Quote:
Originally Posted by gary lovell
We have two identical "leather " recliners purchased from Blockers in Ocala three years ago. Cost $1740 with "FIVE year warranty" . One of them has the leather peeling off like paint on an old ,old house; the other is pristine . It turns out that contrary to what we were told, the warranty says " chipping of veneers or laminates" are covered and in the next column near the bottom, it excludes " cracking or peeling of leather" . Now, we discover that the covering of "leather" is called " bonded leather" a .002 " thick covering of vinyl over a base of bonded leather scraps and chips of leather . Total thickness where unpeeled is .029" . Newspaper is .003" thick , so the vinyl is pretty comparable to a spray painted coating !
They did offer to redo the armrests and back for $ 250 , but why would anyone waste more money ? I'm looking for a craftsman to reupholstery my recliner - - .
Buy Naugahyde or vinyl, or cowhide , but beware of " bonded" and most of all ; Beware of Blockers ! ! !
My phone number is (352) 751-3003
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It seems from your post, you were aware that you were buying bonded leather. Perhaps, they offered real leather upholstery but that would have been far more expensive.
Bonded leather is basically ground up leather waste that is glued, bonded, together and then it is spray painted over.
RE: Naugahyde
I don't think it is even made any more. It became popular for car interiors about 1963. There are some good looking vinyl materials used to cover chairs but they do not breathe as real leather does.
RE: getting your seats recovered
Sadly, if they were inexpensive quality pieces it is probably not worth the cost to recover them.
Beware-a lot of what is sold as leather upholstered is as you found bonded leather or if it is real leather the sides and bottoms are matching bonded leather or vinyl.