor-5.0 (structure softness with strength – prevents cracking)

4] Dry Preparation (remove old, aged and deteriorated existing finishes)

5] Impregnation
Impregnator-26 (strengthen structural weakness)

6] Adhesion Coating
Adhesor-73 – (apply by brushing to micro-pile into the existing finish or leather crust)

7] Color matching
The thorough restorative cleaning to the entire chair will give you the original true color.
Color matching is best done in this manner with a pipette in ratio droplets:
7.1] 9 drops to black to 1 drop of white will give you a grey scale of 9 and this is the base to work on with further color adding.
7.2] From the above add 1drop of Ochre to 20 drops of above grey.
7.3] let it color mix dry on a white card and match against your existing leather.
7.4] Adjust the color mix accordingly.

Note:
The exact match may not appear as the existing color has a topcoat that either enhanced the color brighter or duller.
Only when the color is close that you may apply a topcoat to bring the color in or out, matte will look duller and gloss will look brighter.

To have a good match, it is recommended to topcoat the existing leather finish as well to have the same luster level.

So you may need at least 3 color for the match – white, black and ochre + other tint of hue as an option.

8] Topcoat of choice:
Gloss, satin or matte

9] Rub-resistant Protection:
Protection-B+


Have you decided on the urine smell?
d’Urine-2.1 for ammonia smell or d’Mold-3.6 for musty smell or both.

Note on Spraying:
Ability to spray depends on the viscosity of the product. The lower the viscosity the finer the spray particulates, otherwise will require a higher pressure to disperse the color pigment. The best spraying is to have a very fine layer, otherwise the leather looks to plasticky and unnatural. In leather “less is more beautiful”.

Roger Koh
[email protected]

I really am hesitant about the coloring, but my wife is an artist and art educator, she should be able to get it right with your guidance. I think we should try both for urine. However I just found another problem. The leather where it meets the zipper is so dry it is split. How do we deal with that?

Tom

For color matching, you can try it out with any poster color to give you an idea of the color combination.

For urine products that you need as add-on, you can pick the sizes from the price list.

Is the split area is where the smells come from?

If it is so, it is recommended in this sequence of process:

1] Decontaminate the Urine Stain.

2] Hydrate the leather stiffness.

3] Fatliquor Replenish to return to original suppleness.

4] Bonding Repair
Products you will need is Bond3D with a sub-patch and bond the suede to suede side; the bond becomes part of the leather.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n.../Repairer5.jpg
Leather Repairer (5):
Leather Bond,
&
Leather Patch.

Leather Doctor® Leather Bond-3D
It’s for leather structure bonding repairs.
This is an aqueous medium soft polyurethane leather bond that will not lift the leather finishes unlike other solvent based glue.
This product is available in 30gm.
Note:
Colors and dyes can be added for aesthetic repairs
Instruction:.
1] Test for darkening effect when dry prior to repair.
2] Use leather Patch-4S as sub-patch to bond.
3] Use leather Bond-7A to smoothen repairs without the need to sanding.

Leather Doctor® Leather Patch-4S
It’s for used as a sub-patch or as a surface skin repair.
This is 0.4mm thick vegetable tanned full-grain leather.
This product is available in 1” x 4” and 6” x 4”.
Instruction:
1] Apply bond to the suede side when used as a sub-patch.
2] Apply bond to the grain side when used as an insert skin repair.

Well this has certainly grown. How about we do a kit to repair, replenish, and treat urine up to the point where the chair would be ready to recolor. I know I'll pay more for shipping by splitting the order but I want to track and finish that much to reassess my progress and the value of continuing.
I apologize for not figuring out what I need from your price and product list, right now I'm a bit overwhelmed, but encouraged.

Is the split area is where the smells come from?

The price list is specially for you to cut and paste your product requirement.

Just do it and I will help you fine tune your order to save on your shipment.


You will need a suede Eraser-5 and suede Brush-3 to work on the suede side of the leather damage as well.

See the suede Brush-3 and the suede Eraser-5 in this kit

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn4/Rogerkoh/S3.jpg
Leather Doctor® Suede Leather Care Kit S3

Here are the products mentioned to decontaminate the urine stains - the ammomia in the urine stain will cause stiffness to the leather and when flex will crack the leather. Eventually it will lead to dry rotting the leather.

For your information. . .

