Refurbishing a Brooks Leather Saddle

[bairdco]

i got this old Brooks B72 saddle off the 'bay for 4.95 plus shipping. it's an older one, judging from the rear badge, the underside leather support and the brand in the sides, i think it's from the 50's.

and i think it sat in someone's backyard for that long, too.

here's the pics of how it looked when i got it:

 

[bairdco]

looks pretty worthless, right?

well, step one, is fill up a bucket with water and chuck it in, and let it soak overnight.

step two, wrap it up with some shoelaces while it's still wet, and let it dry for a day:

 

[bairdco]

step three, remove the shoelaces. then go nuts with some steel wool and a dremel and whatever else you can think of to clean the seat rails (sorry, that part's not pictured)

i take a 3M finish sanding wheel to the leather, just enough to wear down the dead flesh.

 

[bairdco]

weird. i can't find the pictures of it all done. i'll get some later, or you can see it on the bike here:

http://motorbicycling.com/f38/one-more-40s-colson-add-fleet-21037-6.html

 

[Allen_Wrench]

That's a really good find there, Baird. Most people don't know just how salvageable old leather can be.

 

[Goat Herder]

Yeah that's a neat trick it came out very nice. I would not have thought of that.

 

[chainmaker]

Nice job, I have to keep this in mind...Im currently on the lookout for a vintage brooks for My panther, and spitfire.

Cheers

 

[robin]

The brooks people will rebuild the leather portion for a price!