Filofax 3CL repair/restoration

This 'Vintage' Filofax 3CL organiser was advertised on one of the Facebook groups. It looked a little sad and tired, it had certainly been used since it was bought in 1987. 

Talking to the seller he noticed that the ring mechanism was coming away from the leather at the top and bottom. From the photos I wasn't sure how easy this would be to fix. But we settled on a price and he posted it to me. 

With it in my hands I was then able to see the extent of the wear and tear on the leather and the ring mechanism. I had never attempted a repair of this nature before. 'So in for a penny in for a pound'

First of all gently removed the ring mechanism, using my usual method of removing the top cover, take off the tabs, then remove the ring halves and then gently remove the base plate. The backing plate was held in by a strip of leather which I removed and I was then able to clean up the backing plate and do some work on the leather. 

Without the rings, the leather was able to be treated. I used a liquid beeswax leather balm and using a small paint brush I gave it a liberal coating inside and out. I left it to soak in for about 30 minutes before cleaning it off with a soft cloth. This also removed some of the accumulated patina from the leather. 

I then left the leather to dry out again in a cool, but well ventilated area of our basement.  The leather was now starting to feel supple and more pleasant smelling. 

Then it was time to tackle getting the rings back in again. The backing plate sits in a concaved area in the spine. This seemed to have retained the same shape and the backing plate sat in this area naturally.

To hold it in place, I used a suitable gel-type glue and then pressed it down and then held it with a couple of clothes pegs and left it to set for about 24 hours. I was surprised how secure it seemed. 

To cover it up I had some thin black leather. I cut this into a thin strip and then glued that in to place over the top of the backing plate, being careful to leave cut outs for the tabs. 

Again I left this for 24 hours to set and dry before reassembling the rings. One of the ring pairs was slightly out of alignment, but I was able to encourage it back into shape with some needle nosed pliers. 

I am reasonably pleased with the end result, but I was then wondering how to improve the appearance of the outside leather. It had been worn down through the top layer of the leather.

I gave it another treatment of the leather balm, again leaving it to soak in and then wipe off and polish. But the worn patches were still very obvious. Now some people would be quite happy with that. I wanted to see if I could improve it a little bit more. 

If you look on-line you will find lots of 'leather repair kits' available, all of them promising outstanding results with very fancy prices attached to them! I wanted to try a more 'what do I already have' approach! 

To treat the outside leather I used some black wax shoe polish applied with a stiff brush and left on for about 15 minutes before removing the excess and buffing it with a soft brush and a soft cloth. 

And the net result I think is quite pleasing, it is not 'as new' by any means, but it is certainly much better than it was originally.

Could I improve it further? Yes, instead of gluing in the strip of leather I could use a wider strip of leather and sew it in, but that would involve some delicate surgery to the existing leather stitching. I might make it worse than it already is. I therefore think that my initial approach was the best way. If over time I see that it isn't working, I do at least know how it was assembled and I can take apart and try again. 

I've put it to good use already to hold my French key phrases notes and a guide I also received with the Filofax 3CL. 

The Filofax 3CL Wallet was sold for many years. It is in the 1984 catalogue. It has 3 pockets, hence the 3 in the name and it is made from Montana Calf Leather (CL). The rings are a tiny quarter of an inch (about 13 mm).