On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 00:06:46 GMT, wrote:

Regularly used in casualty, as Helen (HDV) will probably vouch.

If anyone around really is a medic, they ought to know that medical
superglue is different stuff to DIY superglue. DIY superglue is toxic -
not so that there's much real hazard to it, but enough that it's worth
acquiring the right stuff if you're in the habit of using it to fix
holes in fingers.

As to the sofa, then have it commercially repaired by a visiting leather
repairer. It's possible to DIY it, but it's a fiddly process and you
shouldn't practice your first repair on the best sofa! It's also _much_
easier to do it to a piece of leather on the workbench than it is to the
middle of a squab with no rear access.

The trick to getting a good supple repair is to use an appropriate
backer patch to match the grade of leather in the sofa, and to skive the
rear edges of the torn area to avoid having a ridge around the tear.
Evo-stik 528 is the adhesive of choice. If access is tricky you need to
use this as a true contact adhesive, left to dry tacky and then lightly
hammered to set the joint instantly.

If it's a major load bearing component with a transverse tear, then you
might need to take the cover off and sew a jute (not hessian) tension
web across the back of it all, possibly gluing that in place on the
back.