Family owned and still "Simply the Best Since
1968"
How to Piping
Leather Restoration, Preservation,
Cleaning & Customizing
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How to Piping
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REDYING CONTRASTING PIPING USING LEATHERIQUE PRODUCTS
My 1953 Bentley R-Type (B410TN) came from the factory at Crewe with light grey leather and contrasting piping. It was very tailored looking and quite formal when new. However along the way some knuckle head sprayed grey leather dye all over the leather, the piping, and even parts of the interior wood work and chrome trim pieces. So when Sir Reginald came to live with me, it was a high priority to put the interior back the way it should be. Some could debate that the patina of age was irretrievably lost by this restoration. Yet I cannot abide ugly especially given someone else’s ham handed attempt at a redye job, so there was no reservation in my mind about setting forth down this path. The two front seating surfaces were destroyed, so new leather of the right color was obtained. Since the Bentley had picnic tables in the back of the front seats, and the leather behind the table was not faded, it was easy to select appropriate matching new leather. But I did not want to reupholster the entire car since the remainder of the leather was in decent repair although it had the typical crazing and surface cracks found on 55 year old leather. The nice folks at Leatherique made up a custom color dye that would match the new leather so that the acres of leather bits and pieces might all look the same. Following the detailed instructions that came with the kit, the remainder of the upholstery was put back to its base grey color without worrying about the piping…at this point. I also bought the smallest container of the piping color, black, that I could get to redo the piping. Once the base color was well cured, it was time to do the piping. It was pretty easy, but it was tedious and frequent coffee breaks were needed to stay sharp. The basic tools were an artist’s paint brush with a tapered tip. Nothing fancy, just a small paint brush. The second tool was essential. It was a 3” wide putty knife that was used as a paint shield. On my car one could slide the putty knife a short distance under the piping on one side. A teeny tiny drop of black on the brush was good for about 2” of piping at a time. Doing one side of the piping with the shield and then the other about 2” at a time (place the putty knife to overlap the previous stroke a little) allowed the piping to be completed relatively quickly. I found that placing the putty knife under the piping (or tight against the seam if it could not get under), painting about 2” or so, and then jerking the putty knife away sharply allowed the piping to remain smudge-free and crisp. It is of critical importance to wipe both sides of the shield with a wet paper towel on EACH pass to get rid of the inevitable black residue. You don’t want a mess on your upholstery. The corners were trickier and I had to result to smaller shields like a screw driver or a tiny putty knife. If a blob of black suddenly appeared on the grey where it should not be, I had to resist the urge to immediately wipe it off. That only made the goof worse. Instead, I learned to let it partially dry for 10 minutes or so and then lift or scrape the black blob off the grey color with the tip of a knife. If the grey was damaged in doing so, patient retouching with grey on a small brush made the goof all but invisible. All in all, the job was simple if a bit tedious, and patience was required. The results, however, are dramatic. Sir Reginald now looks regal in his “new” but not really new interior. Plus I can still say that all but the front seating surfaces are the original leather. The savings over replacing all the original leather were substantial.
Dear George:
Two other tips that I remembered in using the
products.
Don Elliott
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