Glove maintenance
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- Ditch the glove oils (makes the glove heavy over time).
- Lexol makes a cleaner and separate conditioner that will probably cover 90% of your needs, and is readily available (Walmart, Auto-zone. I even found a two-pack on deep discount in TJ Maxx or Ross).
- The other 9% may be covered by Obenauf's leather conditioner - it's a bees wax mix that will protect the inside of the hand stall from sweat. (I've also used it on the outside, but you're fine sticking with #2 above).
- The remaining 1% will be a wide range of conditioners and cleaners - saddle soaps, Ballplayers Balm, Surf City Voodoo conditioner/restorer, etc. - sometimes it's what you have access to, vs. what's the "best".
- Lightly brush the loose dirt before applying a cleaner. A great tip that I haven't been able to implement yet - after the light brushing, use compressed air to blow the dirt & dust out of the stitching and crevasses. You can then attack the remaining dirt deposits with a firmer brush.
- If re-lacing, apply some conditioner to the laces before you start.
- You'd be surprised how much you can return a glove to it's almost-original shape just by tightening the laces in the fingers and heel/pocket area. (And in the process - you'll be surprised how much the original leather lacing has stretched!)
- See posts from Anna's Dad, Schmick's Gloves, and many others I'm sure I'm missing - lots of good nuggets from people who restore / refinish gloves on a regular basis, or have had long conversations with those who have.
- Take lots of pictures to help you remember how to put it back together. (And to share with DFP).
- Use a wrap - ball in pocket, wrap it up, before it goes back in the bag post-game/practice. I forgot which brand we used (sub-$10 on amazon). Somebody even told me just last week they use produce bands (like the kind that keeps the broccoli together). Seems like those would be pretty tight, but if that's all you have, and it works, go for it.
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Bravo Gags, very well done!
Great info.
For the glove guru’s, what are the pro’s using on their gloves to make them shine?
For the glove guru’s, what are the pro’s using on their gloves to make them shine?
Schmick's Gloves
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- Nov 8, 2020
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I've done gloves for about 20 years now and TBH, the fastpitch gloves are the grossest gloves I, and other people in the glove community have told me the same, have ever dealt with. Many other glove guys just refer all their fastpitch clientele to me. It's good to see some parents on here starting to look at glove care.
Here's a few tips
Clean glove with Ball Player's Balm Glove Cleaner and the Horse Hair or Hogs Hair Brushes. (Fiebing's Saddle Soap also works well, get the white can) The natural brushes are better than plastic or other synthetic brushes. Avoid using harsh leather cleaners that will dry out the leather
Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP is pretty good stuff. Ball Player's Balm Pro Glove Conditioner or Pecard Leather Dressing are a little better. Put a little of it on your fingers and rub it in to the glove. After it's been on the glove for about 10 minutes get a horse hair shoe brush and brush the glove off, scrub around the laces so there's no build up of the conditioner.
For inside the hand and finger wells, Fiebing's Golden Mink Oil works best at keeping sweat from soaking in to the leather and then salting the leather as it dries.
The biggest issue with fastpitch gloves is how the girls treat or care for them. Walk behind a travel baseball team walking in to a park to play games or out of a park after games and the boys will have their gloves in their hands, their gloves in a mesh bag attached to their back pack or the glove will be clipped to the outside of the bag. The girls will stick a dirty, sweaty glove in their bag and not take it out til the next day that they need to use it.
Brush the grit and dust off the glove and allow the sweat on it to dry quickly and in the open, not in tha bag. If your player has sweaty hands then you may need to clean the inside of their glove, with the cleaners and brushes listed above, out more often. Sweat is salty, look what it does to shirts or hats, it is doing worse to leather because as the sweat dries the salt remains and it causes the leather to crack and rot.
The Golden Mink Oil by Fiebing's comes in a plastic tub, rub your glove hand in the oil and then rub that in to the glove, down the finger stalls and most importantly in the palm well and on the binding. The mink oil helps stop the sweat from soaking in to the leather and I have gloves that are 10-12 years old that still feel like new when you stick your hand in them.
Once the leather dries or cracks there's not much that can be done for it so you need to start caring for the glove when it's new
On my or my kids gloves... play year round in Southern California, though my wood bat Sunday league hasn't played in a year.
Clean the gloves with the cleaner and brushes monthly or after tournaments in AZ, Nevada, UT where there is much more iron in the dirt, making everything redder.
