Most repairs to leather are based upon the surface being loss of colour, split, rough or
cracked. The key to making perfect repairs is the preparation, making the repairs carried out
blend in seamlessly with the surrounding areas..

Rough or Worn Leather: first step is to deep clean the leather to ensure all dirt has been
removed from within the grain. The next step is to lightly sand the offending areas with 320
grit sandpaper, This will remove most of the heavy roughness to the leather surface. This
can then be followed with a 1200 grit paper making the areas perfectly ready for repairs
and nice and smooth. Now you can use a tack cloth to remove any dust or small particles of
leather that may have come off during the sanding processes, if the leather surface is left with
small indentations or roughness you can follow this up with some heavy filler either standard
white or a coloured heavy filler, this is best applied in thin layers drying each layer between
applications, once fully applied this can be sanded back with 1200 grit paper.

Cracked Leathers:

lightly sand the areas with 320 grit sandpaper. Follow this up with
some 1200 grit sandpaper. Now go over the area with a tack cloth to remove any dust. You
can use a palette knife to spread the heavy filler over the cracked area, leave this for a few
minutes to settle, then using a hair dryer, keeping approx 8 inches away from the surface
gently heat up the heavy filler until its dry this may take around 5 to 10 minutes, once dry fully
sand this down with 1200 grit sandpaper, if you still have an indentation apply more of the
heavy filler.

Leather Prep and Alcohol Cleaner:

Before applying any fillers and after carrying out
any sanding, next is to wipe over the leathers surface finish with the leather prep, the prep
will remove the old surface coating on the leather, making for a much better repair than
before. Once you have taken off enough of the old colour and you’re happy with the prepped
finish you can allow this to dry and then sand back with 1200 grit paper making this nice
and smooth ready for the colourant to be applied. Once sanded back apply with a cloth
the Alcohol Cleaner this removes all dirt, grease, waxes and silicones left on the leather
surface finish, enabling you to achieve the results of professional, using a DIY Leather Repair
Products At Home.

Applying Leather Colourants & Finishing.

BEFORE APPLYING COLOURANT YOU MUST FILTER THE COLOUR FIRST OF ALL.

If you have applied any form of filler to holes or cracks on the leather you will need to blend
these in better with the colourant before applying any colour, once you have matched your
colour apply to all areas colourant on a sponge dabbing this on so it creates a natural texture
like a leather grain. This can then be dried with a hair dryer.

Doing this you make the fillers used blend in better with the leathers colour, this means
you will use far less colourant to complete the job fully. The special coloured fillers we
manufacture is a far better way of repairing holes, splits and cracks giving a far better result
than just colouring the normal white filler.

If you are just re colouring an area of leather that has faded or has colour loss, simply sponge
this on to the surface, if it’s a complete colour change that your doing (follow the guide we
have produced “ How To Change The Colour Of Leather”) once you have been able to apply
two or three sponge coats you can follow this up with a couple of coats using a spry gun or
airbrush.

Its very important that between each sponge coat you dry this with a hair dryer on medium
heat keeping around 8 to 12 inches away from the dye.

If required you can before applying the spray coats of dye sand back gently with 1200 grit
sandpaper to make this nice and smooth ready for apply a couple of spray cats of colour.

Now you can proceed to the spraying of two coats of colourant to the finish again drying
between each coating.

The beauty of our products is YOU DON’T WASTE money by having to buy addition
promoters or cross linkers as our products are perfect as they are do not require these
additional items to complete a truly professional first class finish every single time.

The Final Stages:

Before you start the final steps of spraying on the clear coat sealers, get
a tack cloth and very gently move this over the surface to remove any dust particles to ensure
no dust is in the finished result. If you do see dust in the surface do not be tempted to pick
this wait till the clear coat lacquer is dry as it will come to the surface and this can be lightly
sanded back with 1200 grit sandpaper to remove it.

Now its time to spray on the clear finish coats to the coloured leather surface. Its best to apply
approx three to five coats of clear finish to the colour this will seal this in making it extremely
tough and very durable.

