Stretching leather gloves??

[Joe]

I have a great pair of Duchinni leather gloves BUT the right thumb and index finger are 2mm too short. Imagine your fingernail always catching under the seam, it drives me mad.
Has anybody stretched fingers on a pair of leather gloves? How did you do it? Did you just use water or what is the magic ingredient??
Any suggestions welcome....

[Honest Andy]

Cut the finger tips off.
Very fashionable these days, especially if you also wear a leather vest over a white tee shirt :bleh:

[BMWGSER]

Keep your finger nails short , go for a ride in the rain, if the gloves are unlined use some talcum powder if they ar tight to put on. They will fit well with time.

[Joe]

Cut the finger tips off.
Very fashionable these days, especially if you also wear a leather vest over a white tee shirt :bleh:

Honest Andy: This was the answer to my question!
I have wondered for many years now why I always fall for the safety hype and high viz shit :baby:. Many idiots out there who are challenged by simply putting pants on in the morning don't give a sh%1.
Following your advice I will now go and dremel off the bottom of my helmet, cut the sleeves off my jacket and disengage the ABS on my BMW.

[FJRider]

Any suggestions welcome....

Buy gloves that fit and sell the ones you have. To work properly ... safety gear should be fit properly and be comfortable ...

[GazzaH]

You could try traditional "neatsfoot oil" first - let it soak into the leather for a while (a day or two?) and become more supple.

Meanwhile, find or whittle a finger-shaped stretcher thing from wood or plastic to push hard into the finger, and figure out how to apply just the right amount of pressure once its in there - some sort of locking arrangement with clamps and/or weights.

When you're ready, push the stretcher in to stretch the finger, lock the stretcher and glove in place, apply more neatsfoot and repair to the beer fridge for another few days anxious wait, staggering back every so often to check and apply more oil.

Eventually it will either have stretched enough, split open or stubbornly resisted. You may be out of beer too.

Last step is to invert the finger and trim the annoying seam with sharp scissors, being careful not to nick the thread (which is why it's not a good idea to start with this, before stretching).

Neatsfoot oil is not expensive from farm suppliers, and does a fantastic job extending the life of farm gloves and farm boots. There are doubtless other similar products.

[HEsch]

Oil will permanently saturate the leather fibres. Resulting in an item that never goes back to how it was. Oil also damages thread.

Water is better, because the fibres will retain their (albeit limited) elasticity/substance, and the thread won't be damaged.

Try water first to see if you can achieve it. Then apply conditioner of choice, something with beeswax or a portion of oil, being aware of the seam where the thread is.

[Runty]

I have long thumbs compared to my finger length - usually end up blowing the stitches on the thumbs or buying a larger size where the empty finger ends get bent and wear out - this time around I found an old pair of cheap leather gloves - chopped the end of the thumbs off and glued and stitched then over top of the "bursting seams" Seems to have done the trick.
I also find boots are either tight against the big toes or have loads of extra storage space above the rest of my foot!
Plus - underpants are either loose in the waist or tight in the crutch - but boxer shorts solve that one.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180330/baad7accd0e22727a82120bcf2d5bc96.jpg

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

[madmalc]

I have a great pair of Duchinni leather gloves BUT the right thumb and index finger are 2mm too short. Imagine your fingernail always catching under the seam, it drives me mad.
Has anybody stretched fingers on a pair of leather gloves? How did you do it? Did you just use water or what is the magic ingredient??
Any suggestions welcome....

Ive used a product called Renapur which you can get from an aussie supplier (just google it) Its a waterproofing and conditioning balm that I have used for the last 20 years or so on all my leathers and it will give them some stretch. Whether it will stretch your gloves enough I don't know but they will feel great (and so will your boots, pants, jackets etc) and will have improved waterproofing. A small pot lasts me about 10 years with applications around every quarter.

[caspernz]

I have a great pair of Duchinni leather gloves BUT the right thumb and index finger are 2mm too short. Imagine your fingernail always catching under the seam, it drives me mad.
Has anybody stretched fingers on a pair of leather gloves? How did you do it? Did you just use water or what is the magic ingredient??
Any suggestions welcome....

