Restaining a sunbleached saddle

Queenbee

Queenbee

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Hi all,

I have just aquired a lovely new saddle, my dream saddle a second hand bates elevation :D:D:D I am really really happy with it, there is a slight sun bleaching on the pannels, everywhere else it is fine, would you stain this or leave be? If you would or have stained a saddle successfully what would/did you use?

Many thanks,
:D
 
Def leave it be. It is very unlikely you could get a perfect match with the stain, and it wouldn't be as colour proof as the rest of the saddle either - you could end up with a bit of a nightmare of a mess! Most I would recommend is to wipe a bit of neatsfoot oil over it as it will darken leather.
 
ThePony said:
Def leave it be. It is very unlikely you could get a perfect match with the stain, and it wouldn't be as colour proof as the rest of the saddle either - you could end up with a bit of a nightmare of a mess! Most I would recommend is to wipe a bit of neatsfoot oil over it as it will darken leather.
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Yes, I was having similar thoughts about colour match and the use of neatsfoot oil as a possibility. Thanks for that, will use that if I use anything.
 
I wouldn't recommend oil on a saddle - it stretches the leather which is why it feels softer. Conditioner will darken it a little, but that's all I'd recommend. Dying CAN be done but it is high risk, and you need to really strip out the leather to get it to take the dye, which means slightly wrecking it to begin with!
 
Andalusianlover said:
Find yourself a very good Master Saddler and get them to do it. I'm very lucky as I have a Master Saddler buddy and she does all that kind of stuff for me.
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tbh I'd be suprised if they'd do it either because of the slim chance of an acceptable outcome. I'm training and therefore work with a few and they wouldn't take the job on.
 
The last saddle I had was quite faded in places although I'm not sure if it was sun-bleaching or just general wear and tear. Anyway, A good clean with leather cleanse and then NAF Leather Balsalm worked wonders...I had a lovely dark brown fairly evenly coloured saddle again. :)
 
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