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derek west

faux suede, velvet, flock
« on: October 28, 2008, 02:24:10 pm »
can anyone give me a crash course on telling the diff.
ive done an upholstery course and i will be doing another cos theres a lot  to take in.
anything totally related to the question will be gratefully recieved.
derek
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Ken Wainwright

  • Posts: 2107
Re: faux suede, velvet, flock
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2008, 04:59:01 pm »
Derek

If you put a match to a any faux suede or velvet suite, it will produce lots of acrid black smoke. This means the suite will be well and truly flocked 8) ;D

On the other hand, if it's a genuine leather or suede, you will have a choice between rare, medium or well done ::) :-\ :-X

SAFE and happy cleaning :)
Ken
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Veni, vidi vici, Vaxi
I came, I saw, I conquered, I cleaned up!

derek west

Re: faux suede, velvet, flock
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2008, 05:07:08 pm »
cheers ken for the reply, i know its not suede, (smelt it and checked the lining)
its the 3 choices in the post that i can't determine what they are, or viscose.
gonna wet clean it, hope i dont own it by tuesday :'(
derek
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Ken Wainwright

  • Posts: 2107
Re: faux suede, velvet, flock
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2008, 05:19:12 pm »
Seriously Derek

Before you start your pre-vac, somewhere out of site, typically the zip panel of a cushion, do your three dye tests (wet & dry crock and dye transfer) Then totally wet out the pile only of an area, blot dry with a towel. If pile has "exploded" ie untwisted, then chances are it's viscose. If it just flattens it's probably cotton. Then rub with towel very firmly to try and distort the pile. If previous tests are inconclusive, this will suggest a cellulosic fibre if still flattened or distorted.  After all this, if the pile looks unaffected by all of the above actions, then it's almost certainly synthetic.

A burn test of the face pile fibre will obviously give a good indication as to fibre type, but you may find cotton and viscose difficult to differentiate.

I would suggest a training course as a matter of urgency.

Safe and happy cleaning :)
Ken
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Veni, vidi vici, Vaxi
I came, I saw, I conquered, I cleaned up!

derek west

Re: faux suede, velvet, flock
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2008, 05:26:00 pm »
the fibre is acrylic, deffo not cotton, wet test showed no explosion of fibre, it flattened but not as bad as say cotton velvet.
thats all i can tell you, and as for a course, yes i'll be off to see my namesake at cleansmart again(if he's still doing them) as soon as the next ones available.
derek
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garry22

Re: faux suede, velvet, flock
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2008, 06:38:12 pm »
Derek,

Just to add to Ken's great advice on testing.

I heard this secondhand but it could well be true. Another cleaner I met at a seminar had been talking to someone who worked in an upholstery factory.

When asked about labels he said they stuck on whatever was at hand! Apparently, if they ran out of one type of label they just stuck another one on instead . A cleaner could really come unstuck if they relied on those alone.

Garry
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derek west

Re: faux suede, velvet, flock
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2008, 07:49:27 pm »
cleaned it today, came up a treat, customer over the moon, and it was dry before we left. sure it was faux suede now but i'm still going on another upholstery course, so if anyone knows of any coming up in the near future please let me know.
used m/s towelled on with T towels, extracted with c/water rinse, jobs a good en.

i was worrying over nothing i guess.
derek
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