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How to repair leather cuts and burns with a leather repair kit


Leather repair kit
leather repair kit

So how do you repair a cut in a leather jacket or other leather? How do you repair a burn mark in leather? How do you fix a rip in a leather jacket? Repair a cut in a leather couch or chair? Well I’ll tell you the most common way to repair a cut, rip or burn in anything leather. When you’ve had a leather jacket for a long time you really get attached to it.

Unlike other clothing you just throw away when it gets a tear in it, you really want to try to repair a leather jacket. Same goes for a leather couch, or motorcycle seat, maybe a leather vest, leather pants and so on. Now I’m sure you’ve seen those leather repair kits “as seen on TV” and so on. For the most part all the leather repair kits are like that, as far as the steps.

However like anything else you have your cheap crap and the good leather repair kits. The one in the picture above is one I recommend. However there are plenty of good ones out there. The one above does a good job without costing too much, which no leather repair kit should. A leather repair kit basically has several different items:
colored adhesive
several different leather textured papers
A heating applicator

So just how does the leather repair kit work? Well, basically you use a rubbery-plastic-adhesive substance that bonds to the leather and seals the cut or damage. Kind of like putting bondo over a hole in a car like a body shop does. I know that may not sound right, putting a plastic type crap over your leather, but it’s really the only way to make it seamless.

Plus if you do it right you’ll never see where you repaired it. So, here’s the steps to repairing a cut leather jacket, burn or other damage to a leather item. First, clean the area with rubbing alcohol to get rid of oils and dirt. If it’s one of those L shaped cuts, try to push the cut piece back as much as you can like it was before. DON’T cut it out and make a big hole there.

What you want to do is save as much of the leather and use it to provide an underlying base for the leather adhesive you spread over it. Try to lay your leather down flat on a table or something, and if you can put a flat metal pan, cookie sheet or something under where your repairing, I’ll tell you why later. Now, get out the liquid leather adhesive.

Some leather repair kits have several different colors pre-done and you just pick the color that matches your leather. Other kits you mix the colors together until you get just the right match for your leather. I like that the best as the pre-done colors never quite match. The leather repair kit above lets you mix the colors till you get the right one. Once you get the color as close as you can, spread it over the damaged area.

Most leather repair kits include a spatula to spread it around, but anything flat will do, I even use my fingers. Spread the leather repair adhesive carefully, overlapping the cut or burn a good inch or two. Try to make it an even layer, not too thin but not too thick. Next, a good leather repair kit will have several different textured papers. The texture is made to look like the leather texture of your leather.

Pick the one that seems to most closely match your leather texture. Cover the damaged area and the leather adhesive with the paper. Now you take the heating applicator that any good leather repair kit will have, and press it over the paper. Basically the heat bonds the leather adhesive into the leather, sort of like melting plastic!

It’s very important to get it hot enough to bond. That’s why I said put a flat metal pan or something under the cut if you can. The metal will help hold the heat and make it hot so it bonds and cures. If your having a hard time getting the damn applicator to make it hot enough, use a flat iron on LOW setting, and use just the tip of the iron to go over the paper.

Once the heat has been applied and it has bonded, peel off the paper. The texture will have been pressed into the leather adhesive and look like the rest of the leather grain, hopefully! That’s it, the leather repair has been done. If it is a quality leather repair kit and done right, the leather repair will not be noticeable and last a long time.

The leather repair kit above is a good one and I recommend it. However any good leather store should carry a quality leather repair kit. So I hope that explains how you repair a cut or burn in a leather jacket or anything leather! Click the link below for the leather repair kit.


Leather repair kit
leather repair kit

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