Posted 2016-03-25 4:54 PM Subject: Smoke damage on a saddle
Member
Posts: 19
I have a crown c barrel saddle all rough out that sustained smoke damage in a horse trailer fire. Any ideas how to clean the soot off of it? Thanks for any ideas.
Posted 2016-03-26 1:46 AM Subject: RE: Smoke damage on a saddle
Smoke permeates the leather grain ... all you can do is follow the suggestions I made for a dusty saddle and hope for the best ...
Don't use saddle soap ever ever .... it does not nourish your leather just seals the tooled side ... it was made for pig skin English saddles ...
No scrubbing ... you will damage your tooling and the sealing oil your saddle maker used ..
Soak every part you can reach with LEXOL including the undersides to return oils to the leather .... sop it on the tooling by patting and squishing to lift the dust that is now mud out of the cuts on the pattern. Let it rest for 24 hours ... Then Buff lightly with an old tshirt to remove excess and make it shine ...
Repeat after riding it for 2 weeks and repeat again if needed ...
Do not use any leather conditioners on rawhide ... it will loosen it and create a rough surface (rawhide is untanned leather)
It is a little work .. but saddle will come out looking new instead of abused ..
Posted 2016-03-26 5:47 AM Subject: RE: Smoke damage on a saddle
Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
i would call martin or another local saddle maker, ask them. that is too of high saddle to mess up. i had 2 custome saddles first told to use irory soap, i use bathsoap that soesnot strip the oils. i like blackrock, my saddle maket said to use good olive oil.
Posted 2016-03-26 10:23 AM Subject: RE: Smoke damage on a saddle
Member
Posts: 19
I lost so many other items I felt bad asking for this too, so I didn't. I thought it would clean up some how since it didn't actually burn. Thank you for the ideas, at least I have somewhere to start.
Posted 2016-03-26 4:16 PM Subject: RE: Smoke damage on a saddle
Arkyatheart - 2016-03-26 10:23 AM
I lost so many other items I felt bad asking for this too, so I didn't. I thought it would clean up some how since it didn't actually burn. Thank you for the ideas, at least I have somewhere to start.
Don't follow my advice above for a tooled saddle ..
I reread that yours is all rough out ...
Light sanding with a 1000++ grit sandpaper may help out a bunch ..
on removing the surface enough to get most of the soot ...
Just don't go crazy with the finger pressure on the sandpaper ..
Apology for missing that on first read of your post ..
Smoke damage on a saddle
