Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

This Spalding mitt had a series of problems: the buckle strap was broken, shoelace perimeter lacing replacing the original leather, broken down and missing stuffing inside and an ill-advised repair with a sewing machine to the crescent pad.

before:

Luckily, the mitt had no rips or tears and the leather was dry but still supple. I added a new piece of vintage leather to attach the buckle, pieced together some vintage leather lacing around the perimeter. I used some old horsehair to build up the form inside the mitt and undid the sewing machine repair around the crescent pad and using the original sewing holes I hand sewed around the crescent using the proper gauge thread. The canvas pocket inside the mitt forming the crescent was ripped and had to be sewn closed again.

after:

Cleaning the mitt was the easiest part since it was basically just dry. The color differences really jump out on the back of the mitt after the conditioning.

Nicely done.

Thanks. I don't do much restoring anymore. I've seen pictures of your work and you do a real nice job. Were you an art major? I was.

Thank you, and yes, artist turned industrial designer turned craftsman. Touching all the bases.

I saw your link to the art criticism web site. It was very funny and brought back a lot of memories. Despite all the intellectual BS in art school, It is useful to be good with ones hands. I became a woodworker and cabinet maker eventually. I remember lyrics to a song by Genesis played on boom boxes that floated through the school studios circa 1975, "I'd rather trust a man who works with his hands, you know he'll understand".