Reconditioning Gloves | GTAMotorcycle.com

Reconditioning Gloves

Mad Mike

Well-known member
This summer I did a ride thru some heavy rain, my gloves got soaked thru. I tossed them in my side case wet, forgot them for a couple of weeks. When I pulled them out they were dry a a Ducati clutch, hard as a rock and 3 sizes smaller.

They are spendy so I’d rather not experiment… any suggestion from those who have rehabilitated a similar situation - I’ve never had gloves do this.
 
It's been a long time since I did it and there may be (and probably are) better ways. I soaked the gloves in warm water to soften then up again and them pulled them on to stretch them back into shape. Dried with an old towel a bunch, then hair dryer on medium for a while to speed up the process. Kept moving by hands so the gloves kept space where I needed it. Carefully removed and set out to dry with a fan on them. Lots of baseball glove oil to recondition the now hard but properly sized gloves. I had glove oil around so I used it, again, there are probably better ways. In the end, they fit better than new but were a little stiffer. I suspect there is a path to victory using warm oil instead of water to rehydrate the leather and stretch it back to shape but I've never tried it.
 
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Same as what GreyGhost with the warm water. I didn’t have glove oil and used Lexol Leather Conditioner Preservative, wiping it on and off until it was saturated. Dried it as best as I could with towel and hung them to dry and put them off and on as they dried to keep them from shrinking. This was on an old pair of Held gloves that I really like.
 
This summer I did a ride thru some heavy rain, my gloves got soaked thru. I tossed them in my side case wet, forgot them for a couple of weeks. When I pulled them out they were dry a a Ducati clutch, hard as a rock and 3 sizes smaller.

They are spendy so I’d rather not experiment… any suggestion from those who have rehabilitated a similar situation - I’ve never had gloves do this.
The Helds?
 
The Helds?
Yes. I got a few rides out of them, they were a little tighter than I’d normally buy, but they did relax and stretch to a comfortable fit after about 5000km of riding.

Right now they fit like this:

IMG_0602.jpeg
 
I use either Fiebings which was recommended by the leather master on this forum, or when I can't find Fiebings, I use some Effax paste that I got from a nearby tack shop. The difference is that I put it on earlier, the day after the rainstorm, before the gloves have completely dried out and shrunk two sizes. put a light coating on both gloves, put the gloves on, then make like you're washing your hands without water.
 
I use either Fiebings which was recommended by the leather master on this forum, or when I can't find Fiebings, I use some Effax paste that I got from a nearby tack shop. The difference is that I put it on earlier, the day after the rainstorm, before the gloves have completely dried out and shrunk two sizes. put a light coating on both gloves, put the gloves on, then make like you're washing your hands without water.
+1 for feibings.
 
Thanks. I’ll try the Fiebings and report back
 

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