Glad I wasn't a smartass at that age...

Leather saddle bags that have gone about eight years in the elements without any cleaning or conditioning are a sad sight. Throw in the mold and mildew from a humid storing in the shed, and you're left with nasty things that looked like their life was over. I wish I would've done a before/after photo set. So anyway, I decided to restore them. Did the reading, and found out a glycerin-rich saddle soap would restore moisture and flexibility, while cleaning and conditioning the leather. Ok, I'll try it. Little did I know that it not only would work, but it would make the saddle bags shiny AND smell like leather again!

BUT, they still have creases and folds in places that aren't supposed to have creases and folds, and no matter how flexible, I can't hold the proper shape long enough to let them get reformed. I decided to stuff bricks in the bags as they dry, and hopefully stretch the proper shape. So I brought some old building and fire bricks that are growing in a mound of weed/plants behind the house. I was lining the saddlebags with shop towels, wrapping the bricks in plastic grocery bags...my oldest daughter (9 year old) walks in...

"Dad, why are you putting the bricks in bags?"

Cuz they were in the ground and they're dirty. And I don't want that dirt getting inside the bags since I just cleaned them.

"So, why don't you just wash the dirt off the bricks first?"

Friggin' kids....

Shadowcrunch wrote:

"So, why don't you just wash the dirt off the bricks first?"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Awesome!!!!

This still makes me laugh!!!!!!!