Photos!

[drcollie]

Rio is not a leather I care for. I've seen pieces made up and its far too 'crinkly' and glazed for my tastes. It looks artificial, whereas if you take a hide like Tiburon or Tuscany it will get there naturally and with a better look over time.

Burnished leathers have their own unique characteristics from the hand-tint/hand-glazing after they have been built and then returned to the finish department.

Tiburon will have a better hand than Buckingham....but the Buckingham looks cooler.

[crunchysue]

Here are the new photos I promised. Never did get any sun, so these are again outside in flat light. Larger versions here: http://houseofcrunchy.com/ham/leathers.php

Atticus Java : Atticus Chestnut


Atticus Sable : Atticus Cordovan


Equestrian Chestnut : Equestrian Claret


Tiburon Butternut : Buckingham Merlot

[artielange]

Here's the Tiburon Butternut on my barstools. It still looks wonderful 4 years later. I'd not hesitate to use it again but the colorway didn't work for our latest project.

@DCGator, thanks for the compliment. I totally love those Crenshaw chairs in Weston Sunrise chairs too. When they were delivered and unboxed, my husband was startled by the color but he too has grown to love them. H&M discontinued the Crenshaw frame. I have three H&M pieces currently under construction and I cannot wait to see how they compare.

[crunchysue]

So I took my top 5 choices out for burgers the other night. They were a pretty cheap date; they didn't eat much at all. I spread them all out on the table, then "spilled" stuff on them. First I rubbed a french fry on each one. The fries were super greasy (read: delicious) that night. After a minute or two (I wasn't timing it) I wiped the fry grease up with dry paper napkins. Then I did the same thing with mustard and squid ink aoli. Then I spilled water on them all and waited until it had soaked in. The water actually only soaked in on one hide - the Buckingham Walnut Burnished. Then I wiped off all the water with another napkin. You can see that the grease only soaked into a couple hides. You can see some mustard on the Capri, but that's just because I didn't wipe it well enough; it was dark in the restaurant.

The next day I wet a cloth napkin, rubbed a little Ivory bar soap on it, and cleaned the swatches with it. The biggest effect this had was to create a dull, dry spot (where the grease had been) on the Buckingham. I rubbed it pretty vigorously there because the grease stain was still visible. It looks pretty messed up now, but I suspect a little leather conditioner (of a brand sanctioned by Hancock & Moore, of course) would fix it right up. Other than this one issue, I'd say all my spilling and trying to stain had no effect - good news! I feel like any one of these would be fine for my, um, somewhat carefree lifestyle. I also feel confident that all of these would be just fine with all my present and future dogs.

One thing I forgot to do was spill something vinegary on them - probably salad dressing. I should do that. Anyway, here are before and after pics.


SPILL TEST: Tiburon Butternut


SPILL TEST: Capri Butternut


SPILL TEST: Garfield Chestnut


SPILL TEST: Tuscany Saddle


SPILL TEST: Buckingham Walnut Burnished

[jjk_reef00]

Wow all of those cleaned up really well! Thanks for sharing!

[DCGator631]

LOL, love the spill test narration. Thanks for testing and posting!

[crunchysue]

Addendum to the spill test:

Today I sprayed straight vinegar (I keep it in squirt bottles as it's the only thing I ever use to clean surfaces in my house) on the Tiburon Butternut sample and let it set two minutes, at which point it was soaking in. I wiped it off the surface with a paper napkin, and let the soaked in part dry. Five minutes later I checked on it and there was zero evidence of the vinegar. Pretty impressive!

[Daisymarie18]

All this Tiburon talk has convinced me to head out to one of the local stores and drag my sofa cushion with me tomorrow to check out samples. I'm thinking that my Hand Antiqued Saddle will look like a hot mess with the Tiburon Butternut, but I have to be sure! I guess I can check out the other Tiburons while I'm there, too. I did notice that the Butternut is not listed on the H&M website. I wonder why not? I'm really impressed with how it cleans up!

[DCGator631]

Did you get to the store to check out Tiburon? Thoughts? I'm waiting on samples to arrive in the mail.

[BevoGal]

I am impressed with your testing and photo documentation - invaluable for this site!