Donkey in the ditch
Lit Up,
It is generally not important how the donkey got in the ditch, it just important to keep the donkey away from the ditch in the future.
That being said, it is a matter of no periodic maintenance. Leather shoes must be cared for and this goes for leather furniture.
What you picture is beyond cracks. Have the areas in question recovered.
Based on your previous posts, you want to hear the answer: "rub on this miracle product and all is well". Good luck!
Leatherique
Is this a very valuable or unique chair?
Investigate the product called "Leatherique."
I recently purchased a Leatherique restoratioin kit but have not yet used it so I cannot comment on its effectiveness. The cracks in the leather complicate your situation but folks have restored cracked, dried-up, fifty-year old auto upholstery with Leatherique products. The before and after photos on the website are amazing but make sure you do some reaseach on other discussion forums. Filling the cracks adds a lot of work to the restoration process and the value of that chair may not warrant spending the next four weekends working on it. That said, consider the cost of reupholstery as well.
http://leatherique.com/
hey niceguy what's the...
hey niceguy what's the purpose of your post? other than finding an artful way of saying a) you don't know and b) 'it's fucked'... your post adds no value.
todd - yeah, it's a chair I want to keep. vatne mobler. I paid a few hundred but that's beside the point, it's a great quality chair and I want to keep it.
I'm guessing I could have the arms reupholstered but I'd be concerned that the leather wouldn't match.
Pecard's vintage leather conditoner!
Red top container (for vintage leather).I have used this on my cracked Eames chairs and it is the very best you can use on old cracked leather-makes it pliable and the cracks will not worsen,in fact it halts leather deterioration.I have used it on my old motorcycle jackets,too!
Give it a try
As far as using a crack-filling product, I would be concerned that the arms would crack again with use. However, those leatherique products are used on vintage car upholstery which takes far more abuse than the arms of a chair.
Reupholstering the arms is probably not a practical option. Try a restorative product like the Leatherique cleaner or Picard's and see if you can live with the results. That is probably a safe way to go.
no miracle
cure is found for leather once it has cracked.
The best is to feed the leather with leather grease. This can be bought from a good sadle / horse tack shop.
Smells a bit like cat pee but does a good job in feeding leather and sometimes also the patina.
Other remedy would be to deconstruc the arm and clue some leather pads to the undeside to brace the cracked area before it tears completely.
You could risk knicking your wifes face cream as £££ pr tub and smear it in that. Who knows you might wake up to find it smooth as a virgins inner thigh!!!!
I think the cracked arms look great.
I don't think you should consider it a flaw, just a respectable indication of age-- same as the crazing one finds on antique pottery.
That said, you don't want the leather to deteriorate to the point of holes in the upholstery.
I use something called Oz Creme Polish for wood as well as leather-- it both cleans & moisturizes. Simon's right-- cosmetic-variety skin creme would probably work too (skin is skin), but it'd be prohibitively expensive to use highfalutin wrinkle creme on an armchair on a regular basis.
Perhaps I should use Oz Creme Polish on myself, as well as my leather furniture. I've already employed my Dremel Tool for pedicures, to my husband's great amusement. (yeah, well-- they LAUGHED at Galileo & the Wright Brothers, too!)
Learn how to read
Lit Up,
The point was that it not important how the damage happened and that it was from lack of maintenance. I also said that you should put new leather on the arms. These are two answers.
Please learn how to read and purchase a thesaurus. Being ignorant is not an admirable quality.
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