Restoring My Grandfather's old Catchers Mitt

[Coolrob]

Hey Everyone. Not a collector here but I have a question that I hope I can get the experts here to help me with. This glove was my grandfathers, I finally got a hold of it after years of searching for it. I remember my grandfather using this mitt to play catch with me when I was a kid. Now that I have it, I want to make sure I protect it and get it looking good again. Any tips any one has would be greatly appreciated. I'm planning to display it, what are some recommended ways to display a mitt like this? I've done some searching about this particular mitt, but I can't seem to find anything, does anyone know anything about this mitt?

[atabats]

Hi there,

I have an Olympian M27 Frank Hayes model mitt from the late ‘30 that looks similar to yours. For cleaning, I would use some saddle soap and give it a good scrub; I like Fiebing’s. For conditioning, I like to use Horseman’s One Step on leather like this; it should soften it up and give it a nice display worthy conditioning and shine. For the buckle, I would use some fine no. 0000 steel wool to get rid of the rust. After that, a wadding metal polish like Nevr-Dull to shine it up. Hope this helps.

Here's a pic of my mitt:

It was the first vintage catcher's mitt I ever bought and I like the marbling of the leather on the front. It's a medium size mid-line model but I’m still quite fond of it.

[Coolrob]

Thanks for the tips atabats! I'll be sure to post pics when I'm done. Can I ask where you got that stand for your glove? It looks great and exactly what I was looking for.

[atabats]

I actually make the glove stands myself for my own collection. I bought some high quality stands from another collector but found it to be too cost prohibitive for what I had to pay for shipping, so I decided to make them myself. I was never inclined to do any woodwork in the past but this hobby, along with my overall vintage baseball collecting interest, led me to making my own glove stands, card stands, bat holders and shelves. If you have a circ saw and drill, it's actually quite easy and fun.