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Recovering Saddle
I've got a saddle that is very comfortable but has a sort of artificial suede cover that I don't believe is going to last long if the seat is used very much. I can buy a "seat cover" with draw strings to tighten it up but I am looking for a more permanent solution... and one that doesn't look so muck like a kludge, if truth be told. I've seen a number of "re-cover your saddle" articles on the web and it looks pretty straight forward but has anyone actually done this? And if so are there any things that are a bit tricky that one needs to take into consideration? -- Cheers, John B. |
#2
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Recovering Saddle
I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied
saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement. It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although I haven't been using it for quite a while. - Frank Krygowski |
#3
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Recovering Saddle
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski
wrote: I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement. It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although I haven't been using it for quite a while. - Frank Krygowski Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the contact cement. -- Cheers, John B. |
#4
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Recovering Saddle
On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 12:01:47 AM UTC-5, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski wrote: I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement. It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although I haven't been using it for quite a while. - Frank Krygowski Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the contact cement. -- Cheers, John B. Hi again John. The two great things about not gluing the entire cover to the old saddle are #1 it's a lot easier to stretch the leather and #2 you have lots of time to do that. what I did was glue the leather to one side on the inside of the old saddle shell and let that cure. I do find that cyanoacrylic glue is a lot faster but you don't have the same working time as you do with a good quality contact adhesive/cement. Plus you have to be more careful. With a contact cement you can glue that one side and when cured you can then stretch the new leather (or vinyl) cover over to the oppsite side and mark on the inside of the leather where the contact cement needs to go. Then you apply the contact cememt to the leather and to the inside of the saddle shell and then take your time stretching the leather over the shell. With contact cement you can in need to pull the leather away from the shell if there's a wrinkle and then stretch the leather both side to side and lengthwise to eliminate any wrinkling. I found the thin leather I used could stretch a fair bit in either direction. I also found that if the new leather covering was stretched moderately that it did not wrinkle in use. If concerned about the contact cemented edges coming loose you can then stich the leather to the bottom sides of the saddle shell by drilling small holes through the leather and saddle shell and then stiching the leather to the shell too. Cheers |
#5
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Recovering Saddle
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 21:19:41 -0800 (PST), Sir Ridesalot
wrote: On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 12:01:47 AM UTC-5, John B. wrote: On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski wrote: I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement. It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although I haven't been using it for quite a while. - Frank Krygowski Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the contact cement. -- Cheers, John B. Hi again John. The two great things about not gluing the entire cover to the old saddle are #1 it's a lot easier to stretch the leather and #2 you have lots of time to do that. what I did was glue the leather to one side on the inside of the old saddle shell and let that cure. I do find that cyanoacrylic glue is a lot faster but you don't have the same working time as you do with a good quality contact adhesive/cement. Plus you have to be more careful. With a contact cement you can glue that one side and when cured you can then stretch the new leather (or vinyl) cover over to the oppsite side and mark on the inside of the leather where the contact cement needs to go. Then you apply the contact cememt to the leather and to the inside of the saddle shell and then take your time stretching the leather over the shell. With contact cement you can in need to pull the leather away from the shell if there's a wrinkle and then stretch the leather both side to side and lengthwise to eliminate any wrinkling. I found the thin leather I used could stretch a fair bit in either direction. I also found that if the new leather covering was stretched moderately that it did not wrinkle in use. If concerned about the contact cemented edges coming loose you can then stich the leather to the bottom sides of the saddle shell by drilling small holes through the leather and saddle shell and then stiching the leather to the shell too. Cheers In the article I read the author had used staples to make sure that the edges, folded up under the bottom of the seat and glued, did not come loose, which sounded like a good idea. I had thought that they might be special staples but he mentions buying the short ones needed in a business supply shop. I thought I'd look into that also. -- Cheers, John B. |
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Recovering Saddle
