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.
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
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