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Precautions[/u]
Basically, most leather cleaning is very simple. You apply your cleaner to a sponge, cloth or brush and then rub it into the leather, then wipe it off and apply a protector/conditioner.
However, some leathers may react differently to normal when you clean them. The things to watch out for are;
1. Antique Finishes: If the leather has a rub off finish, chances are, when you clean it, you will remove the darker top coat, exposing the lighter colour beneath. This would then make the leather look patchy.
So, when you clean these leathers, use a sponge or cloth to clean and only wipe the surface gently using the cleaner. It is the friction that you create that removes the colour, so be gentle! Do not use the solvent or alcohol based cleaners on this leather type unless you are going to restore it afterwards.
2. Two Tone Finishes: With two tone leathers you face similar problems. As you clean the leather you may remove the top coat, so proceed with caution. Two tone finishes do tend to be harder wearing that antique finishes and so they shuoldn't be as much of a problem.
3. Greasy Areas: These cannot be efficiently cleaned using normal products. You coudl remove the surface grease with the ultra clean, but not the grease that is absorbed. For this you need a specialist de-greaser.
4. Worn Pigment: The other thing you may come accross is when the pigmented layer is slightly worn and/or broken down. When this happends, as you clean the leather, your cloth may discolour as it removes colour from the leather. A lot of the time this doesn't really matter because the leather will look fine, the colour will only show on your cloth. Obviously, you should advise the customer to have it restored, also, applying the protection cream will help seal the colour in preventing it from coming off again the enxt time you clean.
5. Aniline/pull up leather: These will absorb your cleaner when you clean them so clean a panel at a time and clean with a foam. The results normally aren't that great when cleaning these leathers, but their appearance can be greatly improved afterwards by using the leather re-colouring balm.
More info on leather cleaning can be found on our trade website in the guides section -
http://www.furnitureclinic-trade.co.uk/Cleaning_Leather.htmJust remember to test an area first and proceed with caution to start with. Never test on a hidden area as this does not show the true characterisitics or wear of the leather, and so, it might be ok on the test area but not on the actual leather.