Cerbenix Report post Posted June 4, 2018 Hello all. My mom was getting rid of some old clothes and she had this old leather jacket that she was throwing away and I had an idea of repurposing the leather for some projects. I haven't worked with leather before, but I'v always wanted to. I think leather is a very nice material. So I cut up the jacket at the seams to make leather sheets that I could work with. But after doing that and thinking of ideas for projects to do with it, I noticed that the leather is rather thin, maybe 2-3 mm and is very very soft. Scratching the leather with my fingernail wears it down quickly. I have attached a picture of how the leather looks. Is there anyway to make the leather a bit tougher? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted June 4, 2018 Firstly; check that it is fully leather. Take a small piece, hold with pliers and apply a flame from a match, candle or lighter. If it burns quickly and gives off black sooty smoke its not leather, if it burns and curls up and smells like burnt flesh or burnt meat it is leather Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cerbenix Report post Posted June 5, 2018 Just tried it and there was no black smoke and smelled like burning hair. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted June 5, 2018 Thats good; we now know you have leather. 16 hours ago, Cerbenix said: Is there anyway to make the leather a bit tougher? This question is ambiguous; I'll address it in two ways 1. It worries me that you can scratch the surface finish off so easily; I'm guessing it has a sprayed on finish. You can work with this or try to remove it and re-dye it. To remove the top finish try some lacquer thinners [aka cellulose thinners]. Soak a bit of clean rag cloth with the thinners and wipe it over the leather; it will remove it. After this you can re-dye it browns or black, then after re-dyeing you can put on an acrylic finish called Resolene [from Tandy] This Resolene will give the surface a tougher top surface. Usually Resolene will not do much on a commercial sprayed on finish, in fact it will not soak into the leather through some commercial finishes Or just live with the finish that it has 2. Clothing leather is always soft and supple; it can be 'hardened' up a wee bit by soaking in hot water and drying very quickly using heat; but its not a process I'd recommend a first-timer to try as you can easily end up with useless small bits of hard leather It may seem a lot of work on used leather to make it more useable again but leather is expensive, maybe as much as $5 per square foot Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cerbenix Report post Posted June 5, 2018 Thank you for the advice. I just tried some acetone on a small piece and sure enough all the dark brown color came off very easily and the leather underneath is quite good looking. Maybe ill try dyeing if I want a different color, but so far removing the current finish on it looks like the way to go. Thanks again. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