On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 1:37:49 AM UTC-5, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 21:19:41 -0800 (PST), Sir Ridesalot wrote: On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 12:01:47 AM UTC-5, John B. wrote: On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski wrote: I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement. It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although I haven't been using it for quite a while. - Frank Krygowski Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the contact cement. -- Cheers, John B. Hi again John. The two great things about not gluing the entire cover to the old saddle are #1 it's a lot easier to stretch the leather and #2 you have lots of time to do that. what I did was glue the leather to one side on the inside of the old saddle shell and let that cure. I do find that cyanoacrylic glue is a lot faster but you don't have the same working time as you do with a good quality contact adhesive/cement. Plus you have to be more careful. With a contact cement you can glue that one side and when cured you can then stretch the new leather (or vinyl) cover over to the oppsite side and mark on the inside of the leather where the contact cement needs to go. Then you apply the contact cememt to the leather and to the inside of the saddle shell and then take your time stretching the leather over the shell. With contact cement you can in need to pull the leather away from the shell if there's a wrinkle and then stretch the leather both side to side and lengthwise to eliminate any wrinkling. I found the thin leather I used could stretch a fair bit in either direction. I also found that if the new leather covering was stretched moderately that it did not wrinkle in use. If concerned about the contact cemented edges coming loose you can then stich the leather to the bottom sides of the saddle shell by drilling small holes through the leather and saddle shell and then stiching the leather to the shell too. Cheers In the article I read the author had used staples to make sure that the edges, folded up under the bottom of the seat and glued, did not come loose, which sounded like a good idea. I had thought that they might be special staples but he mentions buying the short ones needed in a business supply shop. I thought I'd look into that also. -- Cheers, John B. Staples will work IF #1 they are strong enough to penetrate into the saddle shell and #2 you can getthe stapler to where you need to do the staplind and that can be very hard to do with the saddle rails in place. Good luck and cheers |
#7
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Recovering Saddle
On 1/21/2017 12:01 AM, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski wrote: I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement. It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although I haven't been using it for quite a while. - Frank Krygowski Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the contact cement. I don't remember any problem, but at this point I can't recall the exact technique I used. The result was/is quite smooth, no wrinkles. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#8
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Recovering Saddle
On Sat, 21 Jan 2017 16:00:18 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote: On 1/21/2017 12:01 AM, John B. wrote: On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski wrote: I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement. It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although I haven't been using it for quite a while. - Frank Krygowski Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the contact cement. I don't remember any problem, but at this point I can't recall the exact technique I used. The result was/is quite smooth, no wrinkles. I always have a bit of trouble with contact cement as it sticks on contact :-) and I'm for ever trying to wrench things apart that stuck together just a tiny bit out of alignment. -- Cheers, John B. |
#9
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Recovering Saddle
On 1/21/2017 11:12 PM, John B. wrote:
On Sat, 21 Jan 2017 16:00:18 -0500, Frank Krygowski wrote: On 1/21/2017 12:01 AM, John B. wrote: On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski wrote: I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement. It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although I haven't been using it for quite a while. - Frank Krygowski Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the contact cement. I don't remember any problem, but at this point I can't recall the exact technique I used. The result was/is quite smooth, no wrinkles. I always have a bit of trouble with contact cement as it sticks on contact :-) and I'm for ever trying to wrench things apart that stuck together just a tiny bit out of alignment. -- Cheers, John B. Shoe repair and leather shops use an almost-magic cement called Barge Cement. If you can't find it you could bring your saddle and cover to a shoe repair shop. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
#10
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Recovering Saddle
Frank Krygowski considered Sat, 21 Jan 2017
16:00:18 -0500 the perfect time to write: On 1/21/2017 12:01 AM, John B. wrote: On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:16:37 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski wrote: I did it once, long ago. Actually, I was customizing a hard plastic bodied saddle. I drilled a few holes in the places my sit-bones hit to give it some more flex, and built up cushioning lumps using RTV silicon. Then I stretched and glued a new leather cover over the saddle. IIRC, I used contact cement. It wasn't difficult, and it worked very well. The saddle's still good, although I haven't been using it for quite a while. - Frank Krygowski Do you remember any problem in laying the covering smoothly over the contact cement. I don't remember any problem, but at this point I can't recall the exact technique I used. The result was/is quite smooth, no wrinkles. The traditional way to stretch leather into a compound curve is to do it wet, clamp or clip it in place while it dries, then remove it and apply glue to it and the surface you want to fit it too, then simply roll it into place from the middle outwards. Leave a few days for everything to dry right out and cure, then apply whatever waxes or oils you prefer for keeping the leather supple. I've only ever done it once, but it worked for me. It is not a fast process, although hand-working traditional materials rarely is! |
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