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Product Care:
Product Care:   Fabric | Leather | Hardwood | Granite | Rugs
Whether you're choosing a new sofa, bedroom, dining room or even a new mattress, appropriate care to extend the life of your new furniture is very important.
Steinhafels offers tips on caring for your furniture, so you can enjoy it for years to come.
Leather Care - Glossary of Terms
Leather Care:

Since leather is a natural product, there will be faint surface marks on your leather, whether you purchase pure and natural top grain or grain-corrected top grain. These scars, scratches, and color variations are not defects, but rather an indication of genuine leather. They do not affect the durability of your furniture.

Never use furniture polish, saddle soap, abrasive cleaners, or household cleaning products on any leather upholstery.

Protect leather furniture from direct sunlight to prevent fading. This precaution is especially necessary for full grain and unfinished top grain leathers. Also, you should keep your leather furniture away from direct heat sources such as heat vents, radiators or fireplaces. Leather may crack or peel when placed within three feet of a heat source.

Blot up spills immediately with a clean white cloth or sponge.

For protected (semi-aniline and pigmented) leather, wipe with lukewarm water and allow to air dry. Routine vacuuming is recommended to keep your leather looking its best.

Living with unprotected leather (unfinished top grain) is like living with a well loved, well-used leather saddle or jacket. Natural oils will stain untreated leather slightly, giving it a lovely patina over time. Care should be taken to blot up food or liquid spills immediately, as they will be difficult to remove later.

For oil, butter or grease stains, blot the excess grease with a clean, white cloth. Do not apply water to the spot. The grease spot should dissipate into the leather over time.

If your leather becomes soiled from use or it has a stain which you cannot remove, you should contact a professional leather furniture cleaning service.

ADVANTAGES OF BUYING LEATHER

COMFORT
  • Leather is a natural material; making it an ideal choice for comfort.
  • Leather has excellent temperature adaptation making it comfortable during the heat of the summer and cool of the winter.

CONFORMABILITY
  • Leather conforms to your body shape and becomes more comfortable with use.
  • Only leather ages so that it becomes more supple throughout the years.

UNIQUENESS
  • Each leather hide is unique – No one hide is exactly like another.
  • Leather comes with its own distinctive markings and characteristics; making each purchase truly unique.

DURABILITY
  • Leather has legendary tear strength, making it one of the strongest upholstery materials known to man.
  • Leather’s strength and elasticity gives it high ripping resistance.

FLAME RESISTANCE
  • Leather is naturally flame resistant and will not readily burn or melt.

CLEANABILITY
  • Like our skin, leather has tight as well as strong fibers that prevent the penetration of dust, lint, animal hairs, or cigarette smoke.
  • Leather is an ideal choice for those persons who are dust-sensitive or possess allergenic conditions.


LEATHER'S TANNING PROCESS

What is Tanning? A process that uses tanning agents to convert a raw hide into a stable, non-perishable material. This is achieved by cleaning, drying, and preserving the hide. (See below for a more detailed look at the tanning process.)

Curing – The leather hide is cured by immersion in a salt solution to protect it from deterioration and to preserve it for future use.

Soaking – The leather hide is soaked in water to remove the salt solution and re-hydrate the hide to its original flaccid condition.

De-hairing – The soaked hides are treated with a lime solution for the de-hairing process. The lime solution not only removes the hair, but also fats and soluable proteins.

Tanning – Tanning involves drumming the hides in a mixture of chemicals. Two of the most common types of tanning include chromium tanning, which results in a wet blue appearance, and vegetable tanning.

Splitting – The average thickness of a cowhide is 5mm before splitting. The hides are split in a splitting machine which activates a fast running wirecutter. This operation divides the hide into two hides: top grain leather and split leather. The top grain hides are then shaved on the flesh side to create a uniform thickness. Standard top grain upholstery leather thickness can be 0.9mm-1.4mm. Split leathers are typically used on non-stress areas, such as outside backs and outside arms.

Sorting – The hides are then sorted or separated by differing levels of quality. This quality is based on the extent of natural markings which could include ticks bites, brands, barb wire scars, and/or stretch marks. This process is called selection. The highest quality of leather hides are normally termed “A” selection. “B” and “C” hides possess a higher number of natural markings, therefore reducing overall selection.

Dyeing – The leather hide is drum dyed. The dye concentration in the drum affects level of penetration into the hide, richness of shade, colorfastness to light, ease of dry cleaning, and resistance to rubbing, etc. The dyed leather is then treated with fat-liquors for softness and strength.

Drying – After the dyeing process, the leather hide can retain 45-60% water. Most upholstery leather is tunnel dried where the temperature and humidity are controlled. After the leather is dried, it dries to a paler shade as the oils spread uniformly and the dyes penetrate deeply.

Finishing – The finishing of a leather hide involves both mechanical and chemical treatments. The hide is first trimmed and conditioned with fat-liquors to obtain uniform moisture content. The hide is then softened with a massage machine and stretched. Some leathers are further processed by applying a top coat finish to the grain surface. The top coat adheres to the leather’s surface while increasing the resistance to abrasion, cracking, peeling, rubbing, light, heat, etc. A pigmented finish is sometimes applied which contains a variety of colorations, resins, lacquers, oils and/or waxes. Afterwards, the hide is milled in a dry drum to soften the leather. Note: leather can be finished a variety of ways depending on quality of hide, type of leather, and level of pigmentation.
 

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