Coach Rehab and Rescue Club

[ledobe]

I think that a lot of people are hesitant to use blackrocks because they are worried about it changing the color. It just enriches and restores the color and helps with uneven coloration. Most every rehabber that tries it loves it. But again, I don't how much it would help with those dark spots.

I keep wanting to post a thank you to y'all for introducing me to BlackRocks-it's a great product!

 

[ledobe]

No, not at all, It feels like part of the bag. Its as if the stain is so old it "has become one" with the leather

I don't have a solution...in fact, I think I might have the same problem with my musette that I posted earlier in the thread but it's a lot worse. It had what looked like grease spots all over the bag...I aggressively cleaned it, and the leather came out soft and beautiful, but if anything the grease spots got DARKER!

I don't want to dye the bag, and I'm actually using it for work now. I've been meaning to post pix I just haven't gotten around to it.

 

[katev]

Hi Kate,

I have never taken a bag repair to a cobbler before as I am nervous about the outcome and price. I do think I have to now becuase a tear on the bag and another on the strap. Would you mind sharing how much your cobbler charged you for a tear repair? Thank you!

A lot depends on the type of tear. If it is just that the stitching has separated it is usually fairly inexpensive ($5 - $10). If the cobbler has to remove the piping, stitch the leather underneath and then replace the piping it can get more expensive ($15 - $20).

Here are before and after pics of the tear on my brown Patricia's Legacy and the cobbler charged $28 but it was pretty bad tear and that price included repairing the spot damage on the front of the bag. I only spent $4.50 on the bag so I think it was worth it. I gave her a bath today and hope that she will rehab well. The first 3 pics are before and the last 2 are after. As you can see, it wasn't just separated stitching or lose piping, the leather had actually torn away.

You can see before and after pics of the spot repair at the link below:
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach/coach-rehab-and-rescue-club-624452-276.html#post22309790

 

[chowlover2]

I keep wanting to post a thank you to y'all for introducing me to BlackRocks-it's a great product!

I love it, Docride in the Hermes repair thread introduced me to It. Have you tried the Obenauf's yet? Not as creamy, but applies like a dream.

 

[chowlover2]

Hi Kate,

I have never taken a bag repair to a cobbler before as I am nervous about the outcome and price. I do think I have to now becuase a tear on the bag and another on the strap. Would you mind sharing how much your cobbler charged you for a tear repair? Thank you!

You can always take the bag to a cobbler and ask for an estimate.

 

[katev]

I keep wanting to post a thank you to y'all for introducing me to BlackRocks-it's a great product!

I was a little unsure about Black Rocks at first, myself. It contains wax and it is sticky! At first I was using too much and it was hard to get rid of the sticky residue. Now it is one of my favorite products. I have gone back and applied it to some of my earlier rehabs and I am much happier with the results now.

 

[chowlover2]

I was a little unsure about Black Rocks at first, myself. It contains wax and it is sticky! At first I was using too much and it was hard to get rid of the sticky residue. Now it is one of my favorite products. I have gone back and applied it to some of my earlier rehabs and I am much happier with the results now.

Mine is kind of creamy. The Obenauf's is more a traditional wax, but it applied easily. I've used wax before and sometimes it is tough to buff off. I think it.'s a great product too.i had a bad experience with a Dooney bag 25 yrs ago. I bought a high end Dooney, carried it about a week, and we had rain. I carried and didn't give it a thought, I spent about $150 on it, and figured it would be waterproof. It wasn't, the leather blistered and I wound up selling it on EBay years later. Now I am OCD about bags being waterproof.

 

[katev]

I got ambitious today, here are some pics of the items currently drying on my work table:

- Two Patricia's Legacy bags (brown and tan)
- West End Hobo (brown calfskin and lined, this is a new venture for me!)
- Pebbled Sonoma zip wallet (navy, striped sonoma lining)
- White Legacy Zip

I am still fighting with that white legacy zip! The bleach really helped whiten it but then I couldn't get rid of the bleach smell no matter what I did, so I've rewashed it in hot water with Tide and Downy!

