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  • Thought i'd share my small experience of an old brooks on here in case it helps.
    Got an old b17 that was a little splayed out but not banana'd and with a few shallow looking cracks/hard as nails.
    Hadn't found this site at the time and had a quick look on sheldon and classic lightweights, where i also saw how to do a skully-esque chop. Then promptly forgot most of it and made it up as i went along.
    First i tried warming it up slightly as has been suggested above, found this didn't really help to shift the wax, more drastic measures required. So i took a sharp penknife and scraped all the crap off, didn't take too much leather off in the process but it also significantly reduced the size of the cracks.
    Then performed a chop using a dremel with cutting wheel(the smell of burning leather is not to be underestimated) and used a shoelace to stich the sides instead of a plate or chainlink. Did it a little further forward than i intended but tightening the adjustment bolt just a tad sorted any risk of sag out.
    Seemed a little dry at this stage so i rubbed in half a small bottle of extra virgin all over and wrapped in a rag soaked with the other half bottle overnight.

    Then scraped the excess oil off with a plastic ruler and buffed for ages with cotton cloth. The cracks are now invisible pretty much and what was originally a dark brown/black rock hard mess of a saddle is now an arrow thin, really soft yet rigid where it should be saddle that i've used on my main bike for a year now.

    Saddle - £5(it really looked bad)
    Olive oil - £1.50

    I have no idea if using olive oil was a good idea, i know i had to wear dark trousers for the first couple of weeks while the last of the oil settled.
    I'm chuffed with how it turned out but i have no idea if its relevent to the op's question.
    I also have a brand new b17 on my tourer which is still hard as nails. Htfu is the only remedy

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