Colouring 2 toned leather

A place to ask and answer technical questions about repair and restoration
Stuart
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2019 2:02 am

Colouring 2 toned leather

Postby Stuart » Thu Oct 10, 2019 9:34 am

Hi, I'm a new member but have been doing this for over 15 years.
I've noticed on your videos and book that you don't rub down the leather with acetone after cleaning before you apply the new colour. You use the sg4 primer then colour. Is this right?

Ive been taught to clean then rub down the leather with acetone to remove the top coat so you get down to colour then your ok to colour. This is very time consuming and messy. Especially on two toned leathers that have areas where the print coat is coming away in wear areas.

So what I'm asking is it OK just to clean then prime with sg4 then colour?
This would speed everything up as you can imagine.
I do alot of on site jobs where I pretty much clean, then put the same colour back on and seal. This makes it look a lot better. Am I right in saying that colour won't stick to the top coat so either it has to be removed with acetone or use the sg4?

There's also a product called methoxy propanol, I've been told that this is also used to remove the top coat. Sorry for all the questions.
Cheers
Stuart

jmurray2112
Site Admin
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2018 9:59 pm
Location: Anderson, CA, USA
Contact:

Re: Colouring 2 toned leather

Postby jmurray2112 » Thu Oct 10, 2019 4:31 pm

Stuart,
Welcome to the forum. Glad you are here.
SG-4 is basically 3 parts our cleaner, and 1 part PR-1 (our primer resin). The cleaner preps the surface, and the resin acts as a tie-coat between the existing finish and whatever you apply after (filler, color or clear-coat). As you are in the UK, you'd need to source a primer resin there. I'm sure there are companies that offer something similar. I understand why you were taught to strip, but if you can use an intermediary to solve adhesion problems, it can save a lot of time and mess, as you stated.
The only time you might need to strip as well as prime would be if there was an adhesion inhibitor present in the top-coat already (feel modifier added to achieve a particular hand during tannery finishing, for example), or perhaps the leather surface has been treated with silicone treatments over a long period as a maintenance regimen (more common in automotive leather than furniture, but not unheard of). Those examples may require stripping as well as priming.
As far as Methoxypropanol is concerned, it is an ether derived from Propylene Glycol, if I'm not mistaken. It is an organic solvent like alcohol or acetone, meaning it vaporizes at room temperature. There is a health hazard scale that spans 1-4. Acetone has a health hazard of 1, and Methoxypropanol has a health hazard of 2, so if it were me, I'd stick with acetone. Be nice to your liver, and all that.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Jason

Stuart
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2019 2:02 am

Re: Colouring 2 toned leather

Postby Stuart » Sun Oct 13, 2019 10:14 am

Thanks Jason, that's great. Really appreate the help.

Yes we have a primer but you need to add a crosslinker to it to start off the chemical process. I'm not a fan of it really as it leaves the surface a bit textured and doesn't feel great. It's normally sponged on the first coat then 3 more coats sprayed on.
Its a milky colour so looks like it would have resins in it. I noticed on the video of the orange chair you recoloured to brown that when you rubbed on the primer colour was on the rag. Does your have solvent in it?
I spoke to Kevin and he said I should get a years supply Sent over, not sure how much that would be eg amount and cost with shipping. I'd say alot! Ha ha, then I see how good you cleaners are and then you have a conditioning gel that doesn't affect adhesion, RCA ADDITIVE, the list goes on! Man I wish you guys had a distributor over here ha ha.
I'm just in the dark and don't have a chemist on hand.
You get so many people saying theirs is the best no mines the best and I've got that many different products it unbelievable! Ha ha.
I moved to the UK from Australia and we used stahl products there but I found them very watered down and I couldn't trust them.
Ive found a good leather finishing supplier which sell all the colours in raw form. The issue is that the owner had a sky diving injury and now he's got amnesia! Can you believe it! The other guy I can talk to is a South American who doesn't speak much English and only knows about tanning not repairing.
Anyway I thought you might find that funny.

I've bought the ebook Kevin wrote which is a real eye opener and watched all your YouTube vids.
Just wish there was a training vid for professionals, step by step. I've been doing this for 16 years now and I still don't know what I'm doing that's why I love Kevin's book because it goes into the chemistry which is what I always wanted to know so I understand it and don't really gave to think about it.
Thanks for listening Jason I appreciate your reply mate, sorry for the long winded rant :))
Cheers
Stuart


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 14 guests