 

[katev]

I love it, Docride in the Hermes repair thread introduced me to It. Have you tried the Obenauf's yet? Not as creamy, but applies like a dream.

I've purchased the Obenauf's but I haven't applied it yet!

 

[katev]

Hi,

Hyacinth was nice enough to authenticate this bag for me:

http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-shopping/authenticate-this-coach-694619-821.html#post22316683

She's confirmed that it's a Baxter bag style 9903. Since it needs a good cleaning my first inclination was to get it into a tub of warm soapy water, but just as I was getting ready to put it in, it occurred to me that the bottom of the bag is quite stiff and I have no idea what type of material it is to cause it to be that way. It may end up being something that could be ruined by giving it a bath.

Does anyone know what's in the bottom of the bag or what it's made of? This is my first time with a Coach bag that wasn't all soft leather.

Thanks!

Nice bag! I think that it is just thick leather. If it were my bag, I would dunk it - but I've never owned or rehabbed that specific bag. Good luck!

 

[katev]

So I thought about posting this bag in the "secondhand" thread because she barely qualifies as a rehab, but since we are always debating "to dunk or not to dunk" our red bags I thought I'd show her here.

I got this cute little red Trail Bag on eBay for $16. I work at a university, which is also my alma mater, and our school color is red. I had to work an event last weekend and I ended up carrying my little lime green Emmie Flap, but I kinda wished I had a small red bag to match the grey & red T-Shirt I had to wear. I've got a big red Stewardess, and my "TrashCan" red spectator City bag, (who has yet to make her public debut), but nothing small.

She was a little dirty, flat, and her piping was a little worn, but over all looked pretty good when I got her last night. Unfortunately her full body shot didn't come out when I uploaded it, so all I have are a couple of detailed "before" shots to show her condition:

Piping:

Dirty Pockets:

I vacuumed her out and dunked her. The pockets were really dirty, but the outside of the bag was pretty clean. I did some stuff after work last night and didn't get home til close to 9PM, but I was impatient and since she didn't need much I wanted to get her started!

Here she is in her rinse water. I washed her with dish soap, drained it, then rinsed with running water, then filled up the sink again and let her soak in some clean water too. It just seems like it's the best way to tell if all the soap is out. Her soapy water was only slightly more "pink" than this water, but you can see it in this picture better:

Hanging on the faucet to drip a little:

Here she is the next morning. This is like, the "honeymoon" stage of bag dunking...almost dry, the leather looks nice and dark & pretty. I have noticed, however, that light color bags look worse at this stage because the leather color shows through the "white" and makes the bag look scary dirty

Here she is a couple of hours after one coat of Leather CPR. Dunking seems to have "refreshed" the faded piping. I probably will do a coat of Black Rocks on her, but I wanted a before picture so that you can see that the bath did her no damage. I know a few of you have had issues with red bags, but I think the glove tanned bags are pretty safe to dunk:

The red on this bag is still pretty vibrant, I don't expect that the Black Rocks will make it look any different after it soaks in. She doesn't have a hang tag, but I plan to wander over to the school bookstore one of these days to see if I can find a cute little university themed key chain or something to add. She's going to get to go to some football & basketball games and other school events.

She looks terrific! Coach will send you a brass hangtag to match the hardware and I think it would look great with the red leather!

 

[katev]

Hi, I know a few individuals that frequently post in this thread are absolutely talented at fixing up old, dirty bags into beautiful, clean purses. I picked up an old Station bag in pretty beat up condition that needs a dunking, but I have a problem that perhaps one of you lovely ladies would be able to help me out with. I've searched this problem up countless times, but the solutions are not quite working for me. I think I remember reading in this thread somewhere that someone successfully conquered this problem (though I might be wrong), but I would be completely grateful if someone could help me out here. The bag smells of cigarettes. The smell becomes apparent when I hold the bag about 1ft away from my face. When I smell into it, the scent is quite unbearable. I'm wondering if giving it a bath might eliminate the smell? If so, is there a product I could throw into the washing process? Is there a minimum amount I should soak it in for? Do you think if I used a nice smelling detergent that the scent would go away? Also, I'd prefer if the smell was eliminated, and not just masked. Anyway, I would really appreciate any help, if any at all, and thanks in advance!

