Back to black

My Savannah has black leather seats which I was told were quite an expensive option back in the day. They were certainly quite eye-catching when I first acquired the aircraft (if not the most comfortable on long flights 😕 ) but over the years they’ve become, let’s say, a bit tired looking. Don’t get me wrong, the leather hasn’t split at all or become particularly worn and the seat interiors haven’t collapsed or begun to sag even, but what has happened is that the leather has begun progressively to lose its colour.

This has manifested itself in the form of white patches that have grown in size and number over the years to the point where they’ve become a real eyesore, as shown in the following image.

I’ve been meaning to do something about it for a long time but what with the house and garden, the X-Air and whatever I’ve never got around to it. However, with the X-Air now gone and a lull in my house and garden work I decided that with the Savannah now needing some other attention, as mentioned in my previous post, now was the time to do something about the seats.

So with this in mind I bought a small bottle of black leather dye. I had two choices – a glossy version or one called US Army Black which was described as matt and I decided to go for the former. We had over 35 degrees C today so this afternoon I brought the seat backs and bases home for me to treat this evening when it was cooler because although the dye dries quickly, I didn’t want it to flash off too quickly possibly leaving a streaky finish.

I donned a pair of disposable gloves and applied the dye as you do French polish to a wood surface, using a small cheese-cloth pad, gently wiping it on in the direction of the ‘grain’ of the leather on the sides, verticals and horizontals. To say I’m delighted with the results is an understatement considering it only took a few minutes to do the lot, considerably less than half an hour. Here’s how the pieces came out.

Ignore the ‘brownish’ tinge in the next two shots. It was just a trick of the light and the leather is actually a nice deep black.

Here’s a shot of the dye that I used, which I’d thoroughly recommend.

I was thinking that I might have to apply a second coat but I don’t think it’ll be necessary except for touching up one or two tiny patches near stitching where I’ve missed a few bits of white. Apart from that I can’t wait to see how the seats come out with a bit of wax polish on them and I think they’ll now become a real asset for the Savannah 😀