If you're worried about the appearance of your clearly neglected saddle, buy some neat foot oil from your local saddlery (more £$%^&* horses), pour the contents of the can into a baking dish or a bowl large enough to take the saddle and soak first the top and then bottom in the neat foot oil, 10-20 minutes per side.
This could be useful some day. When you say top/bottom, does that mean you are first putting the whole top half of the saddle in oil and therefore also soaking the underside? After both sides are done, the entire saddle has been submerged in oil. After that, do you wipe off excess oil... and then let dry for a few days?
Thanks, Mike
edit, our saddles have always received TLC, just thought this soaking might be good to know about.
Apologies for the delayed reply, Mike; I somehow never saw your post.
I used a large shallow baking tray because my B72 is the third largest of all the Brooks saddles and that tray was the only one it would fit. So my saddle wasn't completely covered by the liter of neat foot I bought. I turned the saddle to get complete coverage, including the raw edges of the leather.
Even if your saddle is smaller and you have a deep enough dish, and enough neat foot oil to cover the saddle totally, some part will still touch the bottom of the dish, so give it ten minutes, turn the saddle and put it back in the neat foot oil for another ten minutes to ensure even coverage. Let dry for 24 hours, then polish only the top, not the underside or the cut edges.
Soak it in neat foot oil once, then never again.
Once a year, or perhaps twice a year if your bike is often exposed to the elements, wipe only the top with a thin layer of Proofide* or neat foot on a cloth, let stand overnight, and polish with a clean soft cloth.
*Americans have a similar leather wax with a good reputation from vintage times forward, the name of which now escapes me. I used four small tins to rejuvenate the leather seats of a barn find Citroen DS until the stitcher of choice could make me new covers, and sold my spot on his waiting list to an impatient collector because the seats were pretty good after polishing and, as a matter of fact, at a show my car got a highly-commended with the patina worth a special mention, while his car was condemned for being over-restored!
