Restoring Old Dried Leather Project

[Deno]

Have and old leather project that is about 35 years old. It was cut out and glued to a wood backing. The glue is hard and the leather is separating from the wood. I am going to remove it and resurface the wood and re-glue. However the leather is very dried out and will crack very easily. I wand to add oil to bring back some flexibility and refinish the surface also. It was coated with neat-lac but it has worn away for the most part. I have tested a small area with Extra virgin olive oil and it makes it real dark. I think if I let it go long enough it will come back most of the way to the color it was. I have not removed the leather yet. Should I remove whats left of the neat-lac then oil? Your thoughts please.

Thank you.

Deno

[alb]

Don't oil.

Contact the folks at Preservation Solutions and see what they have to say.

Their products are excellent and they will tell you which product would be best to use.

Ann

Have and old leather project that is about 35 years old. It was cut out and glued to a wood backing. The glue is hard and the leather is separating from the wood. I am going to remove it and resurface the wood and re-glue. However the leather is very dried out and will crack very easily. I wand to add oil to bring back some flexibility and refinish the surface also. It was coated with neat-lac but it has worn away for the most part. I have tested a small area with Extra virgin olive oil and it makes it real dark. I think if I let it go long enough it will come back most of the way to the color it was. I have not removed the leather yet. Should I remove whats left of the neat-lac then oil? Your thoughts please.

Thank you.

Deno

forgot to include the link:

http://www.preservation-solutions.com/

Don't oil.

Contact the folks at Preservation Solutions and see what they have to say.

Their products are excellent and they will tell you which product would be best to use.

Ann

[Deno]

Thanks Ann. I'll send them an email and see what product they recommend. Anyone else have any advice?

Thanks,

Deno

[Skald]

Thanks Ann. I'll send them an email and see what product they recommend. Anyone else have any advice?

Thanks,

Deno

I think it's pretty much "dead". I would try to get some small bits of it removed, and try some different conditioners etc., and see what does most good, if any of them do.

I found some old gloves (and I mean OLD, like +100 years) that I tried to restore. I used a type of oil that's around here called "Ekol olja", most often used for horse gear. It did some good, but not so much that they were good for any use.

Speaking of old leather, I found a batch of leather that was 80-90 years old, that had been used in my grandfather's uncle's leather workshop. It was still in almost perfect condition. The color had turned a little mustard/greenisch, and there were some stains of mold at it. But the most part of it was possible to use. I have used it for some projects, after dyeing it. It works perfectly well. So I guess it's much a matter of how the leather was produced, and how it has been kept through the years.

[alb]

Let us know how it turns out.....

Ann

[Deno]

So far so good. Using a very thin blade I was able to get under the leather and break it free from the remaining glue without hurting the tooling recesses. Sanding down the wood right now so I can refinish it. Next to get the glue off the back of the leather.

[Deno]

What I'm restoring is an old Vintage Seth Thomas wall weather station that my father had made.

Here is the face plate sanded down. Need to polish the brass too.

Here I'm taking off the glue from the back of the leather. Found out if I take my Dremel with a wire wheel at slow speed making sure I rotate the wheel so it's coming off the edges so as to not dig in. Using no pressure, just let it ride on the surface and it takes the glue off without removing any flesh.

[alb]

I can't wait to see the front. I love doing restoration work. It's really satisfying to work on projects like this.

Were you able to reach Kim at Preservation Solutions? What did she recommend?

Ann

What I'm restoring is an old Vintage Seth Thomas wall weather station that my father had made.

Here is the face plate sanded down. Need to polish the brass too.

Here I'm taking off the glue from the back of the leather. Found out if I take my Dremel with a wire wheel at slow speed making sure I rotate the wheel so it's coming off the edges so as to not dig in. Using no pressure, just let it ride on the surface and it takes the glue off without removing any flesh.

[Deno]

Ann, no I did not contact them yet, but I will be for other projects. After I removed the glue the leather became more pliable but still fragile. Since this will be glued back to a fixed board I think I'm OK with leaving it alone. I will be putting a couple of coats of sealer on it before I do.

Here is the back after I removed all the glue and ran 220 sand paper just to take the fuzz off.

Here is what the front looks like.

[Deno]

Waiting for the stain to dry on the wood base. I went back over the background to even it all back out. Now I'm touching up the eagle at the top. It was originally highlighted with gold and most of it has worn off. I'm just touching it in the main area's so it brings it back a bit. I don't want to over power the rest of the aging. Here it is half done. Next to seal it all back up.