I think there is a limit to the extent to which one can eliminate cracks through soaking. All the cracked saddles I soaked improved noticeably. On the most badly cracked one, an old small-rivet Brooks Pro, the cracks improved greatly after treatment with Proofide. But they did not disappear altogether, but rather have now given the top of the saddle something of an "alligator" finish. It is now quite usable, though not show bike material.
There are probably a number of concoctions one can try - neatsfoot oil, mink oil, olive oil etc. - some have even reported using motor oil. I've personally only used Proofide. One thing Tony Colegrave, Mike Barry and others advise is to limit Proofide or other treatments to the topside only except that Tony advocates cleaning with saddle soap and leaving a final application on the leather, presumably on the underside as well.
BTW, in the way of a progress report, I rode the soaked 1973 Brooks Pro for about 100 km of commuting and it did great. One small problem is that the nose bolt now rotates when one tries to tension the saddle. This requires one to secure the bolt with vice grips while tensioning, which really can't be done with the saddle installed. This problem has nothing to do with soaking, an no doubt existed already. The front of a Brooks nose bolt has a raised "nib" that jams against a section of the nose bracket riveted to the leather. But with a saddle like this one that has seen extensive use since 1973, I guess the nib on the bolt and the surface of the nose bracket can just get worn enough that the bolt rotates. As many have pointed out, though, once a saddle is sorted out, one should very rarely tighten it, so this is only a minor inconvenience. Still, if anyone knows an easy fix for this problem, I"d be interested to hear it.
The most miraculous ressurection I observed was the original 1962 Brooks B15 - dated '62 on the cantle plate, which is original to the 1962 all-chrome Schwinn Superior I bought from Tom Sanders a couple of years ago. Although the rest of the bike is near-NOS, the saddle was badly dried, cracked and somewhat sagged. I made matters worse with massive application of Proofide top and bottom before reading Tony C.'s advice against applying Proofide or any oils to the underside. It became totally soft and limp, and I thought it a dead loss, and even spoke to Tony about recovering it, which would cost about 100 GBP plus shipping, more than buying an NOS B15 on eBay. In fact I had already bought and installed a replacement, but the original has nicely chromed undercarriage, a old brass badge much nicer than the more recent ones, and that indispensible '62 stamp on the cantle plate. So I figured I had nothing to lose, as even if soaking completly destroyed the leather, I could still send the frame to Tony for a new leather cover.
The soaking raised a large quantity of Proofide out of the underside. I cleaned with saddle soap per Tony's advice and soaked again, repeating the cycle until I'd extracted as much as possible of the excessive Proofide I had foolishly applied. This was a probably unusual case in which nearly all the cracks on the topside were actually eliminated, but that was because the cracking, although very bad, was quite shallow, limited almost entirely to the top layer which had been dyed black. In the soaking, the cracked top layer loosened and flaked away and I completed to process with a scrub sponge. This in effect converted the smooth black saddle into a brown "suede" one. After drying with spring clamps holding the sides, I treated with Proofide - top only this time - then applied black shoe dye to restore the color and finish, which worked better than I expected. The saddle is now back on the Superior again, and I commuted on it all last week. I had to tension significatly, but there are still a few turns left on the nose bolt, and tension now seems good, so I think that will be OK. Shape is pretty good, remarkably good considering the ordeal it has been through. The side flaps are still a bit soft and spread just a fraction more than I might like. I guess if I really wanted to pull the sides in I could punch and lace the side flaps which as was commonly done In The Day, but for now the sides are OK. I've applied a couple more coats of shoe dye, most recently last evening, and it is now nearly impossible to tell the finish is not original.
So the B15 now looks very much like an original 1962 Brooks which was well cared for (which in fact it wasn't), but which has seen many thousands of miles (which in fact it hasn't). As such, I not only will ride this saddle, but would not hesitate to display it on the bike, since it looks about as good as one could expect for an original 1962 saddle. The only thing that looks a bit odd is that the rest of the bike is almost pristine, while the saddle looks like it has been ridden extensively since 1962. BTW, while I was reinstalling the original saddle, I also tensioned and reinstalled the original Normandy/Weinmann wheels, after removing the original Goodyear 27 x 1 1/4 tires which wiil be saved for possible show use. I replaced with 27 x 1 1/4 Panaracer Paselas. The Goodyears were rated for only 50 or 60 psi, while I run the Paselas at 80 to 85 psi, which should be more than adequate. So the 1962 Superior is now all original again, except for the tires, nonoriginal but period correct Wald and TA racks, and KOF Carradice and Acorn canvas bags. Well actually, one other item - the calipers are old engraved Weinmann 999, but the levers had been inexplicibly changed to Diacompes, which I think were at least 10 years too new. I replaced with correct Weinmann levers, although the Weinmann gun hoods are the more recent logo.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: Amir Avitzur <walawalaoxenfree@gmail.com>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Saddlewax recommendation needed
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Sunday, June 14, 2009, 1:52 AM
\r?\n> An old, dry, cracked and flared AGDA
\r?\n> saddle came with a Zeus I bought years
\r?\n> ago.
\r?\n> I've was saving it, all this time, for a saddle soaking
\r?\n> experiment.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Jerry's saddle soaking accounts got me all excited, so I
\r?\n> dunked the saddle
\r?\n> in a bucket of water, overnight.
\r?\n> Before going to sleep I changed the water as it had turned
\r?\n> deep brown.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> In the morning I took it out of the bucket. The leather had
\r?\n> gone soft.
\r?\n> So I stuffed newspaper in between the leather and the rails
\r?\n> and tied it up
\r?\n> with twine to keep the flaps in place.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The saddle is now recovering its original shape, but the
\r?\n> cracks did not
\r?\n> miraculously disappear.
\r?\n> The cracks remain so prominent and abundant that I dare not
\r?\n> ride the saddle.
\r?\n> Fortunately there are no tears, not even near the rivets.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> So my question to the group is:
\r?\n> What can I use to fill the cracks and treat the saddle to
\r?\n> make it presentable on a show bike?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Amir Avitzur
\r?\n> Ramat-Gan, Israel