My first efforts at refreshing some gloves

[dapert]

These are my first three attemps at refreshing some gloves. The first two catcher's mitts were found at the bottom of a trash can in our league's equipment shed. Needless to say they were very, very dry.

I'm thrilled at how the A3000 came out. You never know what you're going to get on eBay but this is fantastic. It was a bit dirty in the palm and had some muddy film but a little Lexol pH and it was gone. The glove isn't 100% dry so it's probably a bit darker than it will end up but I love it. But I was so happy with the results that I couldn't wait. Got the glove on eBay last week and it came today. Didn't need much work at all. Tighten her up and clean it and it's ready to go. The inside is perfect with no cracking or drying. What a glove.







Not sure what went wrong trying to get them in the post. Maybe this link will work.

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/dapert/

For some reason the after pictures are before the before pictures but you get the idea.

[Cowboy7130]

Very nice!

[wjr953]

dapert,
Very nice work, really well done. Catcher's mitts are real interesting to work on, because the lacing is very unusual. I have about a half dozen catcher's mitts right now and re-lacing them can often be difficult. I should probably say more confusing than difficult. By the time I get them it's because the previous owner had a bust-out of the lacing, (usually in the web area), they're filthy and they're just as dry as any piece of leather could be. The problem for me comes when the previous owners try to jury-rig the webbing with shoe laces, zip ties, speaker wire, etc. just to make the glove work. Then I'm left trying to figure out what laces go where. It's very interesting however to see how a little cleaning and re-lacing can bring a nice old mitt back to life again. I think this is especially important because I was a catcher through my baseball playing years, and having a well broken-in mitt to use was to die for. I wonder how many nice catcher's mitts have been thrown away over the years because someone wouldn't take the time or effort to clean them up a little bit and re-lace them?

br

[candlestick]

wow! nice a3000 pickup, good thing for you i was on vacation you did a nice job on the mitts too, cleaning and repairing. they should work better than the coopers.

[dapert]

I might actually see what I can do with a few of the Coppers this weekend. They look just as dry as the other two. There's one in every team bag so that's what the kids have to work with. I doubt I'll do complete relacing but I can at least clean them up and get some moisture back into the part that is actually leather.

What a joy to find this site. No way I could have brought those gloves back to life without the valuable tips picked up here. I would have probably tried to clean them with soap and water and then oiled the hell out of them. Actually in looking at the before pics again I would have left them in the trash can.

I thought I was getting into this as a hobby just to collect but for some crazy reason I love cleaning and restoring these things. It's amazing what a few positive results can do for you. I've been at the office for an hour and I can't wait to get home and grab a glove.

I just got some Canadian Tire Mastercraft from the 60's in yesterday that's going to be my project for tonight. It's in decent shape but smells like it's been in a wet basement for 30 years.

[rmiller]

very nice work! Hard to believe that was your first time relacing-especially the catchers mitts. Sounds like you're becoming addicted!

[dapert]

I only relaced the Rawlings mitt...except for the two right where the glove closes. Couldn't exactly figure out how to get to them on the inside and they were in perfect shape. I used the 5/32 laces from Tandy because that's all I had at the time. I've thought about doing it all again when I get my Tanners laces but I'm not sure it's worth it on that particular glove. As you can see in the pics the writing on the glove is almost gone and the pocket has some wrinkling issues.

The Wilson Pena glove has some wrinkling issues and had tow pretty decent sized rips where it joins the web. Wasn't exactly sure what to do there so I ran a bead of super glue along each edge and tried to do a liguid stitch. I'm sure with any regular use that will come back apart in no time. But these were perfect "beater" gloves to get my feet wet on.

The funniest thing is the Wison is probably a fake anyway. It says Korea on the pinky finger and from what I've seen on here lately Wilson never made any gloves in Korea.

Why somebody would fake a run of the mill Tony Pena catcher's mitt is beyond me. It seems to be a decent quality store glove even if it's a fake.

[candlestick]

keep in mind that wilson did not make a2000s in korea. other lines of wilson gloves were made in korea. to corrupt a common saying... if the glove fits - use it!

[dapert]

oh thanks that's good to know....I was under the impression that any Wilson made in Korea was fake....makes me feel a little better knowing somebody didn't take the time and energy to fake a Tony Pena glove.