How to Remove Ink Stains from Leather

Determine whether your leather is raw or finished leather. Raw leather, extremely absorbent and essentially untreated, will be difficult to remove without professional help. Put a drop of water on the surface of the skin. If you see water being sucked in, it’s not finished leather and needs to be treated by a professional service. If the water stagnates, then the leather is finished, and you can start cleaning. ^[1]

• Take unfinished leather (like suede) to a dry cleaner to remove ink stains. Unfinished leather is extremely absorbent and stains are difficult to remove, even with professional methods. Trying to use home remedies to treat unfinished leather will probably only waste your time and possibly cause further damage to the item.

Determine the depth of the stain. If the ink stain is new and only on the surface of the leather, clean it up according to the following steps. If the stain is old or has penetrated deeply into your skin, you may need to have your skin professionally re-stained to remove the stain.

Read leather care instructions if available. The manufacturer may recommend using a certain curing agent or cleaning agent to remove ink stains. They may recommend against using certain materials – which may be included in this list – because they do not clean the leather or damage the leather.

Try cleaning a spot before applying any of the following methods. Select a spot in a hidden spot on the skin’s surface. Dab a small amount of the solution you want to test on and check for any signs of damage or discoloration.

• It’s not that you’re testing the solution here to see if it’s cleaning , but you’re testing to see if it damages the skin. If the solution doesn’t really work on that skin type, you probably don’t want to “heal the lame pig” and make it worse. That’s why you need to try first. ^[2]

Try wiping the leather surface gently with a damp cloth with a soap-based cleaner. Soap-based cleaners like Ivory are milder than solvent-based cleaners, so they are more suitable for stain removal.

• How do you know which is a solvent based cleaner and which is not? The packaging will say “solvent” or “solvent-based” if the product is solvent-based, so you should look on the packaging.

Use an ink stain remover made specifically for leather. When you take leather items to a professional, they often use it to remove stains as well. Although it may be expensive, it is not worth the value of the real leather item.

Try using a soap made specifically for cleaning the skin (saddle soap). This type of soap both cleans and protects the skin, most commonly the leather used to make a saddle or saddle, hence the name saddle soap. This product is usually a combination of very mild soaps and emollients like glycerin and lard to help rehydrate after cleansing.

• If you want to care for and increase the life of your leather goods, you should regularly use a small amount of saddle soap. The key to leather care is active care rather than reactive care.

Try using skin cleansers and skin care products. Similar to saddle soap, these products both clean and moisturize, thus preventing skin surface cracking. Although ink stains can be very strong on some skin types, you can still try this product to see if there is a difference.

• The material you use to apply your leather cleaning and maintenance products is also important. You need to use a non-scratch, non-abrasive fabric instead of a cotton fabric. Fluffy cloths can be used for maintenance, but are not helpful in removing stubborn stains.