baby oil

[glovin]

i've hear numerous people use baby oil to break in their gloves...does anyone know if doing so will harm the glove?

[glovemedic]

i've hear numerous people use baby oil to break in their gloves...does anyone know if doing so will harm the glove?

Why would you want to unless it was all about making the glove oily and heavy?

[MVALZ]

Wha? That sounds like a really bad idea.

[glovin]

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_8722776

mike gallago of the rockies use a combo of baby oil and mink oil...i understand that pros get a new glove every season so they don't really worry about longevity...but a lot of these guys have been using the same gloves for 3-4 seasons now, and they seem to be holding up fine...and most of the people on this forum seem to get WAY more than one glove per season lol

[s_esco]

Sounds almost as bad as what we used, when I was a kid in the 50's. We heard that salad oil was good for our gloves so we just poured it on, threw a ball in it, wrapped it in string or a belt and put it in front on the stove. It made the glove so heavy, we could hardly lift it. On real hot days, the oil would come to the leather surface and be all sticky. By the next year the glove stitching was close to rotten. Not a true collectible. But who thought about saving their glove for a collection 50 years later. We just wanted the next new model, especially in the 60's, after those heavy 50's gloves.

[glovemedic]

Sounds almost as bad as what we used, when I was a kid in the 50's. We heard that salad oil was good for our gloves so we just poured it on, threw a ball in it, wrapped it in string or a belt and put it in front on the stove. It made the glove so heavy, we could hardly lift it. On real hot days, the oil would come to the leather surface and be all sticky. By the next year the glove stitching was close to rotten. Not a true collectible. But who thought about saving their glove for a collection 50 years later. We just wanted the next new model, especially in the 60's, after those heavy 50's gloves.

LOL! Great story. Someone ought to collate the collective experience and wisdom and post it somewhere. I would stick this up on my website if I could afford the bandwidth.

[GloveGypsy]

I no longer am surprised to learn what people put on their gloves, thinking it will "make them better" and help their game:

Coffee
Boiling water
Motor oil
neatsfoot oil
Olive oil (imagine the rancid oder from that after a summer of use)
linseed oil
lamp oil (after the game, you can set it afire on top a tikki torch)
shaving cream
aqua velva
liquid gold
shoe polish
amor all


the list goes on an on....so does the insanity!

[BretMan]

Some of the problems stem from the fact that anything that is wet, or a liquid, will cause leather to flex a little more easily.

If you were to look a piece of leather under a microscope, you would see that is is comprised of many small fibers. Leather conditioners or lubricants fill the voids between these fibers and allow them to slide against each other with less friction. That lets the leather flex.

So if you spit in your glove, or pour coffee in it, or soak it it water, then, yes, the leather will become more flexible. That point cannot be denied.

The problem is that "anything wet" does not necessarily mean that it is good for the health of leather in the long run. Spit or sweat contain enzymes that will literally dissolve leather. Saddle soap has a pH level that can break down leather fibers if left on the glove. Linseed oil will crosslink and harden over time. Water will evaporate and take the natural oils in the leather along with it.

Use any of those and, yes, your glove will flex- at least in the short term. But the long term effects of those products will be detrimental to life of the glove.

With so many quality, tested and safe leather conditioners on the market there really isn't any need to resort to any of these "homebrews". Why not just use something that has proven lubricating properties and and will not shorten the lifespan of the glove?

[glovin]

Some of the problems stem from the fact that anything that is wet, or a liquid, will cause leather to flex a little more easily.

If you were to look a piece of leather under a microscope, you would see that is is comprised of many small fibers. Leather conditioners or lubricants fill the voids between these fibers and allow them to slide against each other with less friction. That lets the leather flex.

So if you spit in your glove, or pour coffee in it, or soak it it water, then, yes, the leather will become more flexible. That point cannot be denied.

The problem is that "anything wet" does not necessarily mean that it is good for the health of leather in the long run. Spit or sweat contain enzymes that will literally dissolve leather. Saddle soap has a pH level that can break down leather fibers if left on the glove. Linseed oil will crosslink and harden over time. Water will evaporate and take the natural oils in the leather along with it.

