Re: [CR]Re: Brooks Reshaping

(Example: Framebuilders:Pino Morroni)

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:43:55 -0800
From: "Steve Maas" <bikestuff@nonlintec.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]Re: Brooks Reshaping
References: <76542C7B-6FA9-4E13-B49E-AD13AE588211@earthlink.net>
In-Reply-To: <76542C7B-6FA9-4E13-B49E-AD13AE588211@earthlink.net>


Yes, I can confirm this. I once had a leather saddle that had been heavily oiled but needed reshaping. NOTHING I tried worked--I'd clamp it for a month, and it seemed to work at first, but then resumed its old shape in a few days. Finally, I got frustrated and dumped it into a bucket of water for a few days. This took out a lot of the oil and finally got some water into the leather. Then, clamped it the way I wanted it, let it dry (several days, as I remember; maybe a week), and finally it was OK. It's a nice saddle now.

Steve Maas (Last day in) Malaga, Spain

Silverman wrote:
> Do NOT soak the B-17 in oil. What a mess! If you want to try reshaping
> the skirts, soak them in WATER and then let it dry while the skirts are
> blocked. By the way, you don't need to immerse the entire saddle in
> water; you can use a sponge to repeatedly moisten the leather skirts on
> the inside and outside. I feel reasonably certain about this advice,
> as my business uses hundreds of square feet of vegetable-tanned saddle
> grade leather each year. Or you can also do what I did with the skirts
> on my B-17: cut them off and "swallow-ize" the darned thing. It'll look
> great.
>
> Also, in regard to several postings of Brooks only using a select few
> die-cut pieces from an entire hide: most top quality hides are very
> consistent, with the exception of the belly portions. I find it hard to
> believe that Brooks wouldn't use as much of the hide as possible in
> crafting even their higher priced saddles.
>
> Bill Silverman
> Pasadena, CA, USA