Coach Rehab and Rescue Club

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#19,456
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#19,457
houseof999 said:
I don't know if there's another thread for this because it's not really a rehab related. I went to a leather tooling class today and learned how to carve and use different tools. It's not easy. I have a whole new level of respect for people who do this! View attachment 4381457
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This looks great! I was wondering how hard it would be. My son has a little leather kit I want to play with!
 
#19,458
Syren said:
Another newb looking for advice [emoji23] I recently purchased a Chelsea Hobo in Mineral # 10959 and I think it’s in pretty good shape but I’d like to spruce her up a bit. But I’m a little afraid of this leather, Coach called it “vintage” and I think that just meant it was untreated or something like that. I did look back through this thread and found a post from someone who dunked theirs and it came out very nice. I don’t think this is the bag I should be attempting that with for my first time haha!

I’m wondering if I could give it a light wipe down with some soapy / vinegar water and then moisturize? This leather seems like it’s meant to be worn in so I don’t want to completely remove its “patina” but the bottom is definitely darker and seems to be a bit dirty. And there is a large scratch across the front that I’m hoping some moisturizer can blend in a bit.

I’ll probably try to clean off part of the bottom to test first and see how the leather reacts before I do the whole thing. Unless someone advises me not to mess with this leather [emoji23] I seem to have fallen down the rabbit hole of this era of Chelsea’s, I’m usually not into the older styles I appreciate them and enjoy looking at them but I may have found my era of older Coach! This bag is just so well made. I got into Coach a few years after this bag was released.

Thanks for any help! Or just for listening [emoji1]View attachment 4381573View attachment 4381574View attachment 4381575
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Hi Syren! Wait for someone more experienced with this bag, but I will share my very limited experience in the meantime. :smile: I wipe down bags with 50/50 water & white vinegar on a soft cloth. If it needs more cleaning, I use Leather CPR to clean and then condition with it. Your new Chelsea is beautiful!
 
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#19,461
tealocean said:
Hi Syren! Wait for someone more experienced with this bag, but I will share my very limited experience in the meantime. :smile: I wipe down bags with 50/50 water & white vinegar on a soft cloth. If it needs more cleaning, I use Leather CPR to clean and then condition with it. Your new Chelsea is beautiful!
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Thanks for your input! The digging around in this thread I’ve been doing seems to suggest the water vinegar wipe down may be the best way to go. I think I’ll try it today on a portion of the bottom to see how it handles it [emoji1]
 
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#19,464
Syren said:
Thanks for your input! The digging around in this thread I’ve been doing seems to suggest the water vinegar wipe down may be the best way to go. I think I’ll try it today on a portion of the bottom to see how it handles it [emoji1]
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I think the bag will do fine with water/vinegar wiping. I did that with my vintage bags I just bought recently, and all of them have done fine. I have been doing it on the outside and even the inside suede lining just to get some sense that I "cleaned" them a bit--even though they didn't really need it.
 
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#19,465
houseof999 said:
After I bent the leather, the leather looks lighter and it looks like cracked dry skin peel. It's white and I'm assuming it's beeswax. What do you guys think? Can it be removed safely without harming the leather? Had any one worked on a heavily waxed bag before? View attachment 4382091
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I've never worked with a beeswaxed bag, some online searches mention warm water and ammonia to remove wax from leather but I haven't tried it.

You might take it to a leather repair shoe shop and ask for advice. Good luck!
 
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#19,466
houseof999 said:
After I bent the leather, the leather looks lighter and it looks like cracked dry skin peel. It's white and I'm assuming it's beeswax. What do you guys think? Can it be removed safely without harming the leather? Had any one worked on a heavily waxed bag before? View attachment 4382091
Click to expand...

Nice bag I hope you can save it I have a similar one I haven’t dunked yet, still haven’t decided to yet but the handles are more rounded.
 
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