How to break in your glove
- Thread starter DSNuts48
- Start date
SoftballDad52
Albino Rhino
A lot of companies offering "steaming" glove to help break in. They are even selling the machines to do this. Anyone tried it?
FrstRdDrftPk
New Member
The "ASO" method really works. Dude is a glove Zen.
RiverRat77
Addicted to Softballfans
So.... I'm an outfielder only. Once in a great while I'll pitch or play first base. If I want a ball to hit my glove and sink in like its a big fat soft couch, have my fingers just wrap that leather around that ball and honestly kinda collapse on the ball, then use the Aso method? I watched the Aso video the other day... before I found this thread but haven't tried it yet. My gf has been playing ball for a few years, competively, accelerated leagues and all that and swears by foam shaving cream. I was kinda skeptical about the shaving cream as well. I think I'll do it the way listed above, with maybe some beating the hell out of it ala Aso. My Nike Diamond Ready is the nicest glove I've ever owned and it sounds like a cheap POS compared to what you guys have. It only cost me $60 but was the most money I'd ever spent on a glove. 
May just need to be conditioned and tightened I guess. Its starting to dry on some of the seams and it doesn't "flop" closed like I imagine i want it to. I used baby oil on it once and that softened it for a minute but like others said, it made it heavy too. I will admit, I haven't treated it well, keeping it in a batpack without a ball in it other than occasionally, in the heat of summer between games and its probably sitting in that same pack since my last tournament in St. George. Wish I lived in Vegas, then I'd play year round.
May just need to be conditioned and tightened I guess. Its starting to dry on some of the seams and it doesn't "flop" closed like I imagine i want it to. I used baby oil on it once and that softened it for a minute but like others said, it made it heavy too. I will admit, I haven't treated it well, keeping it in a batpack without a ball in it other than occasionally, in the heat of summer between games and its probably sitting in that same pack since my last tournament in St. George. Wish I lived in Vegas, then I'd play year round.
matthinkle
Addicted to Softballfans
Done that same thing for years with a couple minor variations but very similar. Baking, microwaving a glove may work but not worth the risk of ruining a nice glove. If I'm spending $$$ on a quality glove its going to get broken in properly. Don't make a $200 mistake, do it right!
Here is how I do it...
First thing I do is try to stretch out the laces on the fingers and web. I do this with my hands pulling hard. Then I turn the glove inside out for 10 minutes or so.
Next I Get the tap water running hot. Put the glove under the running water for 10-20 seconds on each side but not the fingers. I get everything wet to maybe a 1/2 inch above the break point. Including the inside of the handstall but not inside the finger stalls.
At this point I use a rubber mallet and a softball rather than my ball mallet. I work the break points I want aggressively with the mallet. I then put the glove on my hand and the softball in the pocket and hit it hard with the rubber mallet until the pocket is where I want it. I move the ball around smashing the mallet into it until the pocket is as wide and deep as I want it. I keep my hand in the glove whenever I am working the pocket. I pound the ball into my hand as hard as I can to shape the glove to my hand. At this point I hit it some more at the break points with the mallet until I feel like they are set the way I want them. Now I try to get a hard thrower to play catch with me.
The next day when the glove is dry, it usually only takes over night or a little longer to dry since it didn't get fully dunked, I coat my glove hand with lexol and put a light light coat in the pocket. More mallet and ball pounding until it feels like the ball is not popping out. After that it is just catch.
I don't condition the entire glove until it starts drying and needs a cleaning. Then I clean with lexol orange and condition with lexol brown.
This method will get gloves game ready very fast. The heavy mallet makes it quicker and easier to establish break points and create a deep pocket. I'm sure some will say that this will dramatically reduce the lifespan of the glove but so long as you don't make the fingers soft and floppy, or use chemicals which hurt the leather, I do not believe this to be the case. Whether you take 6 months to break in a glove playing catch or 2 days doing it with a mallet it takes a certain amount of abuse to get a glove ready to go and I don't think doing it harder and faster in a consolidated time period makes a huge difference in the long run. Maybe a little but life is too short anyways...
First thing I do is try to stretch out the laces on the fingers and web. I do this with my hands pulling hard. Then I turn the glove inside out for 10 minutes or so.
Next I Get the tap water running hot. Put the glove under the running water for 10-20 seconds on each side but not the fingers. I get everything wet to maybe a 1/2 inch above the break point. Including the inside of the handstall but not inside the finger stalls.
At this point I use a rubber mallet and a softball rather than my ball mallet. I work the break points I want aggressively with the mallet. I then put the glove on my hand and the softball in the pocket and hit it hard with the rubber mallet until the pocket is where I want it. I move the ball around smashing the mallet into it until the pocket is as wide and deep as I want it. I keep my hand in the glove whenever I am working the pocket. I pound the ball into my hand as hard as I can to shape the glove to my hand. At this point I hit it some more at the break points with the mallet until I feel like they are set the way I want them. Now I try to get a hard thrower to play catch with me.
The next day when the glove is dry, it usually only takes over night or a little longer to dry since it didn't get fully dunked, I coat my glove hand with lexol and put a light light coat in the pocket. More mallet and ball pounding until it feels like the ball is not popping out. After that it is just catch.
I don't condition the entire glove until it starts drying and needs a cleaning. Then I clean with lexol orange and condition with lexol brown.
This method will get gloves game ready very fast. The heavy mallet makes it quicker and easier to establish break points and create a deep pocket. I'm sure some will say that this will dramatically reduce the lifespan of the glove but so long as you don't make the fingers soft and floppy, or use chemicals which hurt the leather, I do not believe this to be the case. Whether you take 6 months to break in a glove playing catch or 2 days doing it with a mallet it takes a certain amount of abuse to get a glove ready to go and I don't think doing it harder and faster in a consolidated time period makes a huge difference in the long run. Maybe a little but life is too short anyways...
t722j
Addicted to Softballfans
I love that ASO method! I will definitely be doing that! I currently field with a DeMarini I've had for years... thing is a rag and I love it! laces are starting to break. I bought a B-E-A-utiful Worth Liberty about 3 years ago white leather, red laces. I just haven't been able to justify gaming with it yet because it is too stiff. that ASO method looks like the trick for me. I will be trying it tonight!
aargentino1
Extra Hitter
Been using the Aso method for the last few days, but still have one small problem. The part where the wrist strap ties to the rest of the glove, rubs against my pinky knuckle and causes it to be pretty painful every time i open and close it. Any tips on how to have that part open up a little more, or how I can break that specific part in faster so it doesnt rub every time i open/close?
NYC
Swag on 100.
in that case since its like an inch of leather causing so much pain I would just oil the hell out of that little part. like really beat it up, use hot water, oil, conditioner whatever on that one little part to really soften it out. that might be your best bet short of actually shaving it down (which nobody wants to do.
just try getting that part as soft and flimsy as possible. I had this problem too before but just kept playing with it and rubbing it down to the point where it molded to my fingers better all by itself.
ThroughbeingIAN
Starting Player
Aso works great! Don't be afraid of the water either. The main purpose is to help the leather in the hand stall form to your hand. That being said, DO NOT use the water if you want your glove to break in more gradually. Any work you do while the glove is still wet is amplified pretty greatly. Dab it dry, stick your hand in it and couch catch for a bit then wrap it in a towel with a ball in the pocket. If you want it game ready asap do the Aso mallet work on the break points you want and work into the form you're looking for. No mallet? just use a ball.
ThroughbeingIAN
Starting Player
Just bend it man! I did the ASO on my 1787 water and all and its a dream.
I had it formed to a "twist" initially with the thumb flared and fingers curled in the same direction. But flaring the pinky is as easy as bending it out anytime youre not actually fielding a ball. If you wrap your glove when you're not playing you can use two baseballs at the finger tips to push them out.
FLEET
bowling ball nut swanga
don't feel bad for me slice. i'm bustin dope nut like eerday
davisrelacing
The Other Guy
There is one machine that helps best for break in. My dad and I are building one, with help from Mr. Soo in Seoul.
