From what I've seen Fossil bags tend to be more heavily finished. Maybe the protective layer of surface pigment wears off unevenly and the product penetrates to a different degree in different spots?
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
- Thread starter greenpixie
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Thanks for the tip. I used a couple coats of Renapur. Blackrock is hard to get in Canada, Amazon (not prime) charge more on shipping than product itself. Also I don't trust individual sellers on Amazon either. Renapur did help to blend in the color. The verivation is not as abvious IRL as under camera. People probably won't know it is painted. But I don't know the longevity of painting color. Don't really want to repeat the process again.
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I had a feeling your bunny was a Rex. I get it, I'm not a fan of fur either.Sounds like a reasonable reaction to me, just take a look at my avatar!
Nah, no idea. I don't think its ink because there is not much on the inside at that exact spot, other than a slight darkening, so it's almost like the stain was deposited on the outside and went deep enough to almost show up on the inside. This particular bag has the thickest and stiffest leather of all the vintage bags I've purchased so far. It was pretty stiff before the dunk and since it is on the smaller side, the seams are not all that far apart from each other reinforcing the stiffness throughout the bag. That is my opinion anyway.
On the hardware, I just mean the top layer on the button has chipped leaving that characteristic look of worn hardware.
Ya I am not sure about appliques. I would probably paint it before I would do an applique. Since I transplanted this bag's hangtag to another red bag that was missing one, keeping this would put me in yet another situation of hunting for a solo NYC era red hangtag which I am finding is near impossible to find (this is the 2nd red bag I have tried to buy to specifically get the tag from and all I have realized is that it is mentally difficult for me to get rid of a red NYC bag) so it is really better if I do not rehab this one. Maybe I should just hold on to it for, like you say, that button - but it is not even in good enough shape to salvage it, in my opinion other than the spring does work really good.
Is there anywhere I can get replacement shoulder straps? There's nothing wrong with the straps. Just the edge paint coming off at the peak of the straps where it goes over your shoulder. I don't know if I'm brave enough to get the paint and paint it. Lol
Thank you for sending this information from Catbird9!
I have noticed that the weak spot on most of the vintage bags are the piping.
Does anyone know if the piping around bags can be replaced. I would imagine it is costly because they would basically have to take the entire bag apart. My favorite bag has a rip in the piping.
Does anyone know if the piping around bags can be replaced. I would imagine it is costly because they would basically have to take the entire bag apart. My favorite bag has a rip in the piping.
No, she's just a little dwarf rabbit, but I am a fan of all bunnies!
I think that is just a build up of tarnish, buffing with some super fine 000 steel wool and then polishing it up a bit might do the trick.
I like to use original or similar hangtags too, but that isn't always possible so a plain gold hangtag would be an acceptable substitute for a missing leather one,
It can be replaced. @RL Bernstein has mentioned her experience with this type of repair. Search the Coach boards for her other posts using the search term "edge binding":
Authenticate This COACH - **see first post for format**
If your rip is small, you might be able to fill it with leather cement and paint over it. You could also glue and sew a small strip of leather edge binding over it. Finding matching binding would be the hard part.
Here is a better photo. Do you still recommend the steel wool? Just out of curiosity do you hand buff or would it need a Dremel? I've been very iffy on dremeling or using anything abrasive on turnlocks and D rings and such because I have no idea what's solid brass and what's not, don't want to dremel off protective lacquer coatings if it's there (I wouldn't recognize it if it were) and I'm scared I'd get down to the bare metal and ruin a turnlock or something.
You're right about a metal tag or I can always just switch a hangtag around to a bag I want to carry.
It's possible. Although some of the bags I tried it on seemed to be in pretty good condition.
That's annoying. There are products I can't have touching my skin but I've been able to find out if there are in the conditioners I use, so I have to use gloves.
I have a Dremel and I have used it a few times on big jobs but I usually just hand polish.
I am new to using the super fine 000 steel wool but I have recently used it on a few vintage bags that I am currently rehabbing and I have been impressed with the results.
It's not the nicest stuff to handle, wear gloves and eye protection (I wear glasses all the time so that isn't an issue for me). I put a paper plate under the bag or strap that I am working on so that the fine steel wool particles fall into it as I buff. Dispose of the paper plate carefully when you done, I would hate to get any of those tiny particles into my eyes or food.
I suppose it would be possible to "overdo it" and damage the metal but so far I have been lucky. I use it just to get off the worst of the tarnish (or coating) off and then I finish with Wenol metal polish.
Polishing the hardware is my least favorite part of rehabbing but I think that the steel wool makes it much easier. There are others here that have more experience with using steel wool so they can probably give you (and me!) some tips.
I finished up a yellow dinky today. For this one, I tried using an iron to flatten the wrinkles in the back, and it improved a little... I imagine it would work well with certain types of wrinkles depending on the placement on the bag. Just wanted to share if you’re brave enough. Has anyone tried this before? If anyone has other tips I’m all ears... because I really don’t like wrinkles!
Before:
After letting it dry between some books:
After one coat of CPR dried, I used the iron. I dampened a pillow case and laid it on top with a book stuffed inside the bag. Then I pressed down gently in circles on the wool setting on my iron. Then while it was still warm I smoothed the wrinkles out with my fingers and kind of bent and massaged the leather to try to get rid of it. I pressed it with the iron a few times to keep the leather warm and then would do the smoothing afterwards.
Then I went ahead and tried ironing inside the pocket on the suede side without anything covering it. Kind of hard because the iron is big but I managed to get one section. Then I did the same smoothing and bending the wrinkles. Put CPR on it and stuffed the bag to reshape it against where the wrinkles were falling.
After:
Before:
After letting it dry between some books:
After one coat of CPR dried, I used the iron. I dampened a pillow case and laid it on top with a book stuffed inside the bag. Then I pressed down gently in circles on the wool setting on my iron. Then while it was still warm I smoothed the wrinkles out with my fingers and kind of bent and massaged the leather to try to get rid of it. I pressed it with the iron a few times to keep the leather warm and then would do the smoothing afterwards.
Then I went ahead and tried ironing inside the pocket on the suede side without anything covering it. Kind of hard because the iron is big but I managed to get one section. Then I did the same smoothing and bending the wrinkles. Put CPR on it and stuffed the bag to reshape it against where the wrinkles were falling.
After:
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