Moldy saddle, dye stripped form leather?? Help!!

[Hampton Bay]

I have an older, no-name saddle that I don't use very often, and it sorta molded. Like a lot. Did I mention I rarely use it?

When I cleaned it, the dye had been stripped from the leather in spots. It started out as a nice havana brown, and now it's havana brown with london tan speckles. Oiling it didn't help things.

I know it's vegetable tanned leather, and I have always used pure neatsfoot oil on it.

How do I get the stripped parts fixed? Will darkening oil work, or do I need to re-dye the pale spots? What kind of dye, since I have never had good luck with Feibing's dye?

If it's not fixable, its no huge deal. I never plan to sell this saddle. It does have some sentimental value though, as it is the first saddle I ever owned, paid for with my own money.

[JSwan]

One of my saddles had its finish ruined - long story that doesn't matter but I was left with a saddle that leaked its dye. Finish was stripped.

Tried lots of products and none of them restored the finish to the leather as promised.

Finally contact Tandy
http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/

And spoke at length with them - they actually put me on speaker and a lady and a couple of the guys in the shop sat and talked with me for a while. Gave me a lot of information about how leather is made.

Anyway - I purchased one of their products and it worked as promised - the finish was restored to the leather and it has its patina back. No more orangish brown britches from the dye rubbing off.

The product cost only a few dollars - they 'made' no money if you think about how much time they spent with me.

Anyway - you might give them a call and chat to see if they can help you out.

Good luck.

[Hampton Bay]

This isn't the finish though, its actually the dye. It's actually speckled where spots of dye were stripped out.

I will contact Tandy though.