Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Ink on a ballglove is a big turn-off for most collectors. It seems to detract from the overall appearance of the glove. Some methods for removing the ink are to

• Block it out with more ink creating a rectangle
• Remove with an eraser
• Remove with 320 grit sandpaper
• Remove with a dose or 12 of Fast Orange with pumice
• Allow time to take its toll.

Most of these rely on abrasion to do the removal and few result in a quality look to the glove. Once abraded the leather no longer looks smooth. There are leather fabric cleaning products that are advertised to remove ink, or at least match the color. Most of these are sold for leather furniture or car seats and I have seen some remarkable results on television but have never tried them on a glove. Now on Ebay is an example of a leather fabric cleaning product used on ink on a glove.

(http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... TQ:US:1123)

It is difficult to tell exactly how good this looks in person and close up but it is not too bad in this photo. Remember that pictures of gloves taken with a flash tend to lighten the look of the leather. That is, the actual color of the glove is usually darker than the photograph.

I asked the seller what product he used and this was his reply…… “I used 'Tulip' brand matte fabric paint from Michael's Crafts, in Golden Tan.”

Now I am not suggesting that we all run out and douse our inked up A2001s and MMPs (or should I be saying D&M Ruth's ?) with a fabric paint just yet. But it does seem to warrant some further investigation. Has anyone else tried this method? What are your comments?

interesting. IMO, okay for the average glove/player - not okay for those "collectible" gloves.

320 sandpaper works the best.

The bigger issue besides ink was silver paint marker. This stuff really soaks in much deeper than I felt going with sandpaper.

Removing ink names, writing from gloves.
While watching a movie about a check forger, the actor mentioned using acetone, finger nail polish remover on ink on checks (paper). I followed that up with a little research on removing ink on leather and found it fairly interesting mentioning acetone, acetate. But be very careful about staining or damaging the leather and especially might be hazardous with those chemicals to yourself.
Here's a link to a British product, Buffaloleather. UK. Try pulling it up and see what you think
http://www.buffaloleather.co.uk/repairkits.htm
I've used the usual abrasive methods with lubricants with mixed results as I'm sure most of you have.

posted this elsewhere, but here it is again.

new product on the market for removal of tatoos. item is called
Wrecking Balm. Expensive, and I have yet to use on gloves, but it does remove ink from living leather (OK, your skin).
Other than that, I agree with the sandpaper. But I clean before and after with alcohol, to dry the leather. Then after a couple of rounds of sandpaper , alcohol, dry, I use a little bit of shoe polish (usually a shade or two darker than the glove). Blend in well so color fades into context with rest of glove. After all that, condition area carefully with your fav conditioning product (my fav is Horseman's One Step)
Repeat process and in a few hours, you cannot tell that ink was there.