Reviving old, (severly!) damaged leather?

[floradora09]

Hi,

A friend of mine tried to explain to a younger girl about how to remove the 'jockeys' on the saddle, by gently scratching them off. However, the girl (bless her, she's only 11!) slightly misunderstood, and meaning well, has scratched all over the saddle- quite enthusiastically at that! I've taken it home tonight to try and rescue it a bit, and she's coming over tomorrow so I can show her how to clean it properly (and less damagingly!!). But what do I do? The saddle is very old, and brown leather- it has massive horizontal scratches all down the flaps, and vertical scratches down the length of the seat!! :O I know she meant well, bless, but I have tonight to make a start and tomorrow to show her what she needs to do to it from now on!

The leather was very dry, and seemed to be screaming for some Neatsfoot, so I applied generous amounts! It's made the leather very dark, but it does look a little better, and I'm going to leave it overnight to soak in. What else should I be doing? I have some spray on tack cleaner which I normally use for getting grime off, some conditioner and a pot of Neatsfoot!

Thanks very much!

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

i like hammanol made by stubben. revives old leasther well, then soap well with stubben saddle saop to finish. might need a few applications of hammanol if leather is very old and dry.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I'd be inclined not to panic too much! The Neatsfoot will soak in really well and supple the leather up a lot, and I think you'll find the damage won't half look so bad in a day or two.

I've got something in the tack room called "Leather Balm" or something like that, sorry can't remember who produced it, its an old tub of it, but its really good.

 

[charleysummer]

to the above /\ do you mean leather balsam? it smells lovley and works really well =]

 

[floradora09]

Haha ok thank you then, I will see what it looks like this morning!