how to make a brooks saddle

this has been posted elsewhere, but it’s very much worth a second look so i’m blogging it again. brooks were one of our major sponsors last year, and we’re proud to have them back again this year. they create a product that i’m happy to endorse; handmade in england, and of the absolute best quality possible. i got to visit the brooks factory in birmingham last year to see how they made a brooks saddle. i guess the most amazing thing is seeing that the entire process is actually done by hand, on machines that look like they’re as old as time.

so a brooks saddle starts life as a chunk of leather. they only use the thickest part of the cow (the ass).

all the leather is cut out by hand using heavy dies

then the leather is soaked in a water bath for several hours to soften it

and then meets its first press that gives it shape

it’s trimmed afterwards

then it meets its second press

it then gets branded with it’s model number

and of course the brooks badge

then the saddle gets its first good polish

meanwhile in another part of the factory, the metalwork is made (by hand, of course). the saddle skeleton is stamped out

and then punched into shape

titanium ones are harder, so they need to be heated to red hot first. brooks does this by putting them on the bricks, under two acetylene torches.

the rails are cut out and bent by hand

and the two parts are riveted together

back in the leatherworks, someone rivets the nose to the saddle

the rails and skeleton are then riveted onto the saddle

and then the rivets are hammered so that they’re flat

and for a swift (and i’ve always wondered how this got here) the sides are cut out — by hand, of course, using a tool called a “french skiver”

the saddle is then tensioned

and polished again

and that’s how you make a brooks saddle!

photography ©2009, ted young-ing