Regardless of the reason, we like to work on them because it’s fun to work on cool cars.  My favorite car is still the 1963 Corvette with the split back window.  I always thought that this is the car Batman probably drives on his days off.

Plus, the seat colors are unlike most we see.  Check out the Before and After of these deep red seats.

That’s a great color!

Keep your life beautiful!  Call Hepler Bros.

What is wrong with using paper??!!

Anyway, I know I’m fighting a losing battle, and I do have some vague memories of doing the same thing once or twice many moons ago.

But, in case you’re fighting the same battle, here’s another arrow for your quiver.  Friends of ours have a teenage daughter, and she and her friend were writing on each other with Sharpies.  After the art session, they reclined onto the leather couch, and the following problem occurred.

What to do?  You call Hepler Bros.

Brian went out and redyed the couch back to its original color.  Problem Solved!

Good as new, but we’re told the teenage daughter’s wallet is a little lighter.  I’m sure it’s a lesson well learned.

One purse

Two Purse

Red Purse

Yellow Purse

Old Purse

Old Purse

Like-New Purse

Like-New Purse

Hepler Bros. work fast

Hepler Bros. work good

Hepler Bros. can come

To your neighborhood

Hepler Bros. repair Furniture

Hepler Bros. repair Leather

Hepler Bros. want to make

Your life better

http://fibrenewidaho.com/index.php

Leather 101

Leather is a natural material made from chemical and mechanical processing of an animal hide or skin. Leather used in automobiles and furniture can come from the same (tannery) source. A colder climate will normally yield a more desirable hide than a warmer climate because the animal’s hair is thicker which results in a denser grain pattern. There are also areas where electric fences are used to minimize the animals’ scarring. Range cattle in warmer climates like South America will usually have apparent brand marks and scars from barbed wire fences. Too many natural scars and marks will prevent hides from being selected as premium aniline hides.

The average thickness of a cowhide is 5mm. Most hides are split to a uniform thickness (about as thick as a copper penny), which creates a top grain used for automobiles and furniture. The split grain will normally be used for shoes, luggage, belts etc.

At the tannery there are a number of steps required in processing a hide or skin before it’s ready for sale. Soaking, fleshing and de-liming are just a few of the processes that lead up to the finished product. In preparation for finishing, all leathers are drum dyed with aniline dyes, tunnel dried for six6 hours and then categorized as a “crust”. The crust is then subjected to mechanical and chemical treatments that soften leather. These treatments allow the tannery to further separate the hide or skin for finishing with water-based or non-water-based pigments. A wide variety of color pigments, resins, lacquers and waxes are used to create finishes that give an impression that this leather came from an exotic and faraway place. After finishing and as a final step, leather is milled in a dry drum to further soften it and may also be plated (ironed) to increase the gloss and remove wrinkles.

How do I know if this is leather or vinyl?

Vinyl is a man-made material that will always have a cotton backing attached. Leather will never have a backing as part of the skin. This alone is the best way to identify whether or not you have vinyl or leather. When vinyl is pinched or pushed together it will buckle. When leather is pushed together it will wrinkle just like your skin. Many of the less expensive types of furniture will be comprised of leather in the seating area and vinyl on the outside covers and side panels. This is referred to as “vinyl match.”

Types of Leather Finishes

• Fully Finished
• Analine
  • Semi-Aniline
  • Pull-ups (wax or oil)
  • Distressed
  • Nubuck
• Nubuck

Fully Finished: Leather used in automobiles will have a full finish and will probably be constructed with a vinyl back and side panels. This type of finish simply means that the top finish applied at the tannery was done with an opaque dye and top coated with a clear coat.

Leather used for furniture with full finishes will not absorb water, resists staining, and will not leave a mark when scratched. Finished leather is much less susceptible to fading. Again at the tannery the finish is an opaque dye and top coated with a clear coat. A quick visual for protected leathers is that they are usually a solid color without any natural hide marks or blemishes showing. Opaque dyes cover natural scarring and other markings.

Fully finished leather is easy to clean, resists staining, and is less likely to fade. It is a great finish if you have children or pets.

Aniline Finishes: Aniline dyes are used to highlight the natural markings on a hide or skin that has limited scarring. They are usually higher end pieces with a variety of finishes that are frequently a sauvage (mottled) effect in appearance. Natural scars will have absorbed an equal amount of dye but will show a little darker in color similar to stretch marks on skin. An aniline finish can be further identified as full aniline, semi-aniline, pure aniline, and wax or oil pull-up. The hand (feel) of an aniline topcoat generally is buttery with a slight drag. The wax and oil pull-ups will feel “waxy” and “oily” and are usually a higher gloss. Note: Almost all aniline finishes will leave a lighter mark in the finish when scratched.

Aniline finishes will noticeably darken at varying rates when water is absorbed and will fade in color more quickly than protected finishes. Anilines are also quite susceptible to staining which becomes more pronounced as the furniture fades.

Nubuck Finishes: A nubuck is a solvent based aniline finish. Nubuck is the top side of leather where the animal’s hair grows and is buffed with machines to create a velvet look and feel. Tanneries have also begun to produce nubuck hides categorized as a wax or oil pullup. They’re not common, but be aware they are out there and not likely to have a successful repair made to them. As a point of information, suedes are the underside of a top grain hide or skin.

Nubucks will noticeably darken at varying rates when water is absorbed and in some cases will probably ruin the color/finish. Always test in an inconspicuous spot before attempting any cleaning. Color fade will occur more quickly than protected finishes.

