Get The Real Facts About Leather Furniture
Cleaning leather furniture requires nothing unusual. A clean colorfast cloth
with distilled or bottled water will be fine. The key is to never saturate the
cloth with soap or water. Just a small amount of both. Never scrub, just
lightly make circles like you would make when you wax a car. Then get another
clean colorfast cloth to remove any remaining water or soap. If you feel your
leather furniture needs more think about buying a leather cleaner, then
condition to put the luster back in your leather sofa. There are new products
out on the market that will work for all types of leather. These two products
together will
renew your leather furniture
to a state of new.
Most better made leather furniture manufactures offer a limited warranty, although it is a good idea to buy an extended warranty when one is offered if you have an active household. Leather is extremely durable but you never know when a disaster can happen.
How Do I Know My Furniture Is Real Leather?
Smell, texture and grain. Genuine leather has traits that are very hard to duplicate. Although each hide is the same they still are individual, similar to our fingerprints. Although we all have a different version of the same thing. Hides are just that unique. When searching for quality leather furniture as your browse the leather choices offered you will see samples of steerhide, cowhide, bovine bull and calf skin. All are used when upholstering leather furniture. They are all the perfect upholstery but with differences. While steer hide is rugged and firmer cowhide and calfskin will be softer and more supple. There is no right or wrong choice for your new leather sofa itβs your personal taste. Tanneries can do all kinds of different finishes to these types of hides to get them ready for furniture upholstering.
What Is A Finished Leather?
There are many titles given to finished leathers. Some names you will here are painted, pigmented and protected. Each leather hide goes through a process of grading the crust as they arrive at the tannery. The first thing done is dividing the hides into groups. Clean hides vs hides with many imperfections. The clean hides become premium quality and those that remain become lower grades. The premium hides will go to high end leather furniture manufactures while the hides that graded lower will go to cheaper made leather furniture companies. With real leather the least amount done in the processing of the hide the more valuable it becomes. If a hide requires lots of maintenance because of markings like tick bits, barb - wire marks or insect bites they are less valuable. Little means more in the leather industry. The remainder of the hides are used for belts, shoes or most anything made for the garment industry.
The hides that are of Premium quality are dyed and dried while the lower quality hides are sanded to hide any remaining scars or blemishes and then arranged for tanning and dying. Once the hides have been sanded they are now called corrected grain leather while the premium hides are called full grain. You can expect finished leathers to be good for sun exposure and easier to wipe up any spills without resistance vs a pure aniline. Pure aniline leather will require a special cleaning product.
For more information on leathers and leather cleaning products 1-800-262-1049
