Make sense to oil the leather first but not to much I guess to promote sagging. Thanx I will....

 

Well the leather is going to sag regardless if it is dry or not, that is what the inserts are for.
Like I said, I use the neadoot oil, paint it on with a two inch paint brush, let it dry wipe it off then go over it with your wax/conditioner. The wax help seal in the oils in.
Oh yea nice bags.

 

Well I just spent the last 2 hours hand rubbing mineral oil into the leather. I kinda messed up when I initially dunked the bags. The water was way to hot and actually dried the bags so bad that the leather actually felt like sand paper. Lesson learned, the hand rubbing of the oil into the leather to the point where the leather got warm was what it needed to restore the finish. I used approximately 1 1/2 oz of oil per bag and a real lot of rubbing but the almost look new and the finish with the heat of rubbing the oil is very good. But man I'll tell Ya the joint in my fingers are paying the price. Next up Is the bees wax but not till next Sunday. I want to see how the oil rub turns out after a week. Till then, have a good week all....

 

Finally finished reviving my saddle bags and I must say they came out better than I thought. I know out seemed like a long time but between each process but I let them sit a week in between each step to allow them to fully dry and also to fully absorb the dye, oil and conditioner. In total I have 10 hours of cleaning, soaking, shaping, dying, oiling and conditioning. I would like to thank everyone that assisted me. I'm sure they'll last another 17 years. Thanx again.

 

Hot Rod, looks like all the hard work paid off. They look great! Question, how was it working with the dye? Did you have to use a lot of it?

 

Thanx FB, I don't think I used more than 1 1/2 oz. I direct applied it with a swab of cotton fabric and lots of rubbing trying to do my best to work it in.

 

Those turned out nice man!
I like the style of the bags too

 

The trick is to not let them get in that condition again. I treat all my leather every spring.

 

That's probably the best advice....lol...I guess I got lazy with them but rest assured every winter they'll get a good rub down..

 

Nice job. Those are some nice looking bags. I need to pull my factory ones out and oil them down after reading this thread.