Oil Stains on leather

One of the most difficult types of stains or “damage” to work with on leather is natural oils that can accumulate on the surface of the leather in areas make direct contact with the body, such as the armrests, headrest and leg rest areas of chairs and sofas.

Leather on average has a PH value of 4.5 while our skin is upwards of 5.5 in most cases. The PH value of our skin can also be affected by variables such as diet and if we are on certain types of medication. If leather that comes in contact with our skin is not cleaned regularly utilizing products that are Ph balanced to the coatings on leather you will see color/finish delamination, dark staining and inevitably minor to severe cracking. We do not consider oil accumulation or oils stains to be “cleanable,” oils will embed themselves into the leather, starting from the top all the way to the backside of the leather panel , if these oils are not extracted before our new color matched finish is applied, the oil could make our new finish sticky/tacky or inhibit adhesion all together.

If a leather panel is beyond repair , meaning severely cracked or in the process of cracking our only real long term solution that we can offer clients is leather replacement and custom matching of the color or color scheme to fit the specifications of the leather furniture piece. With leather panels that are salvageable we are able to extract the oils, typically over the course of a few days in our shop. This allows us to guarantee that all oil is removed and our finishes will get good adhesion to the leather.