# Removing paint from leather tool bag



## Tomato John (Jan 21, 2018)

Would like to get this tool bag and saddle cleaned up. Leather is a little hard and has overspray  from older repaint. No idea how to proceed and am worried about inflicting damage. Is there a product I can use to remove the paint safely? New to this -  appreciate any advice I can get. Thank you. John


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## 2jakes (Jan 21, 2018)

Tomato John said:


> View attachment 741181 View attachment 741182 Would like to get this tool bag and saddle cleaned up. Leather is a little hard and has overspray  from older repaint. No idea how to proceed and am worried about inflicting damage. Is there a product I can use to remove the paint safely? New to this -  appreciate any advice I can get. Thank you. John




This is what I did on an old saddle that was in
similar condition as your tool bag. I am not
saying this is what you should do. But what I
did.
I first tried to gently cleaned  it with a leather
conditioner. It helped to soften it some.
I wasn't too keen on the color. I bought at
shoe shop the leather spray color of my choice. I sprayed only enough and
still allow for the small cracks to show.
I wanted to match the age with the bike.

I first tried this procedure on an old leather
that was similar to the saddle. I collect old
leather jackets, boots and I've done good
with fixing old leather to look good.
I would suggest testing on another leather
before attempting on this nice tool bag.


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## Tomato John (Jan 21, 2018)

My biggest concern is instead of removing old paint, I would spread it around even more and also enabling it to penetrate even further into the leather. Will give it a test in something else  and see how it goes. Thanks, John


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## GTs58 (Jan 21, 2018)

Never tried to remove spray paint off leather, but I'd start with acetone or lacquer thinner doing a light test first.

https://www.hunker.com/12001225/how-to-clean-leather-with-acetone


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## Tomato John (Jan 21, 2018)

GTs58 said:


> Never tried to remove spray paint off leather, but I'd start with acetone or lacquer thinner doing a light test first.
> 
> https://www.hunker.com/12001225/how-to-clean-leather-with-acetone



Will try that. Had no effect using saddle soap. Thanks


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## jkent (Jan 21, 2018)

To me personally, It doesn't look that bad and I don't think I would even worry about trying to remove it. 
These military bikes were known to have crude paint and welds on them.
Just my 2 cents.
JKent


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## Tomato John (Jan 21, 2018)

jkent said:


> To me personally, It doesn't look that bad and I don't think I would even worry about trying to remove it.
> These military bikes were known to have crude paint and welds on them.
> Just my 2 cents.
> JKent



That makes sense because it wouldn’t have taken much effort to avoid overspray if whoever painted it really was concerned about being a little sloppy. Thanks for your “2 cents”. I’ll take it anytime


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## Ed Minas (Jan 30, 2018)

I don’t know if you have already removed the paint yet.  It would be helpful to know want kind of paint is on the tool bag.   Latex or oil base.  I have had good results with Goof Off myself, but I always test on a small area, hopefully hidden,  first to see what effect it might have before going all in.


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## Tomato John (Jan 30, 2018)

Ed Minas said:


> I don’t know if you have already removed the paint yet.  It would be helpful to know want kind of paint is on the tool bag.   Latex or oil base.  I have had good results with Goof Off myself, but I always test on a small area, hopefully hidden,  first to see what effect it might have before going all in.



I think it’s probably oil base. I think if it was latex I would have had better results with my first attempt using a leather cleaner. Didn’t seem to make any difference at all.  J


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## Ed Minas (Jan 30, 2018)

Tomato John said:


> I think it’s probably oil base. I think if it was latex I would have had better results with my first attempt using a leather cleaner. Didn’t seem to make any difference at all.  J




I was afraid of that.   The Goof Off works best with latex.


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## bricycle (Jan 30, 2018)

I redid a pr of Red Wing Hiking boots I had. I was told to use NU-Life Preparer (for NU-Life color spray).
This really cleans the old leather of leather conditioners, mink oils, bee waxes etc. so you can re-color a shoe/boot. I re-died my boots black instead of the brown color. They polished up great and looked like a new pair of boots. I used a old stiff toothbrush in the tight areas, and a polish brush for the remainder of the surface. It's by KIWI brands Inc.
After they were cleaned I used a saddle soap and flushed thoroughly with water. Let dry well. Careful around the logo area, as water, and conditioners will take the "crispness" out of the tooled logo.


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## Tomato John (Jan 30, 2018)

bricycle said:


> I redid a pr of Red Wing Hiking boots I had. I was told to use NU-Life Preparer (for NU-Life color spray).
> This really cleans the old leather of leather conditioners, mink oils, bee waxes etc. so you can re-color a shoe/boot. I re-died my boots black instead of the brown color. They polished up great and looked like a new pair of boots. I used a old stiff toothbrush in the tight areas, and a polish brush for the remainder of the surface. It's by KIWI brands Inc.
> After they were cleaned I used a saddle soap and flushed thoroughly with water. Let dry well. Careful around the logo area, as water, and conditioners will take the "crispness" out of the tooled logo.



Thanks!  I’ll give it try. Just want to make sure I don’t alter the color too much. It’s got a great patina where it isn’t covered by overspray.


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## bricycle (Jan 30, 2018)

Tomato John said:


> Thanks!  I’ll give it try. Just want to make sure I don’t alter the color too much. It’s got a great patina where it isn’t covered by overspray.



well.... it probably will change the patina. Likely anything that will remove the paint will change the patina-


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## KevinBrick (Mar 20, 2018)

There are some paint removers out there that are more environmentally friendly. Oil up the surrounding area and then take a tiny hobby model paint brush and dab it on the spots. It looks like that paint has been on there for a while so chances are the leather is going to be a different color anyway. In your case I would take a dark brown or black Sharpie and darken the paint spots to get them to blend in with the leather so they don’t stand out so much..


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## KevinBrick (Mar 20, 2018)

KevinBrick said:


> View attachment 773830 There are some paint removers out there that are more environmentally friendly. Oil up the surrounding area and then take a tiny hobby model paint brush and dab it on the spots. It looks like that paint has been on there for a while so chances are the leather is going to be a different color anyway. In your case I would take a dark brown or black Sharpie and darken the paint spots to get them to blend in with the leather so they don’t stand out so much..




Once the paint is soft I would take a not too sharp knife and scrape off the paint..


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## Tino (Apr 21, 2018)

I always use a single edge blade and 'pick' off the paint specks, usually the paint specks are so hard they pop right off.  I never had good luck with solvents.


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