I am currently locked in a life and death struggle with a navy willis bag that has a cigarette smoke smell. It reeked when I got her but I figured "This is an unlined bag so I'll just give it a bath and that should take care of the problem." Wrong!

After the bag dried I could tell that the bath helped a lot but the smell was still there. In fact it gets a little stronger while the leather is wet but that fades. Next I put her throught the washer, and that helped even more but didn't entirely eradicate the smell.

I tried charcoal filters and baking soda and it all helped but I still get a slight smell of cigarettes from so I don't want to put my stuff in the bag and carry it.

Like you I would prefer to eliminate rather than mask the smell but that may not be an option. I think that next I will put her through the washer again with hot water and laundrey soap and conditioner and see what happens.

I am going to do my best to avoid smoke-smelling bags in the future! Let us know what happens with your bag, good luck!

 

[ledobe]

I am currently locked in a life and death struggle with a navy willis bag that has a cigarette smoke smell. It reeked when I got her but I figured "This is an unlined bag so I'll just give it a bath and that should take care of the problem." Wrong!

After the bag dried I could tell that the bath helped a lot but the smell was still there. In fact it gets a little stronger while the leather is wet but that fades. Next I put her throught the washer, and that helped even more but didn't entirely eradicate the smell.

I tried charcoal filters and baking soda and it all helped but I still get a slight smell of cigarettes from so I don't want to put my stuff in the bag and carry it.

Like you I would prefer to eliminate rather than mask the smell but that may not be an option. I think that next I will put her through the washer again with hot water and laundrey soap and conditioner and see what happens.

I am going to do my best to avoid smoke-smelling bags in the future! Let us know what happens with your bag, good luck!

I put some baking soda in the washing machine, along with detergent, when I washed my two white bags from a smoking seller. They do not smell like smoke at all now, however, if what the eBay seller says was true, she purchased them from an estate sale and while the seller might be a smoker and the bags smelled smoky when I unpacked them, the original owner might not have been a smoker so it might have been on the surface.

So, in other words, I'm not convinced that washing them with baking soda made any difference, but it didn't hurt them at all either.

 

[katev]

Hi, I know a few individuals that frequently post in this thread are absolutely talented at fixing up old, dirty bags into beautiful, clean purses. I picked up an old Station bag in pretty beat up condition that needs a dunking, but I have a problem that perhaps one of you lovely ladies would be able to help me out with. I've searched this problem up countless times, but the solutions are not quite working for me. I think I remember reading in this thread somewhere that someone successfully conquered this problem (though I might be wrong), but I would be completely grateful if someone could help me out here. The bag smells of cigarettes. The smell becomes apparent when I hold the bag about 1ft away from my face. When I smell into it, the scent is quite unbearable. I'm wondering if giving it a bath might eliminate the smell? If so, is there a product I could throw into the washing process? Is there a minimum amount I should soak it in for? Do you think if I used a nice smelling detergent that the scent would go away? Also, I'd prefer if the smell was eliminated, and not just masked. Anyway, I would really appreciate any help, if any at all, and thanks in advance!

I know that we would both rather eradicate rather than try to cover up the smell, but I've decided to try Scentsy "Weathered Leather" spray to see if that is an option. I just ordered a bottle at the link below. I'll let you know what it smells like!

https://scentsifyme.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Buy/ProductDetails/RS-WTL

 

[katev]

I put some baking soda in the washing machine, along with detergent, when I washed my two white bags from a smoking seller. They do not smell like smoke at all now, however, if what the eBay seller says was true, she purchased them from an estate sale and while the seller might be a smoker and the bags smelled smoky when I unpacked them, the original owner might not have been a smoker so it might have been on the surface.

So, in other words, I'm not convinced that washing them with baking soda made any difference, but it didn't hurt them at all either.

Good idea, thanks!