Awesome. Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Woo, now I know what to do with this bag.
=D
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
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Awesome. Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Woo, now I know what to do with this bag.
=D
Response to Lake Effect: (sorry for the missing quote)
Yes, BT. I decided to go ahead and dunk again because the splotches on the bag really bothered me. I used just plain water, no soap, and the first thing I noticed was how susdy the water got right away. Maybe I didn't rinse all of the soap out from the last two dunks. I put a LOT of soap on the ink stains in the previous dunks. The second thing I noticed was how slimy the bag felt when It went in the water. I had applied approximately four coats of Leather CPR on it after the last dunk. I had also applied CPR to it after the first dunk but it didn't feel slimy in the second dunk. The third and last thing I noticed is that the bag did not absorb the water as evenly as it had in the first two dunks. It looks like a pinto horse now, with very defined dark areas. I will update after it has had some time to soak and dry. My stomach sank when I put it in the 3rd bath and noticed these things. I was really growing fond of this bag even though I bought it specifically to experiment on. I have to remind myself of that! Hopefully she comes out of this bath usable at the very least.
Yes, BT. I decided to go ahead and dunk again because the splotches on the bag really bothered me. I used just plain water, no soap, and the first thing I noticed was how susdy the water got right away. Maybe I didn't rinse all of the soap out from the last two dunks. I put a LOT of soap on the ink stains in the previous dunks. The second thing I noticed was how slimy the bag felt when It went in the water. I had applied approximately four coats of Leather CPR on it after the last dunk. I had also applied CPR to it after the first dunk but it didn't feel slimy in the second dunk. The third and last thing I noticed is that the bag did not absorb the water as evenly as it had in the first two dunks. It looks like a pinto horse now, with very defined dark areas. I will update after it has had some time to soak and dry. My stomach sank when I put it in the 3rd bath and noticed these things. I was really growing fond of this bag even though I bought it specifically to experiment on. I have to remind myself of that! Hopefully she comes out of this bath usable at the very least.
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^^
Thank you so much for the response LE, sorry for the delayed reply. I screwed up quoting you, please see my reply above. Too many beers with Easter dinner I guess....ha ha!
Yes! I was hoping you would know what I was talking about. It's a super easy fix that makes a big difference. I find the old glue brings your eye right to the 'flaw' when a bag is lighter coloured.
I dunked a Periwinkle Winnie. I used CPR and Blackrock on it. I don't think the Blackrock darkened it at all, but I touched the underside of the flap by accident and it left a mark. For this reason, you might want to skip the Blackrock, or be super careful if you use it!
Hey people! I'm currently rehabbing a Willis.
So far, I've given the bag a bath, and applied two coats of Leather CPR.
The edges of the straps were worn. I've fixed one of the straps so far. I used Angelus Leather Dye in the color Navy Blue, and Angelus Matte Acrylic Finisher as a top coat. I think it looks surprisingly great, including in person, looking closely.
(Also, I did a couple of things to make them smooth. Before applying dye, I used a razor and a glass nail file on the ragged edges. And while the Finisher was drying, I noticed some rough spots, so I used the flat part of the nail file to just press down on the rough spots, which smoothed them. I could've used a different flat object for this.)
So, my question.
There's some wear on the front of the bag, on the leather that surrounds the turnlock. I'm debating about whether to use dye, or whether to use leather paint.
(If I use dye, I'd apply it using a very thin brush. In attempt to avoid drips, I'd use a tiny bit of dye at a time, and I'd cover most of the bag with plastic.)
This is my first Willis, so I don't have another bag to refer to. About the areas that are missing color on this bag, does anyone know whether it looks like Coach used dye on these areas, or leather finish i.e. paint?
Any strong opinions? Or stories about using die and wishing you'd used paint, or vice versa?
The bag so far.
Straps. On left side, strap is worn. On right side, strap after leather dye and finisher.
The issue I'm asking about.
So far, I've given the bag a bath, and applied two coats of Leather CPR.
