Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

I suspect we all have a glove or two that have been sitting around in need of repair. Who would be interested in posting pics of a glove in need of repair and then posting pics of the revitalized glove after our best effort? If we all do this together maybe we can advise one another of suggested fixes, etc. I propose we kick this off on Sept 1 and have the final submission by Sept 30.

Is anyone interested in participating?

I think that would be a cool idea! Although I am not a talented glove restorationist and would not compete, I would love to see the before and after pictures and learn how you do what you do! Cool idea!

Sounds like fun - I should have taken pictures of the one I'm working on now before I started.

If I had a portable video camera I'd tape myself doing the work and entitle my show "Flip that Glove" - probably could sell it to TLC or maybe even ESPN.

Not sure I'd compete but I'd sure like to see the results. Maybe this could be another index topic that would be available.

Kind of makes me wish I had taken some "before" and "after" shots of the hundreds of gloves I've restored!

Maybe I could take some of my finished ones, bust a few laces, roll 'em in the dirt and smash the pockets flat, snap a picture, then restore them again!

I probably shouldn’t have suggested a “contestâ€

ADVICE ON QUESTION 1....I am a beginner or novice also...Like any job you need the proper tools...I would begin by Follow the old lace...PRACTICE makes PERFECT....Have Fun

For what it is worth here are my 2 cents.
1. Lacing - I like using a 3 oz. lace (or in some cases a 4 oz.), 3/16 inch width. Personally I like the Cougar Oil Tanned Alum leather laces from Triple C Leather. Usually the laces bought in a sporting goods store to do repairs are a 5 or 6 oz. lace - way too heavy. As far as pulling the laces through the grommets don't use the tool that comes with the leather laces - it is way too large for the grommets. I make my own tool using taxidermy needles (if you need a tool contact me and I will make one for you).
2. The hole - unless it is just a seam separation that can be resewn by turning the glove inside out just forget it - don't try to glue it!
3. Patch - if only dirty try a really soft tooth brush and a little tooth paste and water - usually works real well. Unfortunately, the embroidery on"Wilson" patches is very wide and tends to wear off very quickly even though the glove looks like new - nothing you can do - don't try to repaint the embroidery back on!!!! (Don't laugh - I've seen it done).

My glove lacing kit came with the standard oversized needle for forcing laces through holes, AND it came with a very narrow wire, doubled over. I could not figure out what it was for until I read the directions: With a very sharp awl (included in the kit), poke a hole in one end of the lace as close as possible to the end, but squarely in the middle of the flat side of the lace. Then, thread one side of the wire through the hole, working the lace down to the bend in the wire. Now, with both sides of the wire in hand, keeping the ends of the wire as close together as possible, send the wire through the hole and pull the lace through. The widest thing going through the hole will be the lace, and not a tool. It worked great!

I have a suggestion for working with grommetts that you do not want to pull off accidentally: hold the edges of the grommett with the edge of a pair of pliers. It may be difficult to get the pliers to all those grommets ... but that is what I would try!

Good luck! The glove looks like a good one, and I look forward to seeing the "after" pictures!

I've started to work on the glove tonight. My first step was to relace with a brand new lace, the thin cheap ones you get at any sporting good store. I do this for a few reasons...(1) It lets me relace very loosely so I can clean between fingers, (2) if I make a mistake this is easy to back out, and of course (3) it gives me a chance to clean up the existing lacing and determine if it can be saved.

So I've relaced part of the glove, temporarily, and started to clean the pinky, front and back. This is the same old you've heard on here before - Fast Orange to clean. I like to mix my Fast Orange with saddle soap. It thicknes the Fast Orange and gve me something a bit thicker to work with. Here are some early pics...

This is probably my favorite since you can really see the contrast in the clean/unclean leather

Great idea on the saddle soap!

I continue to make progress on the Wilson I picked up on eBay. A couple of things I've found. (1) Re-lacing through the side of the thumb through the palm can be tough. I find that flattening the glove is the best way of finding the opposite hole. (2) Also, there is a fine line in how you handle the glove, and not being too tough on what can occassionally be a delicate item. I don't think the small hole between the middle and ring finger has gotten any worse, but I am afraid a small hole is developing between the middle and index finger. (3) Lastly, the brass relacing needle I have is great (see second pic). You may have to trim the end of your lace but getting this through any hole is a piece of cake, and it is the easiest way for tracing the old lacing.

But as of late it has been more of the same. The glove doesn't have the shiny appearance that the pics give it, I think it is just the flash. The pics remind me a bit of one seller on eBay whose gloves look like they're soaking wet. I much prefere the softer look of leather, not a heavy sweat.

Hey Burker, the glove is looking great.... I'm wondering how most people do the cleaning. In the past I've usually used a toothbrush, squirted on some fast orange, scrubbed, then wiped it off with a rag or papertowel. This works ok but my gloves don't seem to come as clean as others I see. Any secrets? I won a glove on ebay last week and when it gets here I'm going to take some pictures then give it a go.
Something else I've done is to warm gloves up a bit under the sun or in the oven as others here on the forum have talked about. This has made the gloves a bit softer and easier to work with and it also helps them to soak up the vaseline or lanolin.

I use a washcloth. If you drape the cloth over a finger it is reasonably precise, but more importantly, I think it is mildly more abrasive than a toothbrush which helps get the grime out.

Any others out there?

For glove cleaning I've been using some nylon scrubbing pads I found real cheap at a flea market. Kind of a funny story about the pads...

My wife and I hit a few flea markets when we get the time, and if we're on vacation we try to visit ones in the area. One of the things I joke about is the proliferation of Asian-owned "dollar item" sellers that seem to be at every flea market in the country!

In the last few years we have been to flea markets close to home, in Columbus, all around the state of Ohio, in Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, both North and South Carolina and even in Hawaii. At almost every one of these flea markets we see the exact same cheap "dollar" items, neatly spread out, usually in cardboard Chiquita bananna boxes, and always being sold by an Asian vendor.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is there some vast network of Asian immigrants employed in the dollar item flea market trade? What's up with that?

Anyhow, one of the items they all seem to carry- mixed in with the screwdrivers, tennis balls and socks- is a package of these nylon covered sponges, or scrubber pads. They sell six for dollar and do an amazing job at cleaning gloves. They nylon is kind of nubby, but not so rough as to damage the leather, and the pads are fairly durable. I can usually clean 15 or 20 gloves with one before tossing it.

Combined with Fast Orange, these little pads are one of the best things I've found to clean gloves- and I found them while visiting flea markets looking for gloves!