Coach Rehab and Rescue Club

[EGBDF]

Are you sure you aren't I'm my basement taking pictures....hehe! I'm working on a black Court and a brown Court too! The bath really perked up my black Court, even got the wrinkles out of the handle.

Your Court collection is really looking great! You've done a great job. Thanks for the pictures!

Actually it's dark navy…but I do have a nice black Court that didn't need a bath…now I finally have a tan (bt?) one on the way. I have been waiting to find one at a reasonable price that doesn't look really bad. Hopefully it'll be decent. Do you have any other colors?

 

[ledobe]

She's going to look dull until she's completely dry. You will need to wait a day between coats of CPR and buff in between. If the strap and other areas still look faded after conditioning you can use some black acrylic / craft paint to cover them. Sometimes just painting it on then wiping it off immediately is enough for the faded leather to absorb the colour without applying a thick layer of paint.

Finish off with one or two coats of Black Rock and buff and she will glow!

Black wood n stuff leather refinisher also works really well to touch up leather bags. If seems lighter weight but more heavily pigmented than acrylic paint and drys completely flexible. It's available on eBay but you can get little sample bottles on their official site also

 

[dieseldbglove]

I just recently purchased a 2000 Coach Willis. I could use some help/consultation with its restoration. The purse had some verdigris on the metal. Here are the steps I took...

1) Removed Turnlock Hardware/Straps (No verdigris on the straps)
2) Applied Vinegar to the leather areas that had verdigris. There was some verdigris on the handle leather as well. Applied until no more verdigris was removed/no more green coloration.
3) Rinsed out the purse in water
4) Brushed the purse with woolite
5) Rinsed out the purse and dried it out with a blow drier.
6) Cleaned the brass turnlock parts with brasso
7) Applied a metal sheen coat to protect the metal hardware

Anything I else I should do? The color of the purse is fine, the leather looks and feels refreshed, I'm just concerned about the return of verdigris. I'm also very concerned about the verdigris spreading to mine or my fiancé's other purses . I even vacuumed the area I worked in and then brushed it down with a wet towel. Are there other precautions I should take to prevent the spread?

One thing I know I'm doing next time. I'm buying distilled water....lots of it.....

Also, I asked for help with a Regina in British tan that had a black ring around the turnlock. I'm happy to say that it is barely noticeable (after several months of love/conditioning/washing). Thank you for all your help with it (I think Ledobe and a couple others). It still seems to pick up stains very easily even after applying leather CPR, Blackrock, and finally Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP. Any tips on how to protect it?

Thank you in advanced for any help you can provide ^^.

 

[JOODLZ]

Love a long weekend! I dunked three bags, went for a long bike ride with my son and his friend and mucked around with some leather scraps. (Theres's that brand again, Beccabaglady!)

What lovely work you've done! The two-tone ones are a great idea...love the pointy tips.

Just heard back from the ebay seller about the strap-tassel-hangtag kit you sent me the link for...sadly the strap is too wide for my buckle. I think my belt solution will get me by for a while. I need to do some edge coloring, then I'll post. Thanks again for that.

 

[JOODLZ]

Thank you - I ended up bathing it and had no trouble. It turned out really nice. I put on several coats of Lexol and then finished with Blackrocks. I've used it a few times, too. The zipper is fine, not fragile. It was just dirty!

Ooooh, aaahhh...beautiful job...congrats!

 

[JOODLZ]

Here are my latest projects- They had a bath and some Leather CPR and Blackrocks. The brown one had quite a bit of verdigris in the turn lock so I replaced it. The d-ring has a very worn spot but I decided to leave it alone for now, as the replacement I ordered ended up being too big. I am loving my Court collection!

Beautiful jobs...I have a BT court that I love!

Are you sure you aren't I'm my basement taking pictures....hehe! I'm working on a black Court and a brown Court too! The bath really perked up my black Court, even got the wrinkles out of the handle.