Leather stuff is pretty tough. This may seem odd but I've done this with various leather items.

On a nice warm day, soak your gloves in plain water, just make sure they're thoroughly drenched. Now go for a ride. By the time they're dry the shape will have changed slightly to fit your hands better.

Works for a leather one piece suit that's a bit tight in some places. Nice warm day, put leather suit on, hop in shower until drenched, go for a ride. It'll dry to fit you better :clap:

Needless to say, once the leather is dried properly it gets treated with my flavour of leather conditioner. Won't go into that, for it'll just derail this thread good and proper :cool:

[pritch]

Another vote for the water treatment. If you have the time put them on, make sure they are soaked thoroughly then wear them until the are dry - or as near as you can get. Obviously this question would have been better asked a month or two back.

Don't worry if your hands change colour to match the gloves, especially if the gloves were inexpensive, that's normal.

My only reservation relates to the length of the fingers. The water treatment works for gear that is a bit tight rather than a bit short but it shouldn't hurt to try?

[Honest Andy]

water always works for tramping boots :2thumbsup

(or sweat...)

[Michaelpum]

Anyone got any recommendations for a good waterproofing product for leather gloves?
Im thinking Nikwax glove proof seems pretty specific anyone used this?

[FJRider]

Anyone got any recommendations for a good waterproofing product for leather gloves?
Im thinking Nikwax glove proof seems pretty specific anyone used this?

Yep I do. Good stuff and it works for a while. Not usually lasting until the end of a heavy rain shower. Use over-gloves if you want that ... :niceone:

[SaferRides]

Anyone got any recommendations for a good waterproofing product for leather gloves?
Im thinking Nikwax glove proof seems pretty specific anyone used this?Goretex. I've finally retired a 7 year old pair of AStars 365 gloves, never leaked a drop of water. Crashed in them as well.

[layton]

i had the same problem, i used isopropyl alcohol, put a few screw drivers in the fingers and cranked up in a vice slowly over a few days while rubbing isopropyl in.. do at ur own risk, i was at the point where it was either they stretch or i get new gloves! they stretched.

if you are feeling game, rub the finger down with "rubbing alcohol" fill something up with water stuff it down your thumb hole then freeze the glove.. this is all last resort stuff but has worked for me in the past

[Virago]

Anyone got any recommendations for a good waterproofing product for leather gloves?
Im thinking Nikwax glove proof seems pretty specific anyone used this?

Ask this guy:

http://www.hondahornet.org.uk/messageboard/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=26636

[Berries]

With all this stretching you may not ruin the leather - cows and kangaroos get fat and stretch after all, but it is likely you will weaken the stitching and with the various types of reinforcement sewn in to the glove this is going to cause issues as they have different stretch rates, if there is such a thing, and plastic/carbon etc won't stretch at all. In the end you might have weakened them to the point where they lose what protection they were going to provide and you won't know until you hit the deck and really really need them.

And then when you get a new pair in the sales you will have to go through it all again.

The problem, clearly, is not the gloves, it's your hands, so I am surprised that nobody has suggested the obvious.

Get a bowl of malt vinegar and while you soak the thumb of one hand you can dip sliced cucumber in it and have a pleasant evening while the vinegar slowly helps reduce the size of your digit.

Worked fine for me conkers.

[WALRUS]

Apologies if this comes off like being a smartarse and also if it has already been mentioned.. But is there any particular reason why buying gloves which fit in the first place wasn't an option?

[Ocean1]

Apologies if this comes off like being a smartarse and also if it has already been mentioned.. But is there any particular reason why buying gloves which fit in the first place wasn't an option?

Maybe he's one of the half of the population that can't fit the one-size-fits-all Chinese made glubs that seem to be all that's available now.

Try lining them up on the floor, from XS through to XXXL there's only 3 sizes, in particular, XL, XXL and XXXL are all exactly the same size.

[SaferRides]

Apologies if this comes off like being a smartarse and also if it has already been mentioned.. But is there any particular reason why buying gloves which fit in the first place wasn't an option?Then there are the manufacturers who seems to have difficulty making both gloves the same size.