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How to Mend a Torn Leather Cover on a Book

Attend to a tear in a leather book cover immediately to prevent the tear from spreading and causing further damage to the book. There are many sources for professional leather repair available, and those services should be sought when the tear is on the cover of a valuable or rare tome. But simple tears to less valuable books can easily be made using a leather repair kit.

Things You'll Need

  • Leather repair kit
  • Leather colorant kit
  • Rubbing alcohol
  • X-Acto knife
  • Hair dryer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Clean the tear and the surrounding area with rubbing alcohol prior to repairing it.

    • 2

      Trim any worn edges of the tear with an X-Acto knife to make a clean edge. Edges of the tear should be flat before bonding them together.

    • 3

      Place the cloth provided with the leather repair kit behind the tear using tweezers, which will also be included in the kit.

    • 4

      Apply glue to the underside of all edges of the tear. Press the torn area onto the cloth once all the edges are glued and allow the glue to dry.

    • 5

      Apply filler to the spaces between the edges in the tear. Use a thin layer of filler to fill the gaps between the torn edges. Use a hair dryer to dry the filler, then apply another thin layer. Continue applying filler and drying until the gaps are three-fourths filled.

    • 6

      Spread the last layer of filler over the tear with the palette knife included in the repair kit, making the edges of the tear flush with the book cover.

    • 7

      Use the grain pad included in the repair kit if necessary to match the grain in the tear repair to the grain of the book cover.

    • 8

      Apply color from a leather colorant kit. If the tear repair color doesn’t match the book cover, a leather colorant kit may be necessary to match the color. Apply two or three coats of the base color to the filler only with the sponge included in the kit and allow the color to dry. Then apply the topcoat and spread it out to a larger area surrounding the tear to blend with the rest of the book cover.

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