We were able to redye and refinish their leather to the matching color, leaving it looking like new.

The moral of this story: As we move into the summer months, make sure your kids change before sitting down on your leather furniture if they’ve been swimming to avoid damage from pool chlorine. Or, at least keep the number of a leather repair company on hand…

The biggest request for service that we receive for RV repair is not for the seats, although we do get these.  The biggest request is for the laminate floors.  It turns out that getting a scrape or cut in the laminate flooring is a really big deal.  That’s because the laminate is put down in the RV before the rest of the furniture and appliances.  Sooooo, if the floor gets torn or scuffed, they have to take out ALL of the furniture and the appliances if they have to replace the flooring.  A huge expense and a huge pain!

Now, if you guessed that it’s much cheaper to call Hepler Bros. to fix the laminate rather than replacing it, you’d be exactly right.  Good for you!

The job below is from General RV in Orange Park.  The nice fellas there call us if they have a problem.  The Before picture is not that great (we are good fixers, but not great photographers), but imagine a rip in the laminate that flipped up dark laminate exposing the white underside. 

The After picture is better, but, because Brian did such a nice job, it looks like a regular piece of laminate flooring. 

 Of course, that’s what we’re shooting for, so Yay! for us.  And, Yay! for the customer.

I don’t think there’s a business alive today that doesn’t say it has great customer service.  Everybody says it, but only a handful deliver in service in a way that makes you remember it.

I had one of those experiences recently at Coggin Nissan at the Avenues in Jacksonville.  I was cold-calling on the Service side of the car business to see if they’d be interested in doing a joint promotion.  The idea is that if Coggin Nissan sees a car seat that needs repair or a steering wheel that needs to be rejuvenated, then Coggin tells the customer about our Hepler Bros. business.  If the customer uses our leather repair or vinyl repair service, we’ll buy the customer an oil change at Coggin Nissan.  A nice win/win for everyone.

I met Jai Beasley, a Service Manager at Coggin Nissan, and he thought it was a terrific idea, so I had some postcards made up for his service reps to give to customers.

It was during the conversation that I noticed the fabulous waiting area they have for their customers.  Anyone who’s had car repairs done lately knows it can be a less-than-exciting experience.  Well, the Coggin Nissan fellows have changed that.  They have a 20-seat theater (with really nice seats) that shows Hi-Def movies.  The day I was there, “Up” was showing.

They have free popcorn and free Starbucks coffee.  They have lots of vending machines with everything from soda to sandwiches to ice cream for sale.  They even have a microwave oven to heat up the sandwiches.  On top of that, they’ve painted murals on the wall to give the eating area the feel of an outdoor café.  The whole place reminds you nothing of a waiting room.

Great job!  Clearly, you understand your customers’ needs.  The rest of us hope to follow in your footsteps.

The cleaning is the first step of our Fibrenew Five-Step Process to make things beautiful.  You have to clean first or the rest of the steps (Repair, Prep, Dye, and Top Coat) don’t work nearly as well.

A month ago we got a job cleaning the awnings at TGI Friday’s outside the Orange Park mall.  Don’t they look brand new?

Brian recently cleaned up the interior a car that belonged to a long shoreman – and it looked like it did.  Here are some before pics.  These are the car floor mats.

This is some grease from the floor near the gas pedal.

I know.  You’re glad it’s not your car.  Well, Brian scrubbed and scrubbed and got it looking spic and span.  This is a close-up of the grease area.

Here’s an After pic of one of the floor mats.  Looks much better except for holes that had worn through!

So, keep us in mind you need something you love to be beautiful again.  We can clean it and make it shine!

While it is funny, I’m not sure it’s always the best answer. 

For example, take a look at these medical exam tables I came across a week later.

In this case, the damage was too extensive to be repaired, so I recovered them in a medical-grade vinyl.  The new medical-grade vinyls are fabulous because they’re made with materials that are anti-microbial and anti-bacterial.  Some even have silver ions that “implode” germs. 

They come in a rainbow of colors and a huge variety of textures to match any medical office decor.

In this case, the medical office wanted basic black, but the new ones are a huge improvement.

Isn’t this much nicer?  It stands up to repeat cleanings with alcohol, it keeps germs at bay, and it will last for years. 

Make sure your doctor’s office has the best-looking tables on your next visit.  If it doesn’t, have them call Hepler Bros.!

In my old marketing terms, I would call this an “adjacent business channel for enhanced revenue opportunity.”  In real people language, I call it, “doing business with like-minded folks.”

Janet Bernard (owner of VIP Park and Ride and one of my newest Facebook friends) called me to see if we could do leather and vinyl repairs on cars that are parked at her business.  She already does a fabulous job of detailing cars inside and out, and she noticed that leather and vinyl seats can have scuffs or tears.

What a great idea for her customers!  They come back tired from their business trips and step into beautiful clean cars for their ride home.

Here’s the first car we worked on.  It’s already sparkling on the outside because Janet had worked her magic cleaning, waxing, and buffing.

Unfortunately, on the inside, a large amount of gray color had been lost on the console between the driver and passenger seats.  We think a heavy-duty cleaner may have been the culprit.

Brian did a fabulous job of matching the color and applying it to the console to make it look good as new.  Check it out! 

Do yourself a favor the next time you travel.  Park your car with Janet at VIP Park and Ride, and let Janet and the Hepler Bros. make your car beautiful for your ride home!