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Hello We recently bought a hand-made western saddle for my husband and his horse. It had one previous owner, it was made for him as a gift about 15 years ago. The saddle has been stored inside but not cleaned or oiled regularly, certainly not in the last 10 years I reckon. The leather is as stiff as a board - you have to fight with the fender to get the stirrup on the horn lol The leather is a beautiful light caramel colour and it has some scratches and gouges here and there. The shearling may also have to be replaced as the wool is starting to come off in places. Interestingly, the saddle comes out darker in the photo On my own saddle I use leather conditioner, NF oil and glycerine soap. However, knowing that NF oil can darken leather over time, we are wondering if there are any other oils that can be used on leather that will preserve the original colour on the new saddle. Also, what products are available to restore the leather from the scratches and gouges (they almost look like mousey teeth-marks!) - are there fillers or the like? The same as you can get for wood? We've recently restored a McClellan saddle which was also "stiff as a board" but we didn't mind the colour darkening so we used NF oil. Look forward to any help, tips or advice that you can give us We're in France so we may not be able to get hold of some of the products a lot of you may use in the US :( Thanks in advance :)

So this is what happened to my poor sofa when it met the front door handle! It didn't even make a noise, it took someone to actually *see* the damage to stop the process, and keep the entire panel from being ripped through. But, I'm staying positive, mostly because this is the way it looks right now, when (almost) assembled (It's a 3 piece sectional) However, I would like to triage this just a bit. It's not of CRITICAL IMPORTANCE that my fix not show at ALL, but of course minimizing the visibility of the fix would be nice. Also, trying to halt additional damage due to normal usage is on my mind. I took a few more photos to make it as close as possible to "You've been in the room and seen the problem yourself": The edges of the rip *can* be held together with some help: The foam inside is pretty squooshy, and can be displaced: Here's a look at the backing and structural stuff inside. (Obviously, this is NOT an artisan piece, but a factory furnishing. MOR, to be specific.) Here's a look at the factory stitching And a couple of views of the thickness of this leather: AKA: Not very thick. At all. And apparently it rips like butter. So, what do you think I should do? I have some seamstress experience, but not much, and no leatherworking experience at ALL. My husband even mentioned "Duct Tape" but I don't think that has to be the only solution, haha. The leather seems so rippable, that sewing it back up sounds like a dubious process, the thread might rip through the material as readily as anything else. But I can't be suuuuper sure of that. I'd be fine with a glue-type solution, or even a patch-type solution, but I don't know ANYTHING about them. But I'm not afraid of them, I feel capable of following instructions. INPUT PLEASE! =D Another problem this sofa has, is that it smells a little teeny bit like dog, and is probably filthy, but I can't see it through the brown. I know I need to get a leather cleaner and buff all that off. I've watched a few "How to use leather cleaner on a sofa" youtube videos, so I feel like I know what goes into that, but what do y'all suggest? And where in blazes does one purchase Leather Cleaner locally? ( I know I can get it online, but I'm in a hurry, and don't want to wait a week for delivery) Like at a Hardware store? Tack Store? Should I bother with a leather guard or a leather conditioner, considering the cheap-o nature of this leather in general? ANOTHER problem with this sofa is that someone sat on it in the SAME place. EVERY time. and it shows. I'm going to need to fix this area, possibly with stripper, colorizing agent, sealer, and then conditioner/guard. I've seen youtube videos like this before, too. The areas that need this work are relatively small compared to the size of the sofa, and are circled in the following photo: I hope there's a small kit I can buy that won't be WAY more product than I need for this size job, what do you guys think? I might be able to order online for this, in order to get precisely the amount I need. But if there's likely to be a way to get something locally, you guys would let me know, right? =) One last note is that I wish the sofa was black, and thought it was when I bought it from the guy. After a little more research, I know I *could* change the color, if I wanted to spend 2-400$ on product, considering the size of the piece. Not in my price range, probably ever. Oh well. Thanks to anyone who posts any kind of helpful advice! I realize that this sofa is pretty much a piece of crap, and is factory made, and not at all up to the calibre of the sorts of projects you awesome folk usually work on, but I thought this sounded like a great place to get some frank advice, even so. Thanks for reading!