[Mike Halliday]

the whole top is just peeling off, revealing the leather 'naked' underneath.

 its in  2 parts, the top finish is flaking off, but underneath is a softer light brown 'unknown element' which scratches off with my finger nail,

No 1 is the brown unknown element

no2 is the top finish

no3 is the naked leather underneath which feels like a soft suede

any ideas on repair?

[markpowell]

Is it uv damage Mike? looks quite bad.
Think it needs totally stripping and re-colouring.
Mark

[Mike Halliday]

this damage is just on one panel the rest of the suite is perfect. I don't think its UV damage.

as you can see it has a white cotton stitching so to recolour would be difficult, I think the customer would be happy with something rather than nothing but I don't know whether to just send it to LTT or furniture clinic and let them do it. and pass on the cost.

[markpowell]

Does look a big job Mike, Why not pass to LTT, get a few guys to pay some as a little training booster, sure you would get a good response, i would be interested.
Mark

[Dave_Lee]

Mike,
A total stab in the dark but ive seen something similar. The one I saw was a Bicast, The top (posibly coloured) Polyurathane finish had worn off revealing the softer top of the actual leather and in places this had worn away leaving flatter abraded areas.
I was told to sand it all down, recolour and apply gloss.
Dave.

[derek west]

what part of the suite is it? and possibly a  picture of the whole suite.
detective time, where do they work, have they pets, kids, etc...
derek

[Mike Halliday]

sorry derek this is all I have, the customer brought this cushion to my home, (its sat on my kitchen table)

they say the rest of the suite is perfect. they have done nothing to it.

the picture is after I've cleaned it and washed it down with alcohol which took off all the loose finish

it now seems alot more stable. but I can't see its ok to start working over the top of whats left

[gwrightson]

Let me know when your attempting it mike !

would love to come and participate, be good experience,

I,m working on a leather jacket at the moment, torn apart by my friends dog, said ok to practise on .

Geoff

[Joe H]

Get yur teeth into it Geoff!

[derek west]

is it the seat cushion and thats the front or is it the back cushion and thats where the head would rest?
derek

[Mike Halliday]

I can see where your going but I don't think this has been caused by anything done by the customer, its the full length at the top of the back cushion and it goes over the edge which has no contact.

I think its a problem with the actual leather panel as I said the surrounding panels are perfect and shows no signs of similar damage

[LTT Leathercare]

Mike can you establish for certain the type of leather you have.  Can you get to the inside of the cushioin to establish whether it is a bicast?  If you can check the edge of the leather with your microscope you will be able to tell whether it is a bonded coating on a split.  

We have seen buffed leathers that have been pigmented where the finish comes away similar to this.

It is important to establish wht you are dealing with as processes and results depend heavily on how the leather has been finished to start with.

Bear in mind that not everything is fixable and if you spend time repairing an unknown surface there is a high likelihood that the finish will just fail again.  There is always the option of geting a rreplacement panel fitted and then colouring to match.

How much is the suite worth?  How much is the job worth?  How old is the suite?

[Mike Halliday]

under the microscope i can see what I believe to the holes from the hair follicles

but I have taken out the cushion and turned it inside out, the damaged panel is a totally different sort of leather its has a different feel and it is a completely different colour.

this to me is just an exercise in increasing my knowledge, I told the customer it would proberbly need a new panel ( how much would this cost?) but I told them to leave it with me and I would do further research into it.

the inside....

[LTT Leathercare]

Difficult to say Mike without seeing it.

Bicast leather often is quite deceptive looking at the top surface as they tend to print hair follicles etc into it to replicate a full leather (just to confuse matters)
Have you looked at the side edge of an inside seam as this will tell you whether there is a bonded coating or a pigment coating.

The panel that is different may be a coated split rather than a top grain which could be why it is showing a different colour.

I would hazard a guess that this is not a very expensive suite.  A panel of leather colour matched would be approx £100.00.

[robert meldrum]

From the photos I agree it LOOKS like bicast. Any idea where it came from ?

[Mike Roper]

Looks like bi-cast to me also.
Mike

[Ben Staerck]

Mike,

You can send the cushion to us if you want us to replace the panel for you. Thie cost for this is £60, that will be to have the panel cut and coloured, then sewn in to match.

We are also in the middle of setting a branch up in Hull so if you contact me I can pass their details onto you.

The leather could be fixed, but since it is most likely a problem with the leather, you could always get a re-occuring problem. So I would advise on panel replacement.

[Mike Halliday]

sent it to Ben, got it back today (5 day turn a round)

well worth the money!!

[Shaun_Ashmore]

That's a nice job.

Shaun

[Dave_Lee]

That looks better! What type of leather did it turn out to be and what had happened to it?
Dave.