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...Deodorizer.jpg
Leather Deodorizer (6):
Leather Bacteria Odor Killer,
Leather Mold Odor Killer,
Leather Urine Odor Killer

Leather Doctor® d’Bacteria-3.7
It's for Pigmented, Aniline, Vachetta, Nubuck, Suede, Hair-On-Hide and Woolskin leather types.
This is a pH 3.7 aqueous biodegradable, odorless and colorless leather-safe bactericide.
It’s for disinfecting and controlling pungent odor causing bacteria activities after decontamination cleaning.
This product is also available in concentrate to be cut with distilled water at a ratio of 1: 21.
Thus a 60ml bottle makes 1.39 quarts of Ready-To-Use product to save on shipping.
Ready-To-Use packing sizes are available in 60ml, 250ml and in Quart.
Concentrate packing sizes are available in 60ml (1.39), 250ml (5.81 quarts) and in Quart (22 quarts).
Preparation Cleaning:
A thorough decontamination cleaning to match severity of problem is highly recommended prior to application.
Instruction:
1] Shake well, spray and agitate with leather, nubuck or suede brush.
2] Inspect for satisfaction when dry.
Options:
1] Hydrate dried leathers – use Hydrator-3.3
2] Rejuvenate to soften and strengthen leather – use Fatliquor-5.0.
3] Impart a buttery, draggy, silky or waxy feel; non-stick rub-resistant protection with a classic leather scent - use Protection-B+, D+, S+ or W+.

Leather Doctor® d’Mold-3.6
It's for Pigmented, Aniline, Vachetta, Nubuck, Suede, Hair-on-Hide and Woolskin leather types.
This is a pH 3.6 aqueous leather-safe non-phenol fungicide developed to kill mold growth.
It’s for disinfecting and controlling musty odor from mold activities after decontamination cleaning.
This product is also available in concentrate to be cut with distilled water at a ratio of 1: 10.
Thus a 120ml bottle makes 1.39 quarts of Ready-To-Use product to save on shipping.
Ready-To-Use packing sizes are available in 60ml, 250ml and in Quart.
Concentrate packing sizes are available in 120ml (1.39), 250ml (2.9 quarts) and in Quart (11 quarts).
Preparation Cleaning:
1] Remove, contain and dispose mold responsibly in terms of health and the environment.
2] Remove remaining residue with Leather Eraser-4 for all smooth leather and Nubuck Eraser-5 for nubuck and suede.
3] Clean thoroughly with Prep-7.7 for pigmented or Prep-4.4 for aniline follows with Cleaner-3.8 then Rinse-3.0.
4] Sinking pits damages have to be physically removed during the rinsing process and an option for re-finishing after treatment.
Instruction:
1] Shake well, spray soak and agitate with leather, nubuck or suede brush.
2] Let dry naturally.
Options:
1] Hydrate dried leathers – use Hydrator-3.3
2] Rejuvenate to soften and strengthen leather – use Fatliquor-5.0.
3] Impart a buttery, draggy, silky or waxy feel; non-stick rub-resistant protection with a classic leather scent - use Protection-B+, D+, S+ or W+.
Note:
Anti-microbial, just like anti-biotic is a course of medications; that has to be administered on an 8 monthly cycle to be long term effective again re-occurrence.


Leather Doctor® d’Urine-2.1
It's for Pigmented, Aniline, Vachetta, Nubuck, Suede, Hair-on-Hide and Woolskin leather types.
This is a pH 2.1 aqueous leather urine stain neutralizer.
It’s for neutralizing the ammonia and alkaline phosphorus salt found in urine from “reverse-tanning” the leather.
Prep Cleaning:
1] Dry soil removal - use leather Eraser-4 for smooth leathers and nubuck; suede Eraser-5 for suede.
2] Remove the protein component first - use d’Protein-11.0 with appropriate bush agitation and towel extraction.
This product is available in 60ml, 250ml and in quart.
Instruction:
1] Spray and saturate d’Urine-2.1 sufficiently deeper than the urine stain with help of brush agitation.
2] Dwell 10 to 30 minutes for chemical reaction then extract until towel shows clean.
3] Rinse until towel shows clean to a healthy squeak with Rinse-3.0.
4] Control bacteria activities with d’Bacteria-3.7.
Optional:
1] Remove foreign contamination from within the leather structure – use Hydrator-3.3.
2] Rejuvenate to soften and strengthen leathers structure – use Fatliquor-5.0 or leather scented Fatliquor LS-5.5.
3] Impart a classical leather scent to mask the finish – use Protection-B+, D+, S+ or W+.