The very final coat of clear lacquer that is applied must be perfect and before you do this
lightly sand over the finish with 1200 grit paper, this will make the sound for the ultimate of
finishes, if the leather surface feels rough, this can be sanded over with 1200 grit sandpaper
again before applying you last coating.

The finish takes around three to fours days to fully set and cure to a very hard wearing
durable finish, in most cases is stronger than the original finish on the leather. The can be
used after 24 hours safely. But can take up to approx 5 days to cure fully.

The clear coat lacquer comes in two standard finishes Matt and Gloss, from these two you
can make any sheen level you require, by simply mixing them together. Semi Matt is 75%
Matt & 25% Gloss, |Satin is 50% Matt & 50% Gloss and Semi Gloss is 25% Matt and 75%
Gloss, But adding small amounts in you can achieve any sheen level required.

Video 3 of many about leather cleaning, restoration and repairs.

You may think once you get a tear in your leather, that’s it.. it’s broken for good. With a little care and some thought you can repair that tear and make it look new!

These are the items we used in this video.

• Leather Repair Glue Kit
The kit contains the following items:

• Leather Glue
• Fabric Backing Sub Patch
• Tooth Pics

You will also need some Selotape.

You can buy the items and many more from our store.

www.leatherrepaircompany.com/store

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How To Repair Leather Tear

It doesn’t matter what repair you do, at some stage you will need to apply colour. The colour application is generally the turning point in a repair as without it the repair would not blend in to the leathers finish. The preparation stage is extremely important it’s done correctly as it ensures the colour sticks!

Using a sponge or Tampico Brush and the Premium Leather CleanerOur Leather Cleaner is suitable for use on most types of leather. Leather sofas, car interiors, shoes, jackets or handbags. give the area you are repairing a thorough clean. Don’t just clean the area to repair, clean the full panel. If its the base of a car seat or a chair clean all the facing leather to the sides and the upper sections of the seat or chair. If you are going to restore a complete car interior and or full suite use the Premium Leather Cleaner to clean all areas of leather. By doing this it will help to blend in your repair much better.

If the areas you are repairing remains creased and dirty, you can use the leather prep at this stage along with an abrasive pad to remove any dirt or to thin down any creases. By doing this it will help improve the appearance of the leather.

If a leather surface feels stiff or hard you should also prep this area. The Leather Prep thins down the surface coating, thus making the leather softer and feel much better already. This gives it a much better end result once colour has been applied.

With classic car seats (painted Connolly leather) they can look very badly cracked, this cracking is in fact in the top surface coating and rarely in the leather itself. Using the Leather Prep on this will remove it. This same process also applies to modern car interiors and furniture. Use the prep to thin the coat rather than fill the cracks.

If you are going to recolour a pigmented leather that has got grease marks, make sure you prep the leather first with the abrasive pad. The prep will break down the surface coating making the removal of any grease patch areas much better and more affective.

It is not necessary to prep anilines or pull up leathers it’s a waste of products, money and time. But, if you plan to change the colour of pull up leathers then its best to prep it to remove the waxy oily finish coating. If you just need to cover a stain then simply clean the areas down with the Premium Leather CleanerOur Leather Cleaner is suitable for use on most types of leather. Leather sofas, car interiors, shoes, jackets or handbags. and wipe with alcohol cleanerThe Leather Alcohol Cleaner is used to free leather from any grit, dirt, grease, oils and waxes before repair or recolouring leather and then spray the offending areas.

If you are just wanting to fix small scuffs and scratches in leather you don’t always need to use the prep and an abrasive pad, but its always best to just wipe the area down with some prep on cloth for good measures.

Even if you have not prepped the leather its very important to always wipe the area down with alcohol cleaner before putting on any colour, always use the alcohol cleaner after using the premium leather cleaner. Its best to apply the alcohol cleaner to cloth rather than directly on to the leather, then wipe the cloth over the leather with the alcohol cleaner as this takes off any final grease, grime or dirt from the leathers surface. Once this is all done you can carry out the repairs and re colour your leather item.

