Two lacing questions.

Please share your knowledge on how to keep your vintage gloves in great shape and looking sharp.

Two lacing questions.

Postby LincySchmidt17 » September 21st, 2008, 12:24 am

Hey all, first off:

What are your experiences with Tandy's lacing products? I have a Player Preferred Trapeze glove that i want to relace and was wondering if relacing it with tandy would be better than the lacing that is already in there.

Secondly, do buyers usually prefer vintage gloves(60's) gloves with original lacing or with a new restored lacing job? Which would bring greater value?

Thanks and sorry for the kind of long read for just two questions!
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Postby BretMan » September 21st, 2008, 10:21 am

As someone who has used lacing from Tandy's, I do have a few observations.

The lacing they sell in spools is okay, but nowhere near as nice as laces you can find that are specifically designed for gloves. The widest lacing they sell on a spool is 5/32", which is quite a bit thinner than 3/16" or 1/4" lacing. That is a consideration not just from a performance and durability standpoint, but also from an appearance standpoint affecting the look of your glove. Those thinner laces just don't look right on a modern glove that came with wider laces.

The Tandy laces I've used have been on older (pre-80's or vintage/antique gloves) that originally came with thinner laces. They are a closer match, appearance-wise. Since they are a very light yellowish color, I dye them myself to closely match the color of the vintage laces.

If you have a modern glove that is actively being used as a "gamer", the Tandy laces don't seem like they would hold up very well. It is for that reason that I never use those laces on gloves that I am restoring for active use. The only time I use Tandy lacing is when I'm working on an older glove that will mainly be a display piece, or just used for an occassional game of catch.

At one time Tandy sold a "ballglove repair kit" that had a couple of different type laces, plus a relacing needle included. Those laces were a little bit wider and stronger than their lace on a spool, but still not as nice as laces you can get from Rawlings, Tanner's or any of the other companies that make good, quality laces designed for the specific task of repairing baseball gloves.

Your other question is an interesting one, and one we've kicked around here before.

As a general rule of thumb, if the original laces on an old glove are shot- worn, brittle and ready to snap- you would probably get a better price for the glove by relacing it. That can help the form and shape of the glove, as well as the overall appearance and "eye appeal".

Of course, if the original laces are still in great shape, a buyer might prefer that to new laces. Then you have another segment of the glove collecting hobby that might specifically look for gloves with worn-out laces so they can enjoy restoring it themselves.

It also might depend on if the glove is a particularly rare or collectible model, or what the buyer's intentions are for the glove- will it be mainly a display piece, sitting on a shelf, or actually used?

I think that there are plenty of pros and cons for relacing an old glove, and plenty of different things to consider. Instead of a "one-size-fits-all" answer, you really have to take each glove on a case-by-case basis, considering the type of glove and how it will be used, the buyer's needs and the goals of the seller.
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