Frequently Ask Questions:
1: Why Product in Concentrate?
2: What is Leather?
3: What is pH?
4: What is the pH of Leather?
5: What is Leather-Safe?
6: What is the Suffix Name Represent?
7: How to Identify Leather Stains?
8: In which region(s) do you operate?
9: Which sectors/industries do you serve?
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1: Why Product in Concentrate?
1.1: Concentrate product has an indefinite shelf life.
1.2: Reduces freezing damages,
1.3: Reduces handling damages,
1.4: Save on shipping weight,
1.5: Easily mixed with distilled water before use.
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2: What is Leather?
2.1: Leather is derived from the skins and hides of animals preserved by tanning, softened by fatliquoring followed by dyeing and coloring.
2.2: Leather is naturally acidic and pH-sensitive and denatures when an alkaline solution comes in contact.
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3: What is pH?
3.1: pH is a unit of measure that ranges from 0 to 14 indicating the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a liquid product.
3.2: A liquid product with a pH value less than 7 is considered acidic, a pH higher than 7 is known as base or alkaline and a pH of 7 is neutral.
3.3: The pH scale is logarithmic, for example, if product A is 1 pH less than product B, it means that product A is 10 times more acidic than product B.
3.4: A difference of 1 pH value represents a ten-fold difference in acidity.
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4: What is the pH of Leather?
4.1: The average pH value of leather ranges from 3 to 5.
4.2: Vegetable-tanned has a lower pH point than chrome-tanned leather.
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5: What is Leather-Safe?
5.1: A leather-safe product has a pH value range from 3 to 5.
5.2: Any harmful pH value above or below the pH neutral of leather that comes in contact needs pH balanced to its pH neutral of 3 to 5 from adverse side effects like becoming tacky, bleeding, and stiffness when dry.
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6: What is the Suffix Name Represent?
6.1: The product name suffix represents its pH value, an example Acidifier 2.0 has a pH value of 2.0, meaning a low acidic product meant to pH balance or neutralize the common harmful alkaline soiling or cleaning products to return the leather to its pH neutral of 3 to 5.
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7: How to Identify Leather Stains?
7.1: Leather Stains are identified by: Appearance, Odor, Color, Feel-of-Hand, Location, and Buildup or Absorbed!
7.2: Appearance:
7.3: Stain identification by appearance will show whether it is the characteristic of a spill, rub-on, penetrated, or deposited.
7.4: Stain may also reveal dye or finish damages caused by the stain.
7.5: Odor:
7.6: Odor-by-smell identification can be helpful in positive stain identification.
7.7: Odors such as moldy, smoke, putrid, or ammonia from urine are some common stains identified by smell.
7.8: Color:
7.9: Color stain identification will also give a clue to the staining stuff.
7.10: Color stains from beverages, nail polish, lipstick, blood, or others could all appear red.
7.11: Color identification may not be necessarily right; with time and oxidization, a red bloodstain may turn from tan to black.
7.12: The color of the leather may mesmerize or alter the appearance of the stain.
7.13: Feel of Hand:
7.14: Feel-of-hand stain identification may help determine the stain types.
7.15: A candy, beverage, or a sugar substance could appear red and feel sticky.
7.16: A nail polish, shellac or paint stain may feel brittle and stiff.
7.17: A grease base stain such as lipstick may smear by the feel of the hand.
7.18: Location:
7.19: Location may give a clue as to the makeup of the staining substance in visual inspection and identification.
7.20: Dark stains from body oil, grease, and sweat are common on the headrest and armrest of furniture.
7.21: Buildup or Absorbed:
7.22: A stain may take several appearances.
7.23: Most stains build up or accumulate on top of non-absorbent pigmented leather.
7.24: Almost all stains are absorbed on most unfinished, aniline, and nubuck leathers.
7.25: Naturally, stains could also combine absorbed and built up.
7.26: An absorbed stain indicates that it was a liquid before it penetrates the leather.
7.27: A liquid stain may have chemically changed and destabilized the leather chemistry integrity and alter its appearance.
7.28: Example of sweat stains often react with absorbent leathers and denatures them.
7.29: Examples of stains affecting the tanning agent that preserves the leather manifest as tackiness when dry and sliminess when wet detected by the feel of the hand.
7.30: Examples of stains affecting the dyestuff occur when color appears during wet wiping with a white absorbent towel.
7.31: Examples of stains affecting the fat liquored leather fat and oil leaching out as a milky film known as leather spew, the leather becomes stiff, loses its tensile strength, and cracks when stressed.
7.32: In any event, the leather may show a marked color change in that area after spotting, and possibly after cleaning.
7.33: Examples of built-up stains include paint and some foodstuff, etc.
7.34: Examples of absorbed stains include beverages, wine, tea, coffee, etc.
7.35: Examples of combination stains include lipstick, ink, mustard, etc.
7.36: Most absorbed stains will have part of their staining stuff absorbed into the leather and part accumulated on its surface.
7.37: A stain may also be a substance that has wet solvent-soluble and dry solvent-soluble components combined.
7.38: Examples of a compound stain would be gravy which contains grease, flour (from a plant), and milk (from an animal).
7.39: Examples of paint-type stains are readily detected because of their stiff nature and generally bright colors and they seem to be sitting on top of the leather.
7.40: When identifying stains always try to determine whether they are of a protein, cellulose, oil-based, or a colloidal make-up in nature.
7.41: Three common types of soiling or stain are solvent-soluble, water-soluble, and insoluble.
7.42: Stains are often of a combination in nature, and in most instances, there will be no information regarding the stain especially if they are bought used.
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8: In which region(s) do you operate?
8.1: We operate from Vancouver, Canada, North America, and sell worldwide through our online store: www.LeatherDoctor.com
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9: Which sectors or industries do you serve?
9.1: We serve the Leather Care industry including Leather Car Interior, Leather Furnishing, Upholstery, handbags, Garments, Boots, Hair-on Rugs, Equestrian, and Leather Accessories.
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Your opinions and insights are precious and will help us to improve our writing and communication to solve your leather problem more efficiently.
Edited May 18, 2024, by Roger Koh.
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For further reference about other people who uses Leather Doctor Products, with step by step explanations and leather problem discussion, you may visit our Technical Help & Support Forum.
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