Your Court collection is really looking great! You've done a great job. Thanks for the pictures!

LOL...too funny!

 

[bigal]

Actually it's dark navy…but I do have a nice black Court that didn't need a bath…now I finally have a tan (bt?) one on the way. I have been waiting to find one at a reasonable price that doesn't look really bad. Hopefully it'll be decent. Do you have any other colors?

Those dark colors are hard to photograph, but, sure are pretty in person aren't they? I only have the black (missing the long strap) and the brown. I'm looking forward to seeing your tan one. Post a before pic when you get it. The transformations of the tan bags sure are amazing!

 

[Two.time.bags]

What lovely work you've done! The two-tone ones are a great idea...love the pointy tips.

Thanks. Stole the pointy tips idea from Coach tassels. It was fun. Have to go back and get some more leather scraps in different colours.

Just heard back from the ebay seller about the strap-tassel-hangtag kit you sent me the link for...sadly the strap is too wide for my buckle. I think my belt solution will get me by for a while. I need to do some edge coloring, then I'll post. Thanks again for that.

That's a pity but great improvisation with the belt

 

[Two.time.bags]

I just recently purchased a 2000 Coach Willis. I could use some help/consultation with its restoration. The purse had some verdigris on the metal. Here are the steps I took...

1) Removed Turnlock Hardware/Straps (No verdigris on the straps)
2) Applied Vinegar to the leather areas that had verdigris. There was some verdigris on the handle leather as well. Applied until no more verdigris was removed/no more green coloration.
3) Rinsed out the purse in water
4) Brushed the purse with woolite
5) Rinsed out the purse and dried it out with a blow drier.
6) Cleaned the brass turnlock parts with brasso
7) Applied a metal sheen coat to protect the metal hardware

Anything I else I should do? The color of the purse is fine, the leather looks and feels refreshed, I'm just concerned about the return of verdigris. I'm also very concerned about the verdigris spreading to mine or my fiancé's other purses . I even vacuumed the area I worked in and then brushed it down with a wet towel. Are there other precautions I should take to prevent the spread?

One thing I know I'm doing next time. I'm buying distilled water....lots of it.....

Also, I asked for help with a Regina in British tan that had a black ring around the turnlock. I'm happy to say that it is barely noticeable (after several months of love/conditioning/washing). Thank you for all your help with it (I think Ledobe and a couple others). It still seems to pick up stains very easily even after applying leather CPR, Blackrock, and finally Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP. Any tips on how to protect it?

Thank you in advanced for any help you can provide ^^.

Verdigris is copper acetate and caused by a similar chemical reaction that produces tarnish so it doesn't 'spread' to other metal like a fungus. It requires oxygen so coating your hardware should slow the process. It used to be used by artists as a pigment in paint, and vinegar on copper was one of the methods used to produce it, so vinegar may not be the best stuff to use to clean hardware if verdigris is present.

Glad to hear that your Regina worked put well. Not sure what to suggest about the staining. The older purses tend to mark easily but the marks can usually be rubbed away with a finger or buffing.

 

[EGBDF]

Those dark colors are hard to photograph, but, sure are pretty in person aren't they? I only have the black (missing the long strap) and the brown. I'm looking forward to seeing your tan one. Post a before pic when you get it. The transformations of the tan bags sure are amazing!

I frequently have problems telling black and darker navy apart even in person! The navy one is missing the strap, but I will probably try out my navy Willis strap with it.

 

[bigal]

I frequently have problems telling black and darker navy apart even in person! The navy one is missing the strap, but I will probably try out my navy Willis strap with it.

I would think a Willis strap would work great. I was thinking the same thing, but my Willis and my black Court have different hardware colors....

 

[TBL2]

I just recently purchased a 2000 Coach Willis. I could use some help/consultation with its restoration. The purse had some verdigris on the metal. Here are the steps I took...

