Coach Rehab and Rescue Club

[katev]

I have a camel hangtag, I can send it to you, let me know.

Wow! If it turns out to be camel I will be in touch, thank you!

 

[katev]

Double Wow! I just tried the hairdryer trick on those white spots and they disappeared almost instantly so it was spue - thanks for the great suggestion!

It's turns out that I have a hangtag that is a good match for this bag - whatever color it is. I thought that the hangtag was tan, but now I am thinking camel, especially after reading that catalog description, thanks @Catbird9!

I will rehab the hangtag with the bag to help ensure that they stay a good match; but thank you @valv54 for your kind offer!

I just posted this British Tan Willis in the authentication thread. It's from 1999 in Costa Rica. I bought it for $35 on Mercari; it appears to be in pretty good shape except for these circles on the bottom - do you think that they are mold?
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m85563300103/

View attachment 4689085

try using a hairdryer on it and see if its spew...might disappear. It wouldnt hurt to try. You will know if its mold when you get it I suppose.

Spue, a fatty residue on leather sometimes mistaken for mold.
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club

My new Willis arrived and I am really pleased. The auction pictures weren't great but I took a chance and got it for $35 plus $10 S&H and @BeenBurned kindly authenticated it for me.

It was made in Costa Rica in 1999 and it was listed as "tan" but now that I see it, it might be camel? I think that it is just very dehydrated and it will probably darken with rehab and become British Tan.

The color of the hardware was a big question. It looked silver (nickel) in some of the auction phots and gold in other photos. The seller told me "My Mother has the bag and she says that it is brass" but Mom was mistaken! It is definitely nickel hardware!

I was worried that the round, white spots on the bottom in the auction photos might be mold but they are definitely not mold - I'm not sure what they are but I think that they will probably disappear with rehab. Maybe it is spue, I will try the hairdryer trick.

The inside of the bag is very clean and there were some receipts from 2003 inside, along with a carpet sample, a hat pin, and 0.21 cents in coins that were minted in the 1990s. There are some loose stitches in the top handle and the outside is grubby and has signs of wear and it is missing the hangtag - but I think that it will rehab well! I am looking forward to working on it soon! What's your opinion about the color, do you think that it will it turn out to be British Tan or Camel?

View attachment 4691058

View attachment 4691059

View attachment 4691061

I would use the hairdryer on those spots...wouldnt hurt to try anyway. Didnt camel only come with nickel hardware?

Camel with Nickel hardware. Color choices in Fall 1999 catalog:

View attachment 4691105

I have a camel hangtag, I can send it to you, let me know.

 

[Narnanz]

Wow! I just tried the hairdryer trick on those white spots and they disappeared almost instantly so it was spue - thanks for the great suggestion!

It's turns out that I have a hangtag that is a good match for this bag - whatever color it is. I thought that the hangtag was tan, but now I am thinking camel, especially after reading that catalog description, thanks @Catbird9!

I will rehab the hangtag with the bag to help ensure that they stay a good match; but thank you @valv54 for your kind offer!

epic quoting there.

 

[artax two]

epic quoting there.

That's someone who knows how to use the quotes button! I love it!

 

[CPSE]

Have any of you dealt with pinprick holes, small but still visibly seen, like tiny rips in the leather? I don’t know if they are cat scratch marks or what, but in two bags that I’m currently working on have them on the back. Would you leave them as is or fill it with leather glue? I don’t want them to open up more by accident.

 

[whateve]

Have any of you dealt with pinprick holes, small but still visibly seen, like tiny rips in the leather? I don’t know if they are cat scratch marks or what, but in two bags that I’m currently working on have them on the back. Would you leave them as is or fill it with leather glue? I don’t want them to open up more by accident.

Every time I tried to do that, it looked worse so I gave up.

 

[CPSE]

Every time I tried to do that, it looked worse so I gave up.

That’s good to know. I’ll just leave them as is... good thing I asked before I tried!

 

[Saaski]

So a couple of weeks ago I picked up this duffle bag at the thrift for $18. Looked in good shape, although quite dirty and it had a big old combination lock attached.
First thing I did was to dunk and scrub the heck out of it, lock and all. Next, I googled how to crack the combination lock. Wasted a bit of time with that and finally took a hammer to it and was able to break the back open and undo the lock mechanism. I conditioned the leather parts and bag was looking pretty good but the inside still had a bit of an odour. Pretty sure it was used as a gym bag. Dumped some baking powder, hydrogen peroxide and dish soap and let it sit in there for a while (this is the same recipe used to remove stink from pets who have been sprayed by skunks). Scrubbed again and re-dunked the whole bag. Finally ended up with a nice, usable, fresh smelling overnight bag!View attachment 4690947

It looks great!

