Cleaning and refreshing skins.
The main difficulty in cleaning hides is the selection of such methods, which will not leach the softening mixtures from the skin. Cleaning can be either by removing greasy stains, or to remove general soiling.
Removal of greasy stains. Prepare a gasoline paste, talc and magnesium carbonate or powdered kaolin. Apply the paste to the stained area and press down firmly with any flat plate. Pour the solvent on the paste and let it evaporate. Remove any remaining dry powder. Repeat the treatment if necessary.
Cleaning the entire surface of the skin.
• Leather items, slightly dirty all over, wash with a cloth dipped in milk. Do not allow the skin to become deeply soaked.
• Prepare the solution: 6 g of rubber w 100 cm3 of gasoline. Apply this solution thinly to the skin surface. When a film is formed, rolling when rubbed, remove it by rubbing it with a clean cloth.
• Wipe the surface of the skin with a solution of soap flakes in ethanol. For dark colored leathers, a soap solution in denatured alcohol can be used.
Washing leather gloves. Most gloves can be washed in soapy water, w temp. ok. 40″C. It is best to prepare a solution of soap flakes in water, you can also use aqueous solutions of synthetic detergents. After rinsing in clean water, let it dry, put on slightly damp hands and dry with a blast of warm air. Leather gloves tanned with aluminum-potassium alum (glace skin) cannot be washed in water, because they become stiff. They should be thoroughly dried and washed in pure gasoline.
White and light gloves can be cleaned by putting them on your hands and washing them in a dish filled with dry potato flour or potato flour mixed with sawdust.
Refreshing skins. Clean leather items are painted with special leather paints, which are commercially available. Removing the old varnish layer is a difficult procedure, therefore, a coat of new paint is usually applied over the old one, preferably by spraying, and failing that – with a brush.
Refreshing suede and velor products. After cleaning with one of the methods given for leathers, wipe the worn areas with a sharp wire brush or coarse sandpaper..
Fur cleaning. Furs are cleaned by rubbing with a cloth soaked in gasoline. Then it is rubbed with dry potato flour, shakes it thoroughly and combs it. Small fur items, like collars or gloves, it is best to "wash" in a dish with dry potato flour, making the same movements, like washing in water. Shake off thoroughly, brush and comb the hair.
Multiple small items or medium-sized items, like sheepskin coats and fur jackets, can be perfectly cleaned, by placing them inside the rotating drum, partially filled with potato flour or for savings – potato flour mixed with sawdust. The sawdust must be dry, clear, previously sifted. The role of the drum can be played by a wooden barrel, seated horizontally on its axle and provided with a crank or a pulley driven by a motor. Turns must be slow (no more than 1 rev / s), because at high rotational speed, the objects will be pressed against the walls of the drum with centrifugal force together with the cleaning powder. The powder will not rub against the fur then, so there will be no cleaning effect. After achieving the desired degree of purity, shake the fur out, brush and comb,
