I am exceeding the four post a day rule, but I felt the need to offer a w ord of caution here.
My Olmo Special has the cool Olmo badged saddle, but sometime in it's pas t, before I got it, the leather on one side just in front of the cantle w as stretched out of shape. I put a damp, not soaking wet, paper towel ag ainst the inside (unfinished surface) of the saddle, rigged up a fixture of sorts to reform the leather, and let it sit over night. The next day I discovered that the leather had comformed to the shape and contour that I wanted, but the section that had been dampened had become hard as oak, and the old finish on the outside of the saddle had become discolored, b rittle and cracked, and looked like a charred piece of wood. It also app ears that the moisture softened the finish enough that the finish was ind ented with the outline of my little fixture. I was dismayed. Obviously t he moisture interacted with the saddle finish. Maybe you leather experts can offer a suggestion as to why, or maybe the archives will turn up som e leather working advice as regards saddles.
My point is be careful. Soaking a saddle will probably ruin the finish. Maybe try a damp cloth on the inside of the saddle first.
Jay Sexton Sebastopol, Ca
P.S. Thank you Ed Granger for sharing that excellent info on Regina Free hweels! OREO timeline??
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 16:48:40 -0600 From: "Mazzeo, Daniel" <Daniel.Mazzeo@usap.gov> To: "Otis" <otis@otisrecords.com>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: RE: [CR]soaking a leather saddle Message-ID: <1A35E49260E18B47A1C230DD3E7F1B8B0159042F@CASTLE.denver.usap. gov> Content-Type: text/plain;charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Precedence: list Message: 7
Jon, Others will hopefully know more saddle related specifics but in general, leather soaked in salt water, like sea water and then allowed to dry will shrink. I do not know percentage-wise how much nor have I ever tried this with a saddle. I have done it many times with shoes, when much younger, growing up near the sea - Long Island north shore - and dealing with shoes that were too big. It did work pretty well. Thanks Dan Mazzeo Morrison, CO
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Otis Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 4:28 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]soaking a leather saddle
I read somewhere (maybe on this list) about taking a dried out misshaped leather (Brooks type) saddle, wrapping and soaking in a bucket of water to re-shape. Can anybody give me a step by step on the process? I found a nice old saddle today that's not in bad shape but has flattened out across the top. I would like to try and save it if possible.
Thanks, Jon Williams
Grants Pass OR