Antique bellows leather challenge!

[Ped]

Good morning to you

I hope that you don't consider this a cheek but I hope that you can help?

I am located in the UK but I'm sure this will apply on whatever side of the pond ??

We have purchased an old property which has a converted Forge, within it, as a feature, the old bellows have been left up in the roof space, we think that it is a beautiful piece of history and want to renovate it which is going to be a challenge as we have to get it down first!!, anyway, once we get it down we need to know how will go about either refurbishing or replacing the leather? So can you experts collectively give any advice and guidance as to where we might start?

I've attached some pics so that you can see it in situ, it's a big beast.

 

Here's a closer pic of some of the leather, can we perhaps rub something into it to get it supple?

[DJole]

I doubt there is a substance on earth that will get that old leather supple again, unless you can find a time machine!  ;-)
But if you really want to restore it, you'll need to find an expert who can actually look at and  handle the leather, to find out its thickness and what kind of leather it is. 
It is possible that people who make bellows-blown bagpipes, such as Northumbrian pipes, Irish Uillean pipes, and Scottish smallpipes would have a good idea about cost and time involved. You'll have a much easier time finding those people in the UK than over here in the USA.
That would sure be an unusual project.  How is the rest of the forge, I wonder?

[Ped]

Thanks for this DJole, yes a bit of a challenge!!, the leather is really thick, the bellows are  approx  5ft long by 3ft wide, as for the rest of the Forge, it was converted to just a room a long time ago but we are converting it into a holiday let with original feature

[fivewayswelshcobs]

The original leather would have been vegetable tanned hide and to keep the character the only thing you can try is to prevent further damage as over time leatherwork eventually rot. If you move it damage will occur but I would talk to a specialist leather restorer before you do anything. If you replace the leather much of the character will be lost , if you wanted to restore it to working order then the leather would be replaced but if just to display I would stabilize and not replace.

[Ped]

Thank you so much fiveways. We have had to move it because of the restoration building work so I am going to continue to source leather restorers/materials and hope we can reinstate it without it falling to pieces,

[kiwican]

Best of luck with that. I'd really like to see the results of the restoration. Love when history can be saved!