Warning - a long post...

A little tip. Sorry if it's a bit obvious.

I have two cats, and a lively (for that, read bonkers) 10 kilo (22 lb) 10 month old dog. We also occasionally doggy-sit his equally lively sister.

Needless to say that's 64 claws. Not a good household for fabric furniture. So last year I bit the bullet and invested in a black leather suite, at a price that meant my wallet needed counselling, the theory being leather would be tough and durable. Besides, I got the salesman to throw in a 30 quid 'care kit' for nothing. Wuppy Doo....

Did it work? Yeah, on the whole. But hard wearing as it is, over the year it's developed lots of annoying scratches, some of them quite deep. I looked up a lot of 'repair kits', blanched, tried again, and felt faint. I am a South Yorkshireman after all.

So here's my way of repairing leather scratches, partly due to my book binding experience.

Shoe polish, and a little olive oil. An empty small, clean tuna tin. See? I can get to the point :)

I mean the now old-fashioned renovating shoe polish. Not the modern-squeezy-bottle sponge things.

Warning. This may be tedious. It is time consuming. Chuck the family out for a couple of hours.

If the leather is textured and that's important to you, then you might be better buying one of the leather repair kits, because they include 'skins' that impress a finish on the final result.

Luckily, our suite is black, with a faint impressed texture. You might have to look harder than Bear did to find the matching colour for your leather goods.

Scoop a largish amount of polish from it's tin into the tuna tin - a couple of tablespoons should be enough. Add a few drops of olive oil. You can either boil a kettle, pour some water into a bowl, and float the tin in there until it melts, then remove it quickly and stir it well, being careful no water gets into the polish mix.

Make sure the room is well ventilated.

I chose to use a top of the pan steamer, without the top lid on, which allowed me to stir as it melted - using a lolly stick. Then allow it to cool. You should end up with a medium-hard mass. Any softer, and it may rub off onto peoples clothes. It needs to be softer than pure polish, but harder than a paste. If it's too soft, add more polish, and repeat.

Now the tedious bit. Take a needle. Yup, a needle. Examine each scratch closely. I use a jewellers eye glass - but then I'm a bit fastidious, and it's what I use to repair leather bindings on books too. Habit.

You'll find that a scratch breaks through the surface, coloured layer of the leather, exposing a lighter, often white under layer, with the thin top coloured layer in little triangular peaks. That contrast is what you see when you see a scratch.

Using the point of the needle, tease up all those little ragged edges. Then, using the side of the needle, push them all back down again, so you're left with a cleanish edge, make a mental note of the depth of the scratch. Go cross-eyed. Have a cuppa.

How you deal with the next bit is up to you. The more time you take, the better the result. I'm a bit perfinicky, so I use a fine paintbrush.

You could use a soft cloth, but the important thing is to get your polish mix into that scratch, a little at a time, slowly building up layers of polish until it's just proud, waiting an hour between each layer, and then gently polish the whole leather panel with a little olive oil.

The same method works on all leather goods - hand bags, man bags, jackets, belts, books.......

Spot the guy who was brought up polishing boots and shoes with wax polish, a candle, a spoon and a lit candle :)