When dunking, you can do a rinse/soak with some vinegar (I use about 1/2 cup) added to the rinse water. It's good to get it everywhere, inside, crevases, pockets, etc. Dunking with vinegar does that. You could re-dunk with that step added. I would!
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
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Ah man, I was really hoping to avoid having to dunk it again, but I do really wanna make sure the mold is dead, so I will.
In the first bath, I used laundry detergent and dish soap in the water. Do you think I need to use those products again with the vinegar, or will just the 1/2 cup vinegar in water suffice?
Thank you for your help
Putting it in the sun will also kill mold, so you may not have to dunk it again. Can you smell any mold on it? If it isn't dry yet, you could just wipe it down with vinegar.Ah man, I was really hoping to avoid having to dunk it again, but I do really wanna make sure the mold is dead, so I will.
In the first bath, I used laundry detergent and dish soap in the water. Do you think I need to use those products again with the vinegar, or will just the 1/2 cup vinegar in water suffice?
Thank you for your help
It doesnt really have a smell, except maybe the light smell of vintage leather. It’s on day 2 of drying in the sun, so it’s like 99% dry now. Should I not rub vinegar on it when it’s dry?
Also, I have a legacy zip and trail bag, which as far as I can tell do not have mold measles, but I’d still love to get another opinion just to be sure. The legacy zip definitely has some sort of stain, but I don’t *think* it’s a mold stain because it kinda of has a checkered/gingham pattern.
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If you do dunk again, I think just the vinegar & water is good. Whateve is more experienced than I am, and she thinks another dunk may be unnecessary. Trust her good advice!
Hello,
If there a consolidated go to guide for restoring? I have some bags I want to clean up but have read so much conflicting information, I am not sure what is what. On the FB VCC, they are adamant that any "dunking" completely ruins a bag. Which if Coach supposedly dunks their bags, then no one can answer me that Coach restored bags are ruined. All people can say is that deb the restorer says 20-30% of the bags are lost to dunking. Then I watch vintage coach collector who washes in bags in the sink and dyes her bags, which all look amazing.
I can understand why soaking a bag in water can damage it. But does just doing a good scrub with ph neutral soap and a quick rinse in the sink that bad? Some of these bags are super gross. I don't want to ruin the bags
If there a consolidated go to guide for restoring? I have some bags I want to clean up but have read so much conflicting information, I am not sure what is what. On the FB VCC, they are adamant that any "dunking" completely ruins a bag. Which if Coach supposedly dunks their bags, then no one can answer me that Coach restored bags are ruined. All people can say is that deb the restorer says 20-30% of the bags are lost to dunking. Then I watch vintage coach collector who washes in bags in the sink and dyes her bags, which all look amazing.
I can understand why soaking a bag in water can damage it. But does just doing a good scrub with ph neutral soap and a quick rinse in the sink that bad? Some of these bags are super gross. I don't want to ruin the bags
I can't believe Deb says 20-30% of bags are lost to dunking, unless she is dunking newer, lined bags. I've never lost a bag to dunking and I've only known of a few that have been lost on the forum. And it depends on how to define lost. Some people have ruined bags by dunking because there was a large amount of ink that spread to the exterior. They aren't exactly lost, just not necessarily improved. The only truly lost bags were those that were a lost cause already - the leather had rotted so much that putting them in water caused them to disintegrate. I've only heard of that once or twice. I've seen a few bags listed for sale that look like they would disintegrate too, but it's pretty obvious.
If you only dunk unlined vintage classic bags, you shouldn't have a problem. These bags are almost always improved by dunking, as long as you do it correctly and use plenty of conditioner promptly. You can also dunk some lined bags, like Sonomas, with success.
You are never going to find 100% agreement on the Internet.
I follow whateve's advice. I recently "lost" a bag to ink spreading, but that was my fault and was a calculated risk. I am very pro dunk. It is efficient and you can wash the whole thing down. I have tried the saddle soap and wipe approach, but it doesn't get the leather prepped for conditioning in the same way. I saw on someone's tiktok that they don't dunk because some of the threads can disintegrate, but that hasn't been my experience at all. These things are durable! That is part of their charm!
First, thank you everyone for your advice. This forum has been really educational.
I've noticed verdigris on coach bags before but until reading through this forum I didn't know that was the word for it. I have a question about verdigris: is it harmful to the bag if verdigris remains on it? For example, under the zipper. Is it necessary to remove it?
I've noticed verdigris on coach bags before but until reading through this forum I didn't know that was the word for it. I have a question about verdigris: is it harmful to the bag if verdigris remains on it? For example, under the zipper. Is it necessary to remove it?
I will screenshot and remove names from the the thread. I had watched a lot of vintage coach collector on youtube who I thought was great. To me, the draw of the unlined leather is that you can wash and reshape and the bag is never really ruined unless it gets paint, ink, cat pee or something on it that cannot be removed.
Here's a document written by Coach. It describes running a bag under water in the sink and rinsing until "soaking wet" and shaping it like a sweater. Basically, a dunk.
One time only I had trouble: a Mexican no-brand hand tooled ancient leather purse which disintegrated when submerged. Stunk up the whole room like dead animal. I've dunked dozens and dozens of Coach bags...never a problem (except the possibility of an ink spill spreading).
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One more story. I found a really rare (pretty decrepit shape) hasp bag on shopgoodwill. Won the auction. Dunked, rehabbed, the works. It was much improved! People from that online group discussed my bag and freaked the heck out about it and wrote me many, many hate letters. All because I shared this cute picture of dunk in process. People are crazy. In my book, dunking is an absolutely great and helpful technique.
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Verdigris will stain leather. I don't think it will damage the leather but I think you should clean as much as you can to keep it from growing and spreading. If you dunk, that could cause it to stain the leather so it is usually a good idea to wipe off as much as you can before. @Lake Effect has an easy method for wiping it away using dryer sheets.