Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

My wife and I were at a flea market this last Sunday. We came across a Wilson glove that looks like it will be an ideal glove for some TLC.

My question is this...have you noticed that when you sand paper the leather just a little bit to remove ink or caked on dirt that the glove leather really comes out when you condition it after the re-lace?

This glove had a small amount of dirt on the outside of the index finger, so I used a fine grit sandpaper to help remove it. After some Glovolium that space looked much more like I would suspect the original color to be.

Using that idea...would lightly sanding the entire glove be a bad thing?

The glove is just about done.

It's a Wilson A2160 Jim "Catfish" Hunter model. It came out pretty good if I do say so myself.

lightly sanding a glove sounds unreasonable but if you put a little bit of Fast Orange between your fingers you realize that there are small bits of abrasive (sand?) in there.


many on this forum and the modern glove forum use Fast Orange to help clean up a glove. In effect they are lightly sanding but much lighter than even the finest sandpaper. It works wonders for getting all sorts of gunk out of the leather.


Leaves a little bit of a citrus smell that dissipates within a few days.

Using Fast Orange would be the same as Rawlings Glovolium? Or do you guys use both?

I squeeze just a small amount of the Glovolium onto to a clean cloth and just have at it. Several thin applications.

Fast Orange hand cleaner can be used for cleaning leather, but after you clean it you will likely need to apply a leather conditioner (such as Glovolium). Think of it as a two-step process- cleaning, then conditioning. You want to get all of the dirt, dust, oil and grime out of the leather before applying your conditioner of choice. The end results are usually much better than just doing one or the other.

There are two varieties of Fast Orange- smooth and pumice. The pumice is the "sand-like" gritty stuff, which probably does help remove grime from your hands. I prefer the smooth formula, without pumice, as the gritty pumice can be hard to remove from all the nook and crannies of a glove. Either will work. Just be aware that the pumice might require a little more "detailing" to get it all off the glove.

I use Fast Orange on the grungiest gloves I'm cleaning. It really does breakdown old oil and dirt quite well. It contains lanolin, which is good for leather. Despite that, you might find that using it removes not only old oil and grime, but some of the natural oils in the leather. It can make the leather feel kind of dried out after use. Not to worry- since you're going to follow up your cleaning efforts with a good leather conditioner, you will be replacing the lost natural oils.

For less-dirty gloves, I use a milder cleaner- a 50/50 mix of Murphy's Oil Soap and water. I mix this in a spray bottle and spray it onto a rag or sponge. It works up a lather and will clean up all but the most stubborn ground in dirt, grease or oil. This is totally safe for leather and makes a great general pupose cleaner for all sporting goods.

Thank you for the good information. I'll be stopping at a local auto parts store that carries this product and I'll give it a try.

Have a great weekend.

No luck finding the Fast Orange without pumice.

I tried 3 stores...no luck.

Try the website, at the top of the header you will see where to buy. At least you will have some other places to look into.
http://permatex.com/

oldballfan wrote:Try the website, at the top of the header you will see where to buy. At least you will have some other places to look into.
http://permatex.com/

Thank you sir.

hi just out of interest would clear boot polish do the same job? i been thinkin about tryin that for a while now

I'd be very interested to see how clear boot polish works. I always use the two-step process BretMan described. Fast orange (or Gojo) but I use the one with pumice then condition with petroleum jelly.

BTW I use an old toothbrush to clean the fast orange from the seams and cracks.

It seem like boot polish would work, but I'm curious if you put it on before or after you condition it? Or if you don't even need to use conditioner.

Let us know. Post pics!

-BRAH

hi have tried boot polish (tan) on my wilson larry sherry will post before and after shots see what you think
before



after



this is before i did all the relacing so hasent got any laces in yet but still i think it looks a lot better.

Looks great! I'm sold. I'll try boot polish on my next glove.