Salamandrine 

Due to overwhelming demand, I thought I'd share my experiments in slightly reshaping a Brooks Pro Saddle.

I am pretty comfortable on either a Brooks B17 or a Brooks Pro. The B17 is a bit wide in the back for me. The Pro is a bit too "T" shaped. I prefer a more gentle taper from front to back, like the Turbo and similar saddles I grew up riding on. The goal then was to make the middle section a bit wider, and to make the overall shape more Italian -- for lack of a better term. Also, I don't like saddles that dip in the middle, so I wanted the top to be as straight along the length as possible.

Anyway, I began by making a partial inside mold. This was done by filling a ziplock back with Durhams Water Putty, squooshing it between the rails, and letting it cure. After pulling it out it looked like this:



A bit of chisel work was need to get it to fit back in easily.

Salamandrine 

I then carved and sanded the plug down to increase the radius of the top in the middle section. I used registration holes and lines to maintain symmetry.



Then I wet a paper towel and let the part of the saddle I wanted to reshape soften up for an hour or so.



Finally I reinserted the mold, using pieces of leather for padding, and a few clamps to snug it all up.

Salamandrine 

Let it dry overnight and it looked like this:


While my technique could be better, it basically did what I wanted. I'd like to get a smoother transition at the edges of the partial mold, but I don't think there's a way to do it other than figuring out a full mold. I figured in practice they smooth out with a bit of break in, and they did. Disappeared completely. The saddle now is much more comfortable for me, and in fact it does the disappearance thing itself. Reinstalled in the wild:

Salamandrine 

One more showing the new softened T shape, with the lovely river in the background.

obrentharris 

Nicely done!
Thanks for the tutorial.
Brent

ThermionicScott 

The Golden Boy 

Ahhh! The splendor and wonder of nature!

randyjawa 

Could there have been a more timely thread! I picked up a Cannondale touring bike, the other day and it was fitted with a Brooks Pro saddle that had seen very little use. The saddle is hard and has suffered some storage and passing of time damage. The saddle is nice enough to try to reshape and ride on my cottage bike. I am wondering about the crazing or cracking on the drive side rear. This one will never be for a show bike, but it might be just right for my cottage bike.

The saddle...

seedsbelize 

Timely is as timely does. I was recently turned on to this method. I initially rejected it out of hand, but upon further thought, I think I'll give it a try. Thanks Rudi.

Brooks saddles - blocking and butchering!

ollo_ollo

Can't get the link to work. Also, it comes up on Bing, a UK site, "Classic Lightweights", but their link also fails. Don

rhm

If you've never done it, I promise you that reshaping a leather saddle is much easier than you think. Unless the leather is badly weathered and has started to shrink*, all you have to do is get it it pretty wet and push it into the shape you want. I don't think you have to make such an elaborate mould as @Salamandrine did; stuffing the wet saddle with balled up newspaper would probably work just as well, you just have to be diligent about pushing it into the shape you want, keep it symmetrical, and keep an eye on it as it dries so you can correct anything that starts to go awry.

Re the word "soak," don't do that. Think of the saddle as a tea bag: if you soak it in water long enough to change the color of the water, you are removing some of the soluble component of your leather, and this will have a detrimental effect.

*Randy's saddle, shown above, has probably been soaked too many times (but I speculate). You can still reshape it, but if its strength had has been compromised, it will fail before long. I'm not trying to discourage you! But don't have unrealistic expectations.

smontanaro 

@Salamandrine Are the holes in the mold to attach it to the saddle via screws? I'm going to give something a try here pretty soon with that Ideale 90. It looks much nicer than @randyjawa's, so I'm hopeful that @rhm's advice that "reshaping a leather saddle is much easier than you think," holds true for this bozo.

jeirvine 

Nice work. I re-shaped a used pro that was a little swayed and splayed. I dunked it for maybe 20 minutes in mildly warm water, then stuffed with newspaper and wrapped with a cut inner tube. Let it sit for a few days until it was dry, and it was pretty much back to it's original shape, and has held pretty well since. I think the thicker leather on the old Pros might make this work (and hold the re-shape better) than the thinner leather on other models.

Salamandrine 

The holes were not used to attach the mold, but since they were there I did use them to help with alignment.

I had drilled them to match my B17 holes a few months ago, because it's hot here where I live. Vent holes. I was kind of wondering if it would affect the comfort, or anything else. Not really. Adds a bit of ventilation. I kind of figure that Brooks omitted them on the Pro saddles when they came out primarily to make it look more modern and hip.

If anyone wants to know how to do that, carefully marking the locations with an awl, and drilling them with a brad point bit worked for me. Used a scrap of wood to back the leather. Holes were then chamfered with a regular countersink bit. High speed works best. Really it was super easy. Looks just like B17 holes.