New cover for an old saddle

Very nice Stephen2012 http://www.flickr.com/photos/43734695@N02/8246260094/in/photostream/lightbox/

Stephen,
good result with the recover.
I have been playing with making some rivets, and *made *some last week.
The leather I use is thicker than Brooks, so I needed longer stems.

These were made from suitably sized copper pieces (cough) punched to accept the fine copper tube, then welded with copper wire (using propane and oxygen), cleaned up with files and sandpaper, with the rivet spinning in a cheap drill.
Here they are.

they are slightly larger (at 17.6mm) than the largest of the Brooks rivets (16.5mm).
I have also acquired a large jigsaw for cutting the leather, and a disc sander for sanding the edges.
As before, full credit is given to my ever resourceful brother-in-law for organising the workflow.
In the meantime, I have had some Shockstop 'honking' rubbers made.

This involved getting a loan of an original set, having a metal master made, then engraved with my artwork, and cast in urethane. Useful if you have a set of GB Hiduminium brake levers (1948-1952)
It is the same bike, but the fixed gear components have gone to another frame, with the Spearman frame and the saddle now complemented with full period components.
I am currently designing a custom chainring which will be laser cut, then laser engraved to go on a early 1950s Malvern Star Coronation I am rebuilding for my wife. The handmade rivets will be used on a new saddle cover for the sprung saddle. Life is good.

Thanks GA2G, Big Block - great stuff there, very resourceful actually making the rivets! You said copper pieces, were they old coins? That old bike has got a great style, should turn out great.
You're getting well into building your own parts, how long before you start your own bike brand?!

You said copper pieces, were they old coins?

the blanks were of 'similar' size. One cent coins in Australia were withdrawn from circulation years ago, but are still legal tender. Defacing legal tender may bring about severe penalties.

Ah! :) ......(over here coinage not in use is just demonetized so anyone who has it cannot spend it or exchange it for current money, so that's a ripoff - but they can do what they want with the metal)

Here's an update I have written about after treating the leather with the harding process, which you will need to do if you are re-covering a saddle with non-hardened leather:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43734695@N02/8354527413/in/photostream

Stephen,
did you use vegetable-tanned or chrome-tanned leather?
vegetable-tanned that I use is as stiff as a board when dry
from my reading, using hot water (above 60C) may harden it, but it CAN make the leather brittle see my earlier post and the link.
Philip

Sorry I only just saw your last post, yes it was bought as vegetable tanned, I read that you can't do it with other types. I think mine was headed towards brittleness, one of the reasons i'd let the water stand for 2mins, maybe 1, but definately a bit less hot.

Also for anyone trying it, a mention about spanners, because of the space taken up by the rivet ends a regular Brooks spanner would not fit in. I made this Titanium Swallow style spanner from an ordinary toolbox spanner for some other saddles I have, but it works great on this re-cover.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8476/8127734024_1798a04ca9_c.jpg

I have been playing with another saddle; reworked Brooks frame with homemade rivets and a custom made rivet anvil.



a step-by-step photo essay with instructions is posted on an Australian forum

happy to answer any questions
Philip

these then are hammered to reduce to thin the copper, punched to get the width, then trimmed, flattened again, spun up and filed then polished with sandpaper. Then the copper is reheated and annealed to remove the work hardening.

Having these allows more playtime.
Lets try a Swallow

two more saddles will have a new life