[Healeys] Age old leather question

Eric (Rick) Wilkins e-wilkins at cox.net
Tue Aug 12 09:36:58 MDT 2008


I'm not a chemist, but the explaination I got  is that trying to dye  
over rejuvinator stuff is like trying to paint over silicone. (in some  
cases that is exactly what you are doing)

The oils lubricate and moisturize. kneading helps as it gets the stiff  
parts moving again. The leather gets like a stiff starchy fabric. once  
you start breaking those dried starch clumps, it allows the "fabric"  
to move again.

Wilko

On Aug 12, 2008, at 8:27 AM, Freese, Ken wrote:

> I am getting my leather redyed and receiving a lot of push back from  
> the
> experienced upholsterer that is repairing straps and recovering a  
> couple
> of pieces. He says that all rejuvenator oil formulations are a waste  
> of
> time. To save time, I am also using an experienced dye guy and he also
> doesn't want to apply dye over the rejuventator oil.
> Does anyone understand the chemistry involved with the rejuvenator
> stuff? Most of the websites are testimonials that it "works". It would
> seem to me that leather is dead cells and some oil is actually  
> damaging
> the surface fibers resulting in more flexibility. The upholsterer  
> and I
> got somewhat the same effect by kneading the surfaces. What does oil
> really do to the cells?
>
> Thanks,
> Ken


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