Baseball Glove Oil

A baseball player without his glove is like smoke without fire. Only the baseball players can explain you how much important baseball gloves is for them. The glove must provide comfort to the baseball player while playing. Sometimes new gloves are very stiff and slippery. This creates trouble while playing and even make him confront awkward situation sometimes. If the gloves are not broken naturally, then the effectiveness of the gloves is reduced, hampering the consistency of baseball players. Sometimes pre-broken gloves are available in garage sales, sport stores, thrift stores, etc. However, if your gloves are brand new, you need to accelerate the breaking process, to make it user-friendly. One of the methods to break baseball gloves is application of baseball glove oil. Go through the following content to know details about how to oil a baseball glove.

Applying Baseball Glove Oil

The first thing that you need to take care of is, always go for a good leather quality for your baseball gloves. Sometimes it is inscribed in the gloves, the process of breaking the gloves or else you can break the glove with baseball glove oil. The following steps will let you know about easy application of baseball gloves oil on the gloves.

• Glove conditioning oil or glove treatment oil is available in the market generally in the sports goods stores. Apply the oil on the surface of the glove and not to the interior. This oil is non-absorbing and remains on the surface of the glove, thus providing a long-lasting condition to the baseball gloves.
• Now leave the gloves untouched overnight. Test the firmness and check if they have softened or not. In case they are still stiff, apply treatment or conditioners to the gloves and leave for a few hours. Put a baseball in the pocket and try to fold the gloves at the thumb and fingers to hold the ball.
• The gloves should not expand outwards after applying the baseball glove oil. To avoid this, secure the position by tying a cluster of rubber bands around the baseball glove.
• Keep it as it is for the next few hours. Now slowly wear the gloves and check for the movements. If it is still stiff and hard, oil it and condition once again to make it flexible in the same way.
• Application of oil and conditioners helps maintain the flexibility for first few days. You can continue applying it to soften the gloves further.
• Use the glove frequently and wrap the glove for few days after use, to accelerate the breaking process.

Baseball Glove Oil Alternative

Sometimes the baseball glove oil or baseball conditioners may not be available immediately at hand. There are alternatives for this. Petroleum jelly or vaseline is a good alternative for baseball oil. It makes the gloves supple and flexible. Other alternatives include linseed oil, mink oil or neatsfoot oil, tanners glove oil, foam shaving cream, saddle soap, etc. Lanolin is a good lubricating agent and helps easy breakage of baseball glove. Lexol products contain lanolin and are available at hardware stores. The method of application for these alternatives is all the same.

It has been touted for more than 100 years that the best baseball glove oil is neatsfoot oil, the oil extracted by boiling the leg bones of cow. This oil has been used by baseball players for a long time.

Care for Baseball Oil Application

There are a few things that should be taken care of before applying baseball glove oil. After applying the oil, rub it all over and let it dry at least overnight. This helps the oil to get absorbed completely on the surface of the gloves. Be careful that the oil doesn't drip inside the gloves. Do not over oil the gloves and leave the leather wet. Wet leather gets damaged quickly. Even application of too much lubricant and conditioners deteriorates the leather and hinders the breaking process. Wrap the gloves with tight rubber bands initially after use.

I hope this article has furnished everything about baseball glove oil. So all you baseball players, just break free your gloves and knock out hard!