 

[Saaski]

I'm ready for more rehabbing! Really have gotten bit by the bug, and reading this thread and others has only encouraged. This is my current project, a Lula's legacy bucket bag. I found her sad and dry and very squashed (and for $19!).

And after a bath and several coats of conditioner:

I'm so pleased with how much better the shape is now. I want to do at least one more coat of conditioner but progress has been made!

 

[Saaski]

Of course, I've been keeping an eye out now, and with much thanks to the authenticators and IDers, these are my next two projects.
The prairie (in British tan I think?):

And the court (someone suggested putty as the color?):

With my half-off coupon at value world, they totaled $33 together! Even with the pen marks on the court, I was happy, as I have been wanting a smaller day bag and the court was perfect, ink or not.

And I cannot wait to get some moisture back into these bags.

 

[artax two]

So I have started feeling like since my rehabbed bags are still just not getting as soft as they were before dunking, maybe what they are missing is some kind of oil application. What is the general consensus here about applying any oil at any stage in a rehab? It just seems like once the CPR dries, the leather is still stiff and rough. Maybe my house is just super duper dry (it is, I know because I bought a digital humidity gauge and it reads about 30%) and I need a lot more coats of CPR than one would think normally necessary. Or maybe I need a product with an oil in it? Just wondering what everyone thinks.

 

[CPSE]

So I have started feeling like since my rehabbed bags are still just not getting as soft as they were before dunking, maybe what they are missing is some kind of oil application. What is the general consensus here about applying any oil at any stage in a rehab? It just seems like once the CPR dries, the leather is still stiff and rough. Maybe my house is just super duper dry (it is, I know because I bought a digital humidity gauge and it reads about 30%) and I need a lot more coats of CPR than one would think normally necessary. Or maybe I need a product with an oil in it? Just wondering what everyone thinks.

Have you noticed this with all your bags or just some? I haven’t had any experience with the oil application but some of my bags are still stiff even after many apps of CPR (like my bt devon bag, green station bag) but other ones becomes soft almost immediately after a couple of coats (like my collegiate bag, city bag). I also noticed those that have been used more (more beat up but not dry) when they come to me tend to become soft sooner after. NYC bags seem to become softer for me quickly too. Not an exact science though...

 

[CPSE]

Of course, I've been keeping an eye out now, and with much thanks to the authenticators and IDers, these are my next two projects.
The prairie (in British tan I think?):
View attachment 4691282
And the court (someone suggested putty as the color?):
View attachment 4691283
With my half-off coupon at value world, they totaled $33 together! Even with the pen marks on the court, I was happy, as I have been wanting a smaller day bag and the court was perfect, ink or not.

And I cannot wait to get some moisture back into these bags.

Nice finds!!

 

[Saaski]

Nice finds!!

Yeah! I'm excited

 

[artax two]

Have you noticed this with all your bags or just some? I haven’t had any experience with the oil application but some of my bags are still stiff even after many apps of CPR (like my bt devon bag, green station bag) but other ones becomes soft almost immediately after a couple of coats (like my collegiate bag, city bag). I also noticed those that have been used more (more beat up but not dry) when they come to me tend to become soft sooner after. NYC bags seem to become softer for me quickly too. Not an exact science though...

Oh its pretty much every one of them. I have started cutting my dunk time down to under 10 minutes for both soap phase and rinse phase combined, and cutting the amount of detergent down to just a drop or two, hoping maybe that will help to not remove too much natural oil from them. I have to get the first CPR coat on within 2 hours or the bag will be dry to the touch already. Then I try to wait about 6 hours until the next coat but usually its overnight if I start the dunk in the afternoon. My Winnie that I just dunked got 3 coats of CPR, a coat of Renapur and a coat of Blackrocks and after two to three days, it still felt a little dry and rough on the outer sides and just did not feel like it did before I started. Yes, maybe your older bags that have been used more have oils from our hands and such deep in the leather so that is what makes the difference.