The edges of the straps were worn. I've fixed one of the straps so far. I used Angelus Leather Dye in the color Navy Blue, and Angelus Matte Acrylic Finisher as a top coat. I think it looks surprisingly great, including in person, looking closely.
(Also, I did a couple of things to make them smooth. Before applying dye, I used a razor and a glass nail file on the ragged edges. And while the Finisher was drying, I noticed some rough spots, so I used the flat part of the nail file to just press down on the rough spots, which smoothed them. I could've used a different flat object for this.)
So, my question.
There's some wear on the front of the bag, on the leather that surrounds the turnlock. I'm debating about whether to use dye, or whether to use leather paint.
(If I use dye, I'd apply it using a very thin brush. In attempt to avoid drips, I'd use a tiny bit of dye at a time, and I'd cover most of the bag with plastic.)
This is my first Willis, so I don't have another bag to refer to. About the areas that are missing color on this bag, does anyone know whether it looks like Coach used dye on these areas, or leather finish i.e. paint?
Any strong opinions? Or stories about using die and wishing you'd used paint, or vice versa?
The bag so far.
Straps. On left side, strap is worn. On right side, strap after leather dye and finisher.
The issue I'm asking about.
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Thank you, @Catbird9!!
Did you find that the Blackrock made the leather look better? So is there an advantage to using it for Periwinkle?
Also: I'm very curious about your Winnie! It looks great.
I've haven't seen the Winnie in person, and I don't have a good sense of the size.
A couple of months ago, I bought a Canteen (#9982). I was surprised when I got the bag, because it's barely big enough to hold my large-ish phone. (I use a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.) I have to remove the case for the phone to fit. I find it's a very small capacity bag. So I've become a little bit cautious about the smaller bags.
On the other hand, I got a Pocket Purse recently, and the capacity seems to be more comfortable.
I'm wondering, how do you like your Winnie? May I ask how much it fits?
=)
I don't believe they used paint back when this was made. They didn't normally finish the edges. No edgepaint was used. The leather was dyed before construction.
If it were mine, I would paint it in a matching acrylic paint, after masking the surrounding leather.
I used Edge-Kote to do this on my Willis, and I DON'T recommend it unless the rest of the Willis has that finish. It's hard to put on smoothly, and the area makes sanding and smoothing difficult.
I used acrylic on a Canterbury, thinned a bit to apply multiple layers, and mixed with a bit if acrylic gloss. I think it's a decent replacement for the original factory finish. Not as good, but I'm pleased so far. Attached is photo of my Canterbury with the similar leather disk in front, after painting.
If you have Angelus top coat, I'm thinking you could just paint that on top of navy paint?
You did a beautiful job on the straps, BTW. Can I ask how you used the razor?
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Looks like you got the Mini-Canteen Bag, because the regular Canteen is a bit bigger and would hold much more than the phone only.
Here's the picture of both Willis bags from a 1997 catalog, hope that would give you an idea about difference in size. The Winnie doesn't hold much, in my experience, because it has tapered profile and that makes it even smaller than it seems.
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Your re-finished strap looks great! Did you dye the leather completely for that, using a brush for painting the surface with the dye? Did you cover the strap completely and then put a coat of acrylic finisher after it dried?
I actually learned the brasso trick from Debi Nemetz, a veteran Coach rehabber that worked with Coach a few years ago and spent a lot of time in their archive. Her blog Sacs Magnifiques is no longer active, but I was able to find its past posts that now exist on https://test.sacsmagnifiques.com. I learned many neat tips and tricks from her as well as info about what products are good and bad for glove-tanned leather.
I wonder what she is doing now. She started out here.
Me too - none of her sales accounts (eBay, Etsy, her blog) has been active for the past few years...
Here is the Murphy all done! I had to deal with a sneaky ink stain, which I couldn't get to go away, but I did get it all blotted out, at least. I also included a pic of the dowel end repair. I didn't have a piece quite thin enough to get it flush, and the color isn't an exact match, but overall, I don't think anyone will notice the imperfections, and my mother is excited. I took it over for our Easter celebration, so she could test drive it to make sure it wouldn't be too heavy.