1) Removed Turnlock Hardware/Straps (No verdigris on the straps)
2) Applied Vinegar to the leather areas that had verdigris. There was some verdigris on the handle leather as well. Applied until no more verdigris was removed/no more green coloration.
3) Rinsed out the purse in water
4) Brushed the purse with woolite
5) Rinsed out the purse and dried it out with a blow drier.
6) Cleaned the brass turnlock parts with brasso
7) Applied a metal sheen coat to protect the metal hardware

Anything I else I should do? The color of the purse is fine, the leather looks and feels refreshed, I'm just concerned about the return of verdigris. I'm also very concerned about the verdigris spreading to mine or my fiancé's other purses . I even vacuumed the area I worked in and then brushed it down with a wet towel. Are there other precautions I should take to prevent the spread?

One thing I know I'm doing next time. I'm buying distilled water....lots of it.....

Also, I asked for help with a Regina in British tan that had a black ring around the turnlock. I'm happy to say that it is barely noticeable (after several months of love/conditioning/washing). Thank you for all your help with it (I think Ledobe and a couple others). It still seems to pick up stains very easily even after applying leather CPR, Blackrock, and finally Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP. Any tips on how to protect it?

Thank you in advanced for any help you can provide ^^.

I'm fairly certain verdigris does not spread as for instance a fungus. It is merely a chemical reaction of certain metals such as brass & copper to the atmosphere.
I have had it return once it has appeared & been cleaned off, but fortunately can be caught right away & cleaned more easily. Hopefully by using the protective coat you can prevent this from happing again. Clear nail polish will do in a pinch!

 

[catthecurious]

Good afternoon everyone (and good Wednesday morning, Two.time.bags!). I've got this bag for symbolic $5 while buying two others, and although in decent condition otherwise, it's got a huge problem with the zipper (see the pic). It's definitely not worth it to do professional replacement - besides, they'll never do that the way the original zipper was sawed in. My husband has been eyeing the bag and would be happy to take it for leather scraps, but I wanted to ask for opinion from experienced rehabbers first... is it as hopeless as I think? Thanks in advance!

 

[whateve]

Good afternoon everyone (and good Wednesday morning, Two.time.bags!). I've got this bag for symbolic $5 while buying two others, and although in decent condition otherwise, it's got a huge problem with the zipper (see the pic). It's definitely not worth it to do professional replacement - besides, they'll never do that the way the original zipper was sawed in. My husband has been eyeing the bag and would be happy to take it for leather scraps, but I wanted to ask for opinion from experienced rehabbers first... is it as hopeless as I think? Thanks in advance!

I have a bag with a zipper like that. I sent it in to Coach for repair but they wouldn't repair it. It's just been sitting here for about a year. I'm thinking about removing the zipper and putting in a new one by myself but I would have to hand sew it in and I'm dreading how much that will hurt my hands. Looking at it, it just looks like so much work. I would have to remove the original edging.

 

[casualvtgfan]

Good afternoon everyone (and good Wednesday morning, Two.time.bags!). I've got this bag for symbolic $5 while buying two others, and although in decent condition otherwise, it's got a huge problem with the zipper (see the pic). It's definitely not worth it to do professional replacement - besides, they'll never do that the way the original zipper was sawed in. My husband has been eyeing the bag and would be happy to take it for leather scraps, but I wanted to ask for opinion from experienced rehabbers first... is it as hopeless as I think? Thanks in advance!

I had a zipper unravel on me while sorting purses at work, and thinking of that gave me an idea you could maybe try.
Take a look at the zipper, it may be possible to sew it back onto the side material by hand. Use some thread, and loop it between the teeth of the zipper, and into the fabric part that it has torn loose from...does that make sense? I'm just visualizing this, I haven't tried it. That might be enough to make it usable again? Applying something to the fabric edging to prevent it from fraying further might be necessary, if there's even enough of it left to sew into, that is.