cleaning leather

[wildrose]

As some of you may remember, I had some trouble with splotches on some recent projects. It was suggested that I clean the leather before staining it. What is the best method/product for this? At one point, I'd heard lemon juice?

[WaG35]

I use rubbing alcohol and it works good for me. Just wet a clean rag with it and wipe it down.

[ferret]

Lemon juice is good for removing water splotches and mould marks, alchohol will clean up those "invisible" fingermarks that don't show until you put the stain on.

[Go2Tex]

Deglazer is sold by Tandy and Weaver for the purpose of stripping any finish from the leather before dying. Not sure what all is in it, but I'm sure it's toxic as heck 'cause it has warnings all over it and it's flamable, etc.

Of course, that's why it works on most finishes. You never know what the tanneries have put on the leather to conceal blemishes and whatever from the unsuspecting buyer. But, I think a lot of what causes the uneveness of dye penetration is just the nature of the beast. Some tannages dye more evenly than others and there's just no getting around it.

If you've ever cut into a rawhide spot on a side of veg tan, it becomes clear why some leather dyes more evenly than others. That hard spot is obviously going to have different qualities than the rest of the leather as to it's ability to absorb water, oil and dye. Now that's the extreme example but it illustrates the point of how tanning can produce different results even on one piece of leather. We all know that the back is firmer than the belly and different in the way it absorbs dye, oil, etc. One side will vary from the next, even from the same tannery.

Anyhow, that's my observation on the subject.

[Art]

Hi Holly,

Lemon juice (Acetic Acid) is probably the mildest and greenest thing you can use. Rubbing Alcohol (Isopropanol), Ethyl Alcohol (Ethanol), or in some cases Methyl Alcohol (Methanol), are also fairly mild but nevertheless good cleaning agents for leather (not necessarily non-toxic though). All of the above are miscible in water and don't pose much of a disposal problem. Deglazer on the other hand, is usually Ethyl Acetate (an esterfication of Acetic Acid and Ethanol) and maybe something else that will mix with it like Acetone, Diethyl Ether, or Ethanol. A mix of any of these would and does make a very effective cleaner. I would read the MSDS for that before using.

Art

As some of you may remember, I had some trouble with splotches on some recent projects. It was suggested that I clean the leather before staining it. What is the best method/product for this? At one point, I'd heard lemon juice?

[badger]

Lighter fluid, which is largely Naptha, will degrease/deglaze almost anything.

It's highly flammable (there's a clue in the name!).

Use in a well ventilated area and it will evaporate very fast.

Wear rubber gloves.

Cheers,

Karl

[Go2Tex]

Lighter fluid, which is largely Naptha, will degrease/deglaze almost anything.

It's highly flammable (there's a clue in the name!).

Use in a well ventilated area and it will evaporate very fast.

Wear rubber gloves.

Cheers,

Karl

hmmm..... and available just about anywhere. That's a plus.

[wildrose]

I went ahead and bought some rubbing alcohol. Soaked a rag with it and wiped the piece down. Since this is a small piece, with an easy design, I figured it's the safest thing to try it out on.

I've used Tandy's deglazer before when I mucked up a big piece (tri-leg chair), and it does work well for removing stains for such a problem. I don't think I'd use it for something like this though. And yes, it is very strong in the odor dept!

[wildrose]

After cleaning the piece with rubbing alcohol, I let it dry overnight and stained it today with Tandy's saddle tan antique. It looks great! Thank you for this suggestion, and I'm sure I'll use it again.

[wildrose]

Here is the finished piece. Thank you all for your advice. I was THRILLED with the outcome. There was a tiny bit of cracking on the fold, but I stained it a second time and that covered it. I think I would use this process more on flat pieces.