I've faced this problem recently with a couple dried out saddles, one Wrights and one Brooks, and got them both into reasonable shape. Here's what I did, at least; I won't claim it's the ultimate, but it worked for me.
1. Often, as the leather dries, it shrinks, and the sides of the saddle splay out. You can fix this by wetting the leather slightly and gently clamping it in the desired shape. It must dry thoroughly (a couple of days) before releasing the clamps. If you need to touch up any gouges with leather paint, do it now also.
2. Oil the underside of the saddle with a fair amount of good leather oil, Neetsfoot or baseball glove oil.
3. Oil the top less heavily, but give it plenty of time to soak in. Leave it in a room of normal warmth (i.e., not in the garage in winter!) for a few hours. It's amazing how well the fine surface cracks will close.
4. Use your judgement as to how much oiling to do. It depends on how dry the leather is, and how it responds to oiling. Be careful not to use too much, or you will have a greasy tush after each ride!
There's a picture of a Brooks saddle I restored this way on the page
describing my stalled Olmo project, at http://www.nonlintec.com/
Steve Maas (cool and windy in) Long Beach, California (I mean, the WEATHER is cool & windy....!)
mmeison@scubadiving.com wrote:
> I just bought a Brooks Team Pro saddle which has been languishing
> on a shelf for a while and appears a bit dried out.
> What is the best method of conditioning the leather?
> I have Proofide and follow Brooks' recommendations for my other
> saddles but they didn't start out with Dry leather.
>
> Thank you,
> Marty Eison
> dallas, Texas
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