Use any of those and, yes, your glove will flex- at least in the short term. But the long term effects of those products will be detrimental to life of the glove.

With so many quality, tested and safe leather conditioners on the market there really isn't any need to resort to any of these "homebrews". Why not just use something that has proven lubricating properties and and will not shorten the lifespan of the glove?

very good point...can ppl please explain to me why liquid conditioners like lexol, glove loogie, and rawlings glovolium won't make the glove heavy and baby oil (mineral oil) will?...also, i was reading "glove affairs" and people like ozzie smith used baby oil on their gloves...does this mean that ozzie was able to make all those amazing plays with a 10 lb glove?

[BretMan]

With respect to adding additional weight to your glove, I'm not sure if the issue is what kind of conditioner you use, but rather how much you use.

Think about this: The only way you could make your glove weigh ten pounds more than it did to start with would be to add ten pounds of conditioner. It would weigh the same if you used ten pounds of Lexol, ten pounds of water or ten pounds of baby oil.

Maybe some fluids have a different specific gravity and that could account for some weight difference. Maybe a cubic centimeter of Lexol weighs less than a cubic centimeter of neats-foot oil (I really don't know for sure).

Maybe some fluids tend to absorb through the leather more easily, soaking through to the padding and becoming trapped, while others tend to stay in the leather and some evaporates (again, this is just speculation).

Maybe some products lubricate less well than others, so when using it on a glove you are forced to use more of it.

Whatever the reason, I would still have to say that if you coat your glove with a like amount of one product or the other, any weight gain would have to be pretty much equal.

Whichever conditioner you use, you should use light coats, applying the product to a rag or sponge then wiping it on the glove, instead of pouring it directly on the glove where a large amount can soak into a small area. Do it that way and you ensure that the smallest amount of conditioner is used, which would have to translate into less weight being added to the glove.

[glovin]

With respect to adding additional weight to your glove, I'm not sure if the issue is what kind of conditioner you use, but rather how much you use.

Think about this: The only way you could make your glove weigh ten pounds more than it did to start with would be to add ten pounds of conditioner. It would weigh the same if you used ten pounds of Lexol, ten pounds of water or ten pounds of baby oil.

Maybe some fluids have a different specific gravity and that could account for some weight difference. Maybe a cubic centimeter of Lexol weighs less than a cubic centimeter of neats-foot oil (I really don't know for sure).

Maybe some fluids tend to absorb through the leather more easily, soaking through to the padding and becoming trapped, while others tend to stay in the leather and some evaporates (again, this is just speculation).

Maybe some products lubricate less well than others, so when using it on a glove you are forced to use more of it.

Whatever the reason, I would still have to say that if you coat your glove with a like amount of one product or the other, any weight gain would have to be pretty much equal.

Whichever conditioner you use, you should use light coats, applying the product to a rag or sponge then wiping it on the glove, instead of pouring it directly on the glove where a large amount can soak into a small area. Do it that way and you ensure that the smallest amount of conditioner is used, which would have to translate into less weight being added to the glove.

Muchas gracias brett!

[english baseball nut]

can someone please explain whatthe problem with using shoe polish is please ive used it on a few of my glove and neve noticed any problems?

[english baseball nut]

I no longer am surprised to learn what people put on their gloves, thinking it will "make them better" and help their game:

Coffee
Boiling water
Motor oil
neatsfoot oil
Olive oil (imagine the rancid oder from that after a summer of use)
linseed oil
lamp oil (after the game, you can set it afire on top a tikki torch)
shaving cream
aqua velva
liquid gold
shoe polish
amor all


the list goes on an on....so does the insanity![/quote]



can someone please explain whatthe problem with using shoe polish is please ive used it on a few of my glove and neve noticed any problems?

[Number9]

I can't imagine anything too horrible would come about from using shoe polish on a glove. Clogged pores and slick surface would be about the extent of it. I wouldn't recommend it on anything valuable, but a mid range glove should be fine.

[english baseball nut]

ok thank you number 9 i waws just wondered because ive used it on quite a few of my glove with no see-able damage and i dont want to continue using it if it will damage them