How thick are the "GOOD" leather seats? I am thinking about making one.. Out of deer leather... might try moose later on..

I think brooks are about 5mm, I've seen some re-covered with some thick stuff, like 8mm.
I wouldnt go thinner than how a brooks comes though.

Deer leather?? Wouldn't that be too thin? I'm thinking Brooks saddles might be made at least from something like steer leather. that's why they're so thick and tough.

Chombi

Isn't one of the primary properties of deer leather its stretchiness (esp. compared to cow/steer)? While you want a saddle to mold a little, you don't want it to turn into a baggy sling in a month. If you're working with it, I'm sure you know it better than me. You might have to take extra precautions against stretching (pre-stretching, two layers, semi-rigid backing layer ... such as heavy cow leather? but then you're back where you started).

Brooks use butt leather, the thickest part of the hide, and it needs to be vegetable tanned, not chrome tanned

my step by step attempt here if you are interested. If you do attempt it, take photos and add to the knowledge base by posting the details.

I've the feeling that you wouldn't be able to find a spot on a deer that's thick enough - IME, I've never bagged a deer with skin that was thick enough...Moose might work - never seen the hide on one of those.

If you want a deer saddle, why not use it to recover a sprung Schwinn-style Mesinger?

Oh awesome, that thread on LFG is exactly what made me decide to try to do mine.
Have 2 B72s in the works.
Can you possibly give a little more detail about the screws/method you used to attach the leather to the frame?

the screws were countersunk with allen key heads, nylock nuts. A mate custom machined the top of the screw (centre of both images) to remove the writing, and then custom machined the countersinking as it may have stressed the leather (and because he can with his equipment)


I have done another saddle cover, this time on a sprung saddle, using duct tape to get the shape, then hand molded the wet leather over the frame. This could be done as the curves were not as tight. I was happy with the result. And it was much easier