Leather saddle repair help needed

[Foreigner]

Can this lovely Mansfield Bath Rd saddle be mended? I do have the metal bit/tensioner somewhere, but I suspect of no use in the current state as new holes may be required?

 

[KermitGKona88]

Can this lovely Mansfield Bath Rd saddle be mended? I do have the metal bit/tensioner somewhere, but I suspect of no use in the current state as new holes may be required?

Take it to 'The Repair shop' on TV, tell them your Grandad rode it in the 1945 tour of Germany and they will make it like new gratis...

 

[Foreigner]

Take it to 'The Repair shop' on TV, tell them your Grandad rode it in the 1945 tour of Germany and they will make it like new gratis...

Not that bad idea, but waiting time is too long, I’d be a grandad myself by the time they finish it

 

[Jonny69]

I think it’s had it. You might get away with cutting a matching section out each side above the tear, but in my experience once they tear like that they tend to go all the way across.

 

[Big Block]

I'd just make a new leather top.

 

[RobLoasby]

If there is a proper little old-school cobbler/shoe repairer shop near you, try them.

 

[Big Block]

It would need to be a very unusual shoe repairer.
You need to start with a larger piece of thick vegetable tanned leather than they would have on hand. The leather to be used is the same as for boot soles. Often the shoe repairer would buy pieces stamped to suit that purpose.
Then you need a mould to form the leather over. And then some way to force the wet leather over the form. I use vacuum bagging.
Lastly you need the rivets, and the tools to set the rivets.
Like I said, I would just make a new leather top.
I even make my own rivets, making another 40 rivets last week.