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| Related Resources |
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Baseball Glove
Dating Guide |
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| Baseball gloves and mitts can
be dated by the manufacturer, model number, and the
style of the web. Web styles may have continued to be
made years after they were introduced but in general the
web can be dated to a specific era. This guide will help
you identify the era. |
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All Are Wlcome |
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Glossary of
Baseball Gloves & Web Identification Guide |
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The most comprehensive baseball glove Glossary on the
internet. complete with pictures, and cross reference
links. |
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VINTAGE BASEBALL GLOVE
CLEANING & CONDITIONING GUIDE |
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Cleaning and conditioning
your collectible baseball glove or mitt, will help
bring the leather back to life, make a better display,
and add value. This guide will help you with the method
and proper products to use, to safely clean and
condition your vintage baseball glove. Before
conditioning your glove it would be a good idea to
clean it first. Even if you feel the glove is not dirty
removing any minor surface dirt will prepare the
leather to fully absorb what ever conditioning you use.
The restoration of any
collectible should be left to the expert that has
experience with that type of work. Extreme methods such
as stripping and dying the leather will not be covered
in this guide. |
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Cleaning your Glove |
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Horseman's One-step comes highly recommended.
One-step works best on cowhide
gloves, but it can also
successfully clean horsehide
and deer hide. If the glove
you're working on is very dry,
and stiff, I've found it's
actually best to start with the
interior of the glove. Go way
up inside the fingers on all
surfaces, behind the wrist
strap and under any folds that
might go overlooked. Doing this
step first lets you put the
glove on to do the rest.
Then go to the back of the
glove, between the fingers, and
then finally the pocket and the
rest of the front surface. It's
basically a matter of putting
it on and wiping it off. The
longer you leave it on, the
more it will interact with the
leather. You don't have to
remove all of it. If you use an
old white cotton rag, you will be amazed at how
fast the rag turns brown. Once
you start working with it, you'll
see the kind of cleaning & conditioning it can do.
Repeated applications only serve to make the leather cleaner and
healthier. For old grease
stains it helps to scrub it in
with an old toothbrush, then
wipe the lifted grease away. It
will soften ink stains, but not
remove them completely in all
instances. Once you've gone
over the whole glove a few
times, put on a thin
application, and let the glove
dry.
You' will find that it does not darken the leather and in many instances
actually lightens it up. One
other thing about this cleaner
is that I feel it's important
to wash your hands thoroughly
after using it. It's pretty
powerful stuff. This product
can be easily purchased on line
at
KYHORSE.com.
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To
clean the glove you can also
use a gentle leather cleaner
like Lexol-pH Leather Cleaner,
or Nokona Glove Conditioner
which gives a nice glow to the
leather once it's clean.
Permatex Fast Orange Smooth
formula Hand Cleaner comes
highly recommended by hard core
Glove collectors, and
restorers.
 Permatex
Fast Orange can be found at
Lowes Home Improvement Stores,
AutoZone, K-Mart or your local
hardware store. It can also be
purchased on line. Be sure to
purchase the Smooth formula,
and not with pumice which is
abrasive, and will harm the
leather.
Permatex Fast Orange will clean
the grime from the glove. The
contents list lanolin as an
ingredient so that is a plus in
helping to keep the glove
supple. It will also dry out
the leather a bit after use so
apply conditioning shortly
after cleaning. |
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Conditioning Your
Glove |
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Conventional glove oils sold
over the counter is fine for a
glove we are going to work in
to play ball with. Some of
these oils will most likely
darken the color of the glove,
and could leave oil spots. For
a collectible glove which will
be displayed we want to avoid
this. To condition the glove
you can use Lanolin.
Professional major league
Ballplayers use Lanolin to work
their gloves in as well.
lanolin will keep the glove
supple, and its waterproofing
properties will keep the glove
from drying out.
Lanolin (Hydrous) is an ointment that is sold to treat
dry skin, and can be purchased
at your local pharmacy, Rite-aid etc. Sold
by the pound many people shy
away thinking what am I going
to do with a pound? But it is
not as much as you might think
(pictured in glove). If you
feel intimidated by a pound you
may purchase a product called Lansinoh.
This cream is a product that
breastfeeding mothers use. It
is 100% Lanolin, and come in a
2 ounce tube. Half the price of
the 16 oz. lanolin it pays to
buy the pound.
Vaseline
I’ve never personally used it
but it does come recommended by
many seasoned, vintage glove
collectors, for both cleaning
and conditioning. When using it
be very careful about over
applying. This can leave a
dirt-dust catching residue.
Vaseline could also close up
the pores of the leather.
Vaseline is a petroleum jelly
product and has been reported
by the maker GloveLoogie that
it is tough on gloves putting
up a “very effective air and
vapor barrier that prevents the
natural evacuation of moisture
and salts from the interior.
This also sets up perfect
temperature/humidity conditions
for the growth of harmful molds
and mildew.
A Rule of Thumb is to never use anything on your glove
that you would not use on your
hands. There are many other
over the counter products that
can be used, some made
specifically for the purpose of
conditioning baseball gloves. I
cannot recommend something that
I haven't used myself but I
will start to comply a "Before
& After" section below,
submitted by collectors. If
pictures are not available I
will post their story. Some of
the products sold for Cleaning
and conditioning Leather
include: Franklin Dr. Glove
conditioner, Lexol leather
conditioner, Leather New (for
cleaning), Jaguar Hide Care,
and Glove Stuff.
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COLLECTOR'S BEFORE & AFTER TESTIMONIALS |
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The Before and after
pictures at the top of
the page was my first
glove cleaning &
conditioning project. I
was told it was a
Mickey Mantle glove but
it was hard to read the
printing on the glove.
I used the
pumice free Permatex
Fast Orange to clean
the glove, then used
Lanolin to condition
the glove using the
method described above
with the Horseman's One
Step. When I was done I
clearly had a J.C.
Higgins 1674 Mickey
Mantle Baseball Glove.
Below are before and
after testimonials
submitted by Vintage
Glove collectors. |
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"Steven, I have to say, as recommended on your website, I'm very
pleased with the results from
the HORSEMAN'S ONE STEP leather cleaner & conditioner
cream. I
had the perfect candidate in my
very dirty stiff Leo Durocher
glove . I used only this
product for the cleaning/conditioning. Would recommend
this one." -Pam H |
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This glove was pretty much
free of dirt and grime so
cleaning was a simple wipe
down with a Windex dampened
rag. No residue came off. The
mitt was then conditioned with
lanolin using a silky Microfiber cloth. I used a
toothbrush to get into the
seams and hard to reach areas.
After the lanolin soaked in a
second coat was added. -Steven
KeyMan |
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