# Leather Seat Help



## panelman (Sep 27, 2012)

So I picked up this seat and the leather is pretty hard. Its not really cracked bad but was wondering what suggestions anybody has on loosening it up a little. And keeping it from cracking more, I would like to ride it and don't want to worry too much about it getting a lot worse. 
Thanks in Advance!!


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## Gary Mc (Sep 27, 2012)

I use Bickmore Bick 4 & Bick 5 Leather cleaners & conditioners on leather hard pan seats. It works great & really conditions & softens old leather.  It is a shoe care product most people use on expensive & exotic leather western boots which is exactly the other reason I use it.  Google it and hopefully someone sells it near you or you can order it online.


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## SirMike1983 (Sep 27, 2012)

Riding these is iffy because the stress tends to make them worse. If you ride it hard, that saddle top will eventually fail. They do hold up to light riding every so often. I have an original on my Schwinn Henderson, and I ride that bike maybe a handful of times per year for an hour or so at a time. 

The best products I've found for preserving leather saddles tops are Lexol and Brooks Proofhide. Lexol is more a liquid, and Proofhide is a gel/wax. You could combine treatments. Lexol comes in two relevant flavors: the cleaner and the preservative. You can use both of them if you like. I use it all the time on my good Red Wing boots when I want to clean and preserve them. You start by applying the cleaner, then the preservative.

The Brooks Proofhide tends to offer a more durable treatment if you ride more/harder. The Brooks wax is a mixture of tallow, beeswax, and other preservatives. It smells sort of like a candle. At normal temperature it goes on as a jelly that you rub in. I tend to like this better for saddles in terms of a preservative, but the Lexol works too. I'd stay away from your basic shoe rack type stuff, it just doesn't seem to do a very good job and often leaves a slippery, nasty varnish.

So my pick are Lexol or Brooks Proofhide, depending on whether you prefer a liquid treatment, or a preservative jelly. You can also use the Lexol cleaner and then follow up with Proofhide, which is what I like to do. The liquid cleaner takes away dirt and grime, while the thicker Proofhide jelly protects and preserves the leather.


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## Gary Mc (Sep 27, 2012)

SirMike1983 said:


> I'd stay away from your basic shoe rack type stuff, it just doesn't seem to do a very good job and often leaves a slippery, nasty varnish.




Mike, I agree on most shoe products and would never use them but the two Bickmore products I recommended are very different. They are purely a leather cleaner & conditioner/protectant.  They were designed to keep "very" expensive boots supple & soft and are great to bring back vintage western boots even those starting to crack.  There is no slippery feel and definitely no varnish type residue.  The maker intended them to only restore or maintain the original leather finish, not cover it.  Both penetrate extremely well & do not stay on the surface. I have used them to restore vintage western boots worth mega bucks on several occasions and now one seat with great results.  They are extremely easy to use, you just keep working the product in. 

I do agree leather in this condition will eventually fail if ridden on much.

Here's a seat I just used Bickmore Bick 4 & 5 on, it was stained in places, very dirty, and appeared to be starting to crack in a couple of places.  All of those problems disappeared after using these products.  It was nowhere near as bad as panelman's appears admittedly but I have had good results on boots badly cracking after multiple applications.  The Bickmore conditioner soaked in after a few applications and walla mine looks like a new seat with zero residue on the surface.

It can only be used on hard pan seats though, on true leather seats without a pan I agree Brooks proofhide is best.

Before




After


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## SirMike1983 (Sep 27, 2012)

That looks pretty good- I'm talking mainly about "Kiwi" etc. with the shoe comment. There are some pretty high end conditioners out there in the western boot/saddle department. You just don't see them everywhere, like you do with Kiwi and similar stuff. Proofhide can be pretty hard to find too sometimes.



Gary Mc said:


> Mike, I agree on most shoe products and would never use them but the two Bickmore products I recommended are very different. They are purely a leather cleaner & conditioner/protectant.  They were designed to keep "very" expensive boots supple & soft and are great to bring back vintage western boots even those starting to crack.  There is no slippery feel and definitely no varnish type residue.  The maker intended them to only restore or maintain the original leather finish, not cover it.  Both penetrate extremely well & do not stay on the surface. I have used them to restore vintage western boots worth mega bucks on several occasions and now one seat with great results.  They are extremely easy to use, you just keep working the product in.
> 
> I do agree leather in this condition will eventually fail if ridden on much.
> 
> ...


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