How to Completely Re-string a Baseball or Softball Glove

Store a ball in your glove if you won't use it for a week or longer.

Baseball and softball gloves wear down over time. Unlike other accessories such as shoes, repair and maintenance make the glove playable again. Rawhide lace, the part that holds the glove together, deteriorates and breaks over time. Replace these yourself and take the time to condition your glove, to keep it in tip-top shape. Even if you don't have expert knowledge about restringing a glove, you can learn on yours and complete the task in about two hours.

Things You'll Need

• Glove oil or petroleum jelly
• Rawhide lace
• Needle nose pliers
• Screw driver
• Tweezers

Instructions

1. Rub your glove with glove oil or petroleum jelly until it feels soft and flexes smoothly. Done correctly, this keeps your glove from cracking and helps you thread lace through the holes.

2. Identify where the lace on one side of the glove starts and finishes by locating the knot on each end. Examine one side of the glove and look for an overhand knot. Follow the lace as best as possible until you find a square, or similar, knot.

3. Untie the square knot. Work the lace out of the glove using needle nose pliers. Once removed, untie the overhand knot if possible and lay the lace on a flat surface.

4. Measure out a length of new rawhide lace next to the old lace. Add 3 inches to the new rawhide lace, and cut the piece from the whole. Tie an overhand knot to one end. Trim the other end to a point so it looks like the tip of a pencil.

5. Thread the new rawhide lace through the path of the old lace. Tie a loose square knot when you're done threading, then move onto the next section.

6. Restring the entire glove, then return to each thread and tighten the square knots. Tighten each knot a little at a time, moving back and forth between knots, until each does not come untied.

Tips & Warnings

• Unstring and restring only one section at a time, so you don't forget the thread pattern.

• Use a small screwdriver to poke the lace through holes, and a pair of tweezers to pull it through.

• Be careful with the pliers and the re-stringing tool. If you're not paying attention, you might jab yourself in the hand.

• Again, double check your league's rules for color specifications and/or rules about your glove and its stitching.

• Please remember this is only a skeleton walk-through, as all gloves are different. Your might have a different stitching pattern. However, most gloves have these same basics. I sure hope this helps you!

References

• The Sports Doctor: Relacing Tips and How-To
• Mitt Fix: Baseball Glove Tips

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish