I just traded with a friend for her roughout saddle. The leather is a bit dried out, and I would like to give it a good conditioning and cleaning. Can I use normal leather cleaner on it? I don’t want to ruin the roughout feel of the leather.
You can, but it’s going to “squash” the roughout. Afterward, you’ll need to use a wire brush or hard-bristle brush to “rough” the roughout again.
Granted my saddles aren’t dried out, but I never oil/condition the rough out side, but I will generously oil/condition the smooth side.
[QUOTE=beau159;8544033]
You can, but it’s going to “squash” the roughout. Afterward, you’ll need to use a wire brush or hard-bristle brush to “rough” the roughout again.
Granted my saddles aren’t dried out, but I never oil/condition the rough out side, but I will generously oil/condition the smooth side.[/QUOTE]
beau159 nailed it.
I never put anything on the rough side, only the smooth side. And after much use, your roughout will become smooth. Use a wire brush to rough it back up again and it will look like new.
So when you get that very rubbed, shiny look to rough out it can be resurrected with a wire brush?
[QUOTE=beau159;8544033]
You can, but it’s going to “squash” the roughout. Afterward, you’ll need to use a wire brush or hard-bristle brush to “rough” the roughout again.
Granted my saddles aren’t dried out, but I never oil/condition the rough out side, but I will generously oil/condition the smooth side.[/QUOTE]
I will try that with the jockeys and fenders, but I will have to figure something out for the the skirt. Its not terrible, but could use some TLC.
[QUOTE=keepthelegend;8544144]
So when you get that very rubbed, shiny look to rough out it can be resurrected with a wire brush?[/QUOTE]
To some extent, yes.
I routinely “maintain” the roughout with a brush to help prevent it from getting too far gone. Because yes, it will wear down anyway with normal riding.