Leather that has grease stains in it, its best to use the grease release to remove all traces of grease before applying any colour, if this is not done the colour will not adhere to leather surface and will come off again.

If you are de greasing an area its always best to go over this with the premium leather cleaner after de greasing and then wipe down with alcohol cleaner.

You are now ready to continue to any type of restoration, repair or colour change job.View the rest of our guides by clicking the link.

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Most repairs to leather are based around the surface being split, rough or cracked. The key to making an excellent repair is preparation and making the repair blend in with the surrounding areas.

• Rough or Worn Leather
• Cracked Leather
• Graining Areas
• Heavy Filler Repairs

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

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If you have applied any form of fillerClick the link to see what types of fillers we supply. to holes or cracks on the leather you will need to change the colourAdd change colour details here to these first before applying any colourant’s. To do this, match your leather colourApplying Leather Colourants & Finishing Guide first then for small areas use a paint brush and apply to the fillers this way. For much larger areas apply using a sponge. This can then be dried with a hair dryer.

By doing this you are making the fillers blend better with the colour of the leather and this means less colour will be needed to complete your job fully. We do manufacture special coloured fillerWe manufacturer a wide range of products which is an even better way of repairing holes and cracks and gives better result than just colouring the white filler as above.

If you are simply recolouring an area of leather, start off by sponging on a coat of colour. If you are changing the colour of leather (follow our guide “ How To Change The Colour Of Leather” first), you will need to sponge on two or three coats to begin with before applying final coats by spray application.

Once you have dried off the sponge coats, using some 1200 grit sandpaper gently sand the leather to remove any specs of dirt that may have got in to the colourant or stuck to the leather.

You can then spray the colour on using an airbrushAn airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays various media including ink and dye, but most often paint by a process of nebulization. Spray on thin coats ensuring you have applied enough to colour the leather correctly. You will need to apply several coats of colour by airbrushing, drying between each coat and leaving to stand for 10 minutes once dry. When you are happy with the colour you can lightly sand this with 1200 grit sandpaper to smooth out any imperfections you may have in the final coloured finish.

Before proceeding to the final steps of applying the clear coat sealers, get your tack clothwhat is a tack cloth and gently move this over the surface to remove any dust particles to enable a perfect end result to be obtained.

Before spraying on your final coat of clear finish, feel the leather and if it feels rough, you can sand over the areas with 1200 grit sandpaper again before applying you final coat.

The next stage is to spray on the finish coats. You will need to apply between two to five coats of clear finishclear finish description to the colour to seal this in, making it extremely strong and very durable.

The finish takes around three to four days to fully set and cure to a very durable finish, that in most cases is stronger than the leather original finish. But the item can be used after 24 hours safely.

If you need to use the item after carrying out the work, use it gently.

After 24 hours have passed you can wipe the leather down with a damp cloth to remove any fine particles of roughness or dust that may settled in the very final coat, once this is done you can then apply several coats of Leather Protection Cream for very soft supple feeling leather finish and to help protect your leather for the future from wear and tear and UV raysexplain UV details here.

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These are the items we used in this video.

• Leather Repair Company Premium Leather Cleaner
• Leather Repair Company Alcohol Cleaner
• Leather Repair Company Application Sponge
• Leather Repair Company Special Terry Towel.
• Leather Repair Company Restoration Re-Colouring Balm
• Leather Repair Company Premium Protection Cream
• Leather Repair Company Leather Repair Kit

You can buy the items and many more from our store.

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Leather Cleaning can be an easy task if you have the correct leather cleaning products. In this video, we show you how to clean a leather car seat, followed by a leather protection creamPremium Leather Cleaner is a leather cleaner suitable for use on all types of leather (except suede & nubuck) for leather cleaning.

These are the items we used in this video.

• Leather Repair Company Premium Leather Cleaner
• Leather Repair Company Application Sponge
• Leather Repair Company Special Terry Towel.
• Leather Repair Company Premium Protection Cream

You can buy the items and many more from our store.