I have a Custom Saddlery saddle with “silver” piping on the cantle and stirrup keepers. The silver finish on the keepers has come off to reveal nothing but a white plastic tube. No one at Custom returns my calls. Any ideas how to “repaint” these myself?
Nothing beats good customer service - said no one at Custom Saddlery. I would talk to a shoe repair, they have piping on purses, luggage and shoes.
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I have called them at different times of the day and pressed ALL the options for assistance even if their job description does not match what I was asking. Eventually some poor sap will answer. Keep calling. But leaving a voice mail is a waste of time…
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This only has to do with the silver piping. When I was visiting saddle companies in the UK I was told that the silver and gold welting does not absorb the color all the way through as does the other colors. It has more to do with the pigment and this is not uncommon. I’m not sure what you could use to repaint it as anything will only be superficial and the friction of your seat or legs would likely cause the same thing to happen again. I suppose you could try a tiny, unseen area with something to see.
Try a sharpie marker.
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I’m very curious about any solutions you find for this.
My Hennig with silver piping was borrowed without asking by a fellow boarder a while back, and he scraped the silver finish off of the piping on one of the keepers (:mad::mad::mad: the same klepto also stole my nice dressage whip and constantly appropriated little things like fly spray and hoof picks – I moved on quickly to a much nicer barn with individual, lockable saddle lockers). In retrospect I’m glad that’s the only damage he did, but I was pretty outraged at the time.
Anyway, I talked to my saddle fitter and to an objects conservator and neither of them had any ideas about what could be used to re-color the piping. I’m still holding out some hope that I’ll find some way to restore it, even if not to its full original luster. I’m hesitant to take a Sharpie to such a nice saddle – surely there are better pigments out there for this purpose.
Between unprofessional behavior and poor craftsmanship I’m not feeling thrilled with this supplier at the moment either. Good luck resolving!
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Sounds like the piping is NOT leather, but plastic. So, the comments about pigments, etc., are probably not helpful. One can buy silver paint, but I don’t know how long that would last. Sorry not to be helpful.
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The synthetic nature of the piping itself actually makes it more difficult to find an appropriate pigment to make a reasonable repair. It will need to not only adhere well to an unknown, low-porosity synthetic surface that flexes and comes in contact with other objects (legs) frequently, but also not damage the adjacent leather. Doesn’t make me rethink the ‘no’ to sharpie!
Were the piping actually leather, acrylic paint might be a suitable repair medium. But the issue here is finding some formulation of metallic silver pigment/metallic particles that will bond to the synthetic, or some sort of primer/paint combination that can isolate the paint from the plasticizers that may be in whatever material the piping is made out of while still allowing enough flexibility in the finish for it not to flake right off. It may be impossible, but I suspect that someone somewhere knows enough about paints and plastics to solve this one.
Have you tried looking up the CS reps that act as fitters and dealers, that serves your area or state? They have been helpful to me, and may have a direct line to “corporate.”
