How To Remove Scratches From Leather Furniture

So, you've spent countless hours on buying a new leather sofa, and well, a decent chunk of change I'm sure.  Of course *&SF@#~!! happens and you are now dealing with a leather couch that is all scratched up.  Maybe Snuggles your adorable little kitty was singing 'Cat Scratch Fever' on your sofa or your pup dug his paws into the inner depths of your supple leather.  Well, we're here to rescue you and your leather.  This guide should be everything you need to know in removing leather scratches from your furniture.   

So, let's cut to the chase, how do we remove scratches?

For most light minor surface scratches, a little #0000 steel wool rubbed very gently over the scratches will remove the scratch, while adding some brown shoe polish will help mask the scratch in the leather.  If you have deeper scratches, you will likely need to sand down the affected areas and add some new coloring to the leather.

I watched every YouTube video on this topic and I've found the best and seemingly best ways to fix deeper scratches on your leather sofa.  My guess is that at least one of these methods will work!

Use A Filler For Deeper Leather Scratches and Paint

Use Bond N Flex leather repair kit from Heirloom which applies a filler to the leather scratches.  It's almost like adding a wood filler but in this case you are filling in heavy spots with the filler (Bond N Flex) on the leather. Once the filler sets, you need to sand it down with sandpaper.  The Heirloom Traditions paint will then be applied to the couch either in a matching color or a brand new color of your desire.

Get Out The Hair Clippers For The Leather!

If you want to try a shortcut method, this is one that I couldn't quite believe at first, but if you have a cat that's gone to town on your leather, this could be a possibility.  

This guy just takes a good old set of hair clippers to his leather sofa and applies some Meguiar's Gold Class Leather cleaner.  

Might be worth a shot if all else fails!

Using Heat To Remove Scratches From The Leather

I've long heard that heat can sometimes help with scratching and this video from Moores and Giles confirms this suspicion.  Whitney from Moores & Giles recommends using the heat of the hand (not really all that confident in this one) but also advises that using a hair dryer can help with scratches.

They also pitch their 33 cream leather conditioner, which in my mind is probably what really worked in the video that she presents.  Nothing wrong with trying the old hair dryer, but in my mind there is a small likelihood of this working for deeper scratches.

Using Olive Oil To Remove Leather Scratches

I've seen some YouTubers talking about olive oil in removing scratches from small leather accessories, so why not on leather couches?   This video talks about a phone case, but I think it probably could at the very least be a good solution for conditioning your leather couch.  I would at the very least consult with your sofa manufacturer before applying olive oil.  

Using Conditioner And Leather Color Spray 

This video shows another variation of conditioning and coloring the leather.  In this case, they apply Blackrock Leather N Rich Conditioner.  They then add a Moneysworth & Best Brillo Nu-Life Leather renew spray.  

Ultimately the results looked really good and the reviews on Amazon for both products are very good.   Just be careful with the sprays--might make sense to purchase a few colors just in case one doesn't quite match the color of your sofa.