The first step is to lightly sand the offending areas with 320 grit sandpaper. This will enable the bulk of the rough leather to be removed. You will then need to follow this with a 1200 grit sandpaper to make the areas to be repaired as smooth as possible. Once this has been done use a tack cloth to remove any dust or small particles of leather that may have come off. If you have any indentations or some slight rough areas, you can then follow this up with some heavy fillerUse the Heavy Filler to fill in badly cracked leather, holes and bad surface abrasions. , allow to dry or this can be speeded up with a hair dryer and then sand this area with 1200 grit sandpaper to make it smooth.

The first step is to lightly sand the offending areas with 320 grit sandpaper. Follow this up with some 1200 grit sandpaper to make the area as sooth as possible. Going over the area with a tack cloth to remove any dust. Using a palette knife spread the heavy filler over the cracked leather, this can be left for a few minutes to settle. Then, using a hair dryer gently heat up the heavy filler until it’s dry (approx 5 minutes). Once this is dry fully you can sand this down with 1200 grit sandpaper, if it still leaves an indentation repeat the heavy filler process.

It’s common that when sanding over areas you have applied heavy filler to that they become smooth and the natural grain structure / pattern is lost.

To resolve this problem you can do one of several methods. The method we prefer is to use some Light Filler or Flexi Filler. Using a soft sponge put a bit of one of the fillers above on a sponge and very quickly dap the filler on to the area creating a stippled affect almost like grain. DO NOT use a hair dryer on this let this naturally dry preferably over night, as using a hair dryer will flatten these fillers back out again making the area smooth again.

Another method is using a sheet of kitchen roll, when the leather is smooth sponge on a coat of leather colourant and let this dry. Then spray on a coat of colourant so it is 100% opaque or as close as you can get it. Dry this off for only 5 seconds with a hair dryer, then place the sheet of kitchen roll on the paint. Using a rounded bottle say a 500ml plastic bottle, roll over the kitchen roll paper so that you press it into the colourant. Dry the kitchen roll off for a further 5 seconds approx then remove from the kitchen roll form the leather surface.

Next thoroughly dry the area with a hair dryer and then let this stand for 10 minutes. Lightly sand with 1200 grit sandpaper and then spray one final coat on if required. This technique puts a slight pattern into the leather colourant taking the flat edge off the heavy filler, blending it in with the leather (make sure you use a suitable pattern kitchen roll!).

When filling holes, tears or cigarette burn holes in leather with heavy filler, do not apply this in large amounts at once. It will take far longer to cure and will shrink far more than applying small amounts until the area has been filled. During each coat of heavy filler ensure you press this down as much as possible as this will stop sinking at the end. The last thing you want is to come back to your repair after colouring and sealing to find it’s all shrunk leaving a slight dip in your repair that you then have to try to correct. Before applying any colourant emboss a grain pattern in your final layer of heavy filler.



View the Heavy Filler in our store