# Brooks Chop Leasons Learned



## fredstaple (Jun 2, 2003)

For What its worth:

1. Tried it with a razor knife and a Dremmel with a cutting wheel-go with the Dremmel. Ain't worth losing a finger over. 

2. Dremmel cuts fine, but burns the leather which makes smoke that stinks like hell. Use a mask if you got one. Use old clothes as they will stink like all get out when you are done. Cut it outside or your loving wife will be pissed. 

3. When you make the decision to cut it outside, don't run an extension cord from inside the house out the door and leave a small crack in the door where the cord runs out. If you then proceed to sit on the stoop and cut you saddle, the smoke and stink will find its way into the house and you will find yourself with the same problem as in 2 above.

4. When you are cutting with a Dremmel, lots of small bits of hot leather go flying everywhere. Old clothes are again a good idea and regular glasses are not substitute for safety glasses. Don't ask how this lesson was learned. If you are not using a mask, you can blow lots of small leather particles out your nose later in the day. 

5. Once you cut it, people ask why you did this to an expensive B-17. 'Cause it looks cool. 

6. Don't expect anyone in your family to be impressed by your achievment. 

7. I used electric tape as my go by and this worked fine. Saddle looks really good on the Orange One.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

LOL..How true...#2 really hit home. I did mine in the dead of winter. I was in the garage..The wife wasn't a happy camper. The smell of burning leather is not nice


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## Touch0Gray (May 29, 2003)

*ok kids*

here's the bottom line, put the dremel down and step AWAY from the dremel. This is NOT the tool to use, get yourself a coping saw with a fine toothed metal blade. Mark the cut line well with a fine point sharpie and use the saw... cut a bit to the outside of the line and use the sander to finish it up. I have not trimmed a saddle BUT I use "sole" leather all the time to line tool jaws or vice jaws and it works VERY well. with a coping saw you can swivel the blade.


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## lancezneighbor (May 4, 2002)

Dave Hickey said:


> LOL..How true...#2 really hit home. I did mine in the dead of winter. I was in the garage..The wife wasn't a happy camper. The smell of burning leather is not nice


Probably similar to the smell of my burning eyeball when I had LASIK, very creepy. Or like branding cows I suppose.


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## dburns (Apr 10, 2006)

As a quarter century+ custom leather worker I would pencil a line on the saddle and cut with a very sharp knife. Yes it will take a lot of effort so a fella had better know in which direction his force is pointing. Cut close to the line (not dead on!) and then shave down to the line and sand (yes you can sand leather; damp leather sands easier) down to the line. Bevel the edges (I have a special tool) and sand those too with finer grits of wet & dry down to 600 or 1500.

A Dremel doesn't sound like the right tool to me. I cut lots of leather and some stacked leather MUCH thicker than Brooks saddle leather and a knife does it.


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## roadfix (Jun 20, 2006)

Actually, one of my first Brooks trimmings were done using a Makita angle grinder but found out it was diffcult to make curved cuts due to the large diameter cutting disc. The last few butcher jobs have all been done using a Dremel tool with its small cutting disc and I've had very nice results with that. Most of the labor comes in sanding and shaping the initial rough cuts made with the power tool.....but they all turn nice at the end. My favorite saddle to butcher is the Professional.

I recently butchered a Swift for a friend of mine. Here's a photo of his stock Swift on top of my butchered Swift:


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## fredstaple (Jun 2, 2003)

*Can you post more photos*

These were helpful to see how you trimmed the back and sides. I would love to see one of you chopped Professional models, even cooler to see it compared to a virgin one.

Concerning the choice of cutting implement, the knife still scares me a bit, especially with an odd shapped item like a saddle where it can be difficult to hold it. The small saw sounds like a good option too, but I liked the control over the process the Dremel afforded me. Wonder if using a saw the blade would hit against the metal parts of the saddle frame; especially the part around the back of the saddle? Like most stuff, guess there are many ways to end up with a cool product.

I have always like the look of the Swallow, but not the price or the width of the saddle. Now with the cut job you can have the look and at the same time a wide saddle.


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## DrRoebuck (May 10, 2004)

fredstaple said:


> Can you post more photos


You too ... let's see some photos of your end result.


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## roadfix (Jun 20, 2006)

fredstaple said:


> I would love to see one of you chopped Professional models, even cooler to see it compared to a virgin one.


You can see photos of my Team Pro, Professional, and B17 narrow saddles here.

I have another Professional saddle which is not as radically butchered.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

DrRoebuck said:


> You too ... let's see some photos of your end result.



Here is a chopped B17. If left the back stock and just chopped the skirt. I used Roadfix's link on fixedgeargallery.com as a guide


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## fredstaple (Jun 2, 2003)

*Great Link*

Very nice work, the Pro looks really good. After seeing the sprung Swallow, I am temped to try this on a sprung model for one of my fun bikes to get a great look and comfort saddle.


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## jp_nyc (May 1, 2005)

fredstaple said:


> 1. Tried it with a razor knife and a Dremmel with a cutting wheel-go with the Dremmel. Ain't worth losing a finger over.


Did you lose a finger ??!!


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## 24601 (Jul 4, 2005)

I used a heavy duty exacto and multiple passes (about 3). It was not difficult at all. Pierced it with a pin vice.


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## fredstaple (Jun 2, 2003)

*Great Stitching work*

What size bit did you use to drill the holes. Any advice on how to stitch it that you could pass along. I would like to do this next, but can't figure it out based on the picture. Does not look like a shoe lace cause there are two strings per hole. Did you lace up to the next hole in line at an angle (across the saddle at an angle) then go through the hole and run the string to the hole right across from it?

What type of string did you use, looks sort of like a very thin waxed shoe lace. Thanks for any help.


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## roadfix (Jun 20, 2006)

fredstaple said:


> After seeing the sprung Swallow, I am temped to try this on a sprung model for one of my fun bikes to get a great look and comfort saddle.


Here's a Conquest saddle which is basically a sprung Pro.
And my other Professional with a bit more skirting left near the rear half...


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## 24601 (Jul 4, 2005)

I used the biggest bit that would fit in my pin vice.I have no idea of the size. I cross stitched it. Across at a diagonal, then straight across to the other side (if that makes sense). I used some sort of waxy lacing thread, I have no idea what it is called.

(I deleted a pic of a regular laced I posted by mistake.)


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