Condition the gloves after every cleaning making sure to brush off excess conditioner and give the glove 12 hours or dry before using again.
I tend to relace our gloves once a year. I dont recommend lacing gloves yourself unless you have a skiver and pocket grease/palm adhesive but then, even most the sporting goods places that do relace gloves don't skiv the laces or apply the palm adhesive either so just make sure that whether you're lacing the glove or having someone else do it, that it's done properly.
Sorry for being so long winded, gloves are sort of my thing.
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Here's a few tips
Clean glove with Ball Player's Balm Glove Cleaner and the Horse Hair or Hogs Hair Brushes. (Fiebing's Saddle Soap also works well, get the white can) The natural brushes are better than plastic or other synthetic brushes. Avoid using harsh leather cleaners that will dry out the leather
Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP is pretty good stuff. Ball Player's Balm Pro Glove Conditioner or Pecard Leather Dressing are a little better. Put a little of it on your fingers and rub it in to the glove. After it's been on the glove for about 10 minutes get a horse hair shoe brush and brush the glove off, scrub around the laces so there's no build up of the conditioner.
For inside the hand and finger wells, Fiebing's Golden Mink Oil works best at keeping sweat from soaking in to the leather and then salting the leather as it dries.
The biggest issue with fastpitch gloves is how the girls treat or care for them. Walk behind a travel baseball team walking in to a park to play games or out of a park after games and the boys will have their gloves in their hands, their gloves in a mesh bag attached to their back pack or the glove will be clipped to the outside of the bag. The girls will stick a dirty, sweaty glove in their bag and not take it out til the next day that they need to use it.
Brush the grit and dust off the glove and allow the sweat on it to dry quickly and in the open, not in tha bag. If your player has sweaty hands then you may need to clean the inside of their glove, with the cleaners and brushes listed above, out more often. Sweat is salty, look what it does to shirts or hats, it is doing worse to leather because as the sweat dries the salt remains and it causes the leather to crack and rot.
The Golden Mink Oil by Fiebing's comes in a plastic tub, rub your glove hand in the oil and then rub that in to the glove, down the finger stalls and most importantly in the palm well and on the binding. The mink oil helps stop the sweat from soaking in to the leather and I have gloves that are 10-12 years old that still feel like new when you stick your hand in them.
Once the leather dries or cracks there's not much that can be done for it so you need to start caring for the glove when it's new
On my or my kids gloves... play year round in Southern California, though my wood bat Sunday league hasn't played in a year.
Clean the gloves with the cleaner and brushes monthly or after tournaments in AZ, Nevada, UT where there is much more iron in the dirt, making everything redder.
Condition the gloves after every cleaning making sure to brush off excess conditioner and give the glove 12 hours or dry before using again.
I tend to relace our gloves once a year. I dont recommend lacing gloves yourself unless you have a skiver and pocket grease/palm adhesive but then, even most the sporting goods places that do relace gloves don't skiv the laces or apply the palm adhesive either so just make sure that whether you're lacing the glove or having someone else do it, that it's done properly.
Sorry for being so long winded, gloves are sort of my thing.
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
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Everything Schmick said about sweat and salt is 100% on the money, the number one killer of a ball glove! And the part about girls gloves being nasty! On all my teams there‘s always one or two girls who treat their glove differently, and it shows, it’s easy to pick them out!
Schmick, really glad you joined up here, wealth of knowledge!
Schmick, really glad you joined up here, wealth of knowledge!
Coming from hockey I’m always getting on DD about not letting her glove sit dirty and sweaty in her bag.
Hockey gloves traditionally use thin leather palms. And it’s amazing how you can actually watch the salt and bacteria eat away at the palm if not maintained correctly. And oh the smell......oof.
Appreciate all the tips and cleaner/brush info.
Hockey gloves traditionally use thin leather palms. And it’s amazing how you can actually watch the salt and bacteria eat away at the palm if not maintained correctly. And oh the smell......oof.
Appreciate all the tips and cleaner/brush info.
That's one thing I've never done before, skive lace! Thankfully for someone like me, you can already buy skived lace from Buyfastpitchgloves.com. Someone who does as many gloves as you do, it's a no brainer to have a skiver!
Honestly, there's no telling how many gloves I've re-laced before I even knew that skiving lace was actually a thing!
What is skiving lace all about?
