WGB 

Brooks Professional (B75 stamp so assuming 1975). Has scuff to rear. Scuff is not fresh and has been there for years.

Seeking advice on covering scuff. Was thinking of a bit (small bit!) of brown Kiwi shoe polish daubed over the scuff and allowed to dry and then apply proof hide. Any thoughts.

PS Would that 75 be correct for date?

PPS The small white dots are fluff from teh rag that I noticed after I photo'd



Not horrible but not nice


Sorry for camera flash

fietsbob

I had made a scuff in the top of my Brooks team pro 3 decades ago , and I cannot see it by now..

jonwvara 

If you can't call it patina and ignore it--the best solution for any cosmetic bike issues, in my opinion--take it to a cobbler and have the scuffed area dyed to match the rest of the saddle. I did that with a Belt saddle and was happy with the cost and the result. I don't always take my own advice about patina.

Honusms 

Lascauxcaveman 

I have done it using the shoe polish method. Super easy, but required a half dozen applications to get the color all the way dark. And I didn't so much 'daub' it on as rub it in vigorously with lots of force. This was on a couple of black saddles, not brown, which may be harder to match exactly.

merziac

works for me every time.

SurferRosa

how do the khakis fare afterwards?

You know I can kid youze, 'cause I wear black jorts.

WGB 

Thanks all!

I checked that website but at $11.40 at ube and three possible choices of brown, I'll start with Kiwi and see how that goes.

WGB

Lascauxcaveman 

You kid, but that's a legit question. On one saddle, I definitely noticed some transfer after recoloring a scuff. I buy my khakis in bulk at the Goodwill up the street and treat them as more or less disposable, since I'm generally a big slob and ruin them fairly quickly anyway.

But one could switch to black pants until one's saddle is completely buffed out, too. That's how I did the second one. Wintertime riding, I'm generally in black wool slacks anyway.

The Golden Boy 

I'd just leave it.

steppinthefunk 

I once tried to change a black B17 to brown... I failed.
What I was left with was an ugly bluish-black saddle that was mostly sanded down beyond the top finish.
I was able to bring it all back by applying Eco-Flo leather dye and buffing out with natural shoe polish.
It now looks better than when I first started the experiment.

rhm

I have "fixed" blemishes of that kind with very light sanding, dry, with a very fine sandpaper, followed by gum tragacanth, and it worked pretty well. You apply the stuff, which doesnt smell real good, then burnish it to a sheen as it soaks in and disappears. But honestly I've only done that to learn how to use gum tragacanth, which I had already bought anyway. In the case of this Pro (and yes, 75 is the date the frame was made) I'd burnish it with Proofide or the like (I have a mixture of beeswax and neatsfoot oil), or shoe polish, or both.

nlerner

bwilli88 

We used a spoon to bone skuffs in dress shoes in the Marines. Google boning leather.

Big Block

and Google leather slicking. It can also be done with water dampened leather.

If you are going to try dyeing the spot, you would need to strip the existing conditioners/treatments off first.

I would just dampen it and then slick/burnish the leather smooth then apply the preferred leather treatment. I use Proofide.

Bill in VA

When my work wingtips used to get scuffed around the edges of the soles, I used a black permanent Sharpie marker. 2 coats on the edge lasted for a long time. I used the same on a vintage Ideal 39 saddle and never had any transfer.

wrk101

steelbikeguy

very true!
I was looking around for my copy of the NCO Handbook, which describes it. ... must have gotten rid of it, unfortunately.
My fuzzy memory thinks that it mentioned using smooth plastic too, such as a toothbrush handle. I know that I've done this for a Brooks Pro with reasonably good results.

I did try to find a reference to boning leather on the web, but keep coming up with a process to make a holster conform to a pistol.

Steve in Peoria