Success on the zipper front. I tried a bigger pair of pliers and managed to close the gap. Now the new pull I put on won’t fall off and I won’t cut my hand on the sharp edges while conditioning it anymore. Now I meed to tackle the small holes and what to do about its fading dye job: live with it or attempt to correct it.
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
- Thread starter greenpixie
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I've put smelly bags outdoors for about a week. That helps. Or after it is dry you could seal it in a plastic bag with some activated charcoal.
Thank you, I'll see if the weather is good enough to put it out during the day this week (I live in England, the weather isn't great at the mo) and hope it helps. I've also seen to put in a bag with baking soda to help with the smell too.
Is it likely that the mould will come back?
It doesn't come back for me but I live in a dry climate. It might be more difficult in your climate. Vinegar and sunlight kill it.
Even if it is rainy, the vinegar combined with UV should do really well. Since it is the UV that does the trick, less than air movement (although that does help), I can vouch that leaving a item in a closed car in a sunny spot does really well. Full sun is obviously best, but even filtered sunlight through clouds, given the time, will work wonders, and any patches of sun over the course of a rainy week can be very useful.
I had a Vintage tango bag that had mold inside of it. I purchased something called “concrobium mold spray” from the hardware store and after dunking the tango and scraping the insides, I let it dry for a day and sprayed the entire bag with the concrobium spray until it was drenched. Once the spray dried, It killed the mold and there was no odour afterwards. I highly recommend it to anyone that lives in a humid climate to spray all their bags with it just to prevent mold and mildew as well. I don’t know if theres any other at-home mold removal methods someone can comment about but mold is something you wanna take care of quickly because it can spread and be a bigger headache. Hope this helps
Thank you everyone for your replies, I'm going to persevere and I'll let you know how I get on.
UV doesn't come through windows. It must be the heat that is doing it.
To an extent. Typical window glass blocks some types of UV but not others. This is why you can get a suntan (or if you're fair like me, a sunburn) while driving for long periods. The whole Trucker Tan where just their left arm is tan.
My heart is racing. I dunked my Rambler! So far no unexpected spots or stains showed up, which is what I was really worried about. Hopefully she dries quickly so I can quit worrying. I'm not sure at what point I knew my Ranch was a fail but I think it took a couple of days for the uneven drying to become apparent. Keeping my fingers crossed that this beauty stays beautiful!
I was telling my mom about my coach restoration project and she pulled out my dad’s old briefcase - she gave it to him in the 1980s. It’s a little wet in the picture because she wiped it down just beforehand. Can anyone suggest where to begin with this? I’m hesitant to dunk it because of its age. What do you recommend?
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I don't know what the construction of those briefcases looks like, so I can't speak to whether there is any interlining that shouldn't be dunked as there is is some few styles. But the bag I just posted a page or two ago is probably from the same time frame, and I have dunked a pre-serial tote, too. So I wouldn't think the age would be the issue if there is one.
Nice find! I've rehabbed 3 or 4 vintage coach briefcases, none as old as your Dad's, but they all came out pretty well.
Considering the condition that it's in, I'd give it a bath and a scrubbing, stuff it and shape it, condition it and finish with Black Rocks, and then polish the hardware.
As an example, below are before and after pics of a black Lexington Briefcase that I rehabbed. It's from the 1990's so not as old as your bag but it was in pretty bad shape and it was improved by rehabbing IMO. Good luck!
Lexington Brief 5265 Before:
https://forum.purseblog.com/threads/coach-rehab-and-rescue-club.833400/page-970#post-31594799
Lexington Brief 5265 After:
https://forum.purseblog.com/threads/coach-rehab-and-rescue-club.833400/page-970#post-31594837
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