Re: Does hand rubbed mean painted (H&M leathers)?
Hand-Rubbed: Done at the leather tannery to add "special effects" such as darkening and High-Low shading. The leather arrives from the tannery already done. Can be done on all types of leather in all price ranges.
Hand-Antiqued or Burnished: Done at Hancock & Moore AFTER the piece has been fully built. This is applied using toner-step coats then a sealer coat over the top if it all and each piece is unique. To my knowledge, only H&M is doing this process in the industry, its fairly complex. Only done on Aniline hides.
Yes, Semi-Aniline has a top-coat. I don't care to call it 'protective' I think that creates the illusion of 'armored' and that it most certainly is not. Failure to clean and condition your leather pieces on a regular basis will result in failure of the hide, no matter what kind of leather it is or what price range. However, having said that you can get away with spilling motor oil on a top-coated hide and it will wipe off. Do that on an aniline and it will soak in and stain. Then the question becomes how often to you spill motor oil on your good furniture?
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
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