I have always broken in my gloves with oil and practice. I decided to hurry this one along by using the suggested oven tip I have heard about in the past. “Oh, just put your glove in the oven!” I never believed them, because I feared it would catch fire. I thought I was wrong. My Easter was ruined today.
Edit: Here is the link that says 15 minutes at 350F: https://ecosports.com/blogs/vegan-athletes/how-to-break-in-a-baseball-glove
I don’t play, and have never tried this. But from the instructions I’m seeing online, is either microwave method or heat up the oven and then turn it off before putting the glove in.
That’s also looks like it’s melting, is it actual leather?
Betting it’s not leather. Leather doesn’t melt. It will burn, but never liquify. It clearly appears that the outer layer liquified. Also this screams prank to me, but good quality, oiled leather should also hold up ok to 350 for 15 mins.
It might have been real leather. It smelled like it, as it burned. The online sites I read said nothing of turning off the oven. Everyone who swore by this said to put it in there at 350F for fifteen minutes.
I’ve never heard of this and I’ve got absolutely no idea if this is a real thing or if you got pranked as someone said. But assuming it’s a real thing, I can think of two possible explanations why it went so badly for you:
First option, you used a toaster oven instead of a regular oven. The surfaces closest to the heating elements in this case get exposed to a lot more heat than the rest of what’s in the oven. If the heating element is exposed, it’s a toaster oven.
Second option, your oven’s temperature knob isn’t calibrated well enough so it got way hotter than it needs to be. Honestly I’ve got no idea how well these are usually calibrated. I have the exact same model toaster oven as my parents and theirs gets way hotter for the same knob position. But it’s a cheapo brand (I can barely bring myself to call it a brand) so I hope it’s better in the broader market, and maybe proper ovens are better calibrated than microwave-sized toaster ovens.
On second look, the burn marks are obviously only on the top surface so I’m pretty convinced you used a toaster oven. The difference is like standing in direct sunlight vs in the shade. When you’re in the shade the only thing heating you is the air, when you’re in direct sunlight the sunlight itself is heating you. You can also feel a similar effect when sitting around a fire - your skin facing in the direction of the fire gets toasted while the rest of you, or parts of you that are blocked from it, are cooler.
TL;DR you toasted your mitt
It does look like a toaster oven did it, but it was just a regular oven. I set it on the bars and it actually began melting between them.
Leather doesn’t melt. You put a vinyl glove in an oven.
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The tag does not say the glove is made of leather, that’s simply the Franklin “leather series”, a meaningless marketing term meant to trick people.
The Franklin page clearly states those gloves are made of “synthetic leather”, e. g. Polyurethane, Vinyl etc.:
https://franklinsports.com/field-masterr-tan-series-baseball-fielding-glove#
Plus, the synthetic leather comes with a pre-formed pocket which is designed to break in exactly to your liking quickly and easily.
EASY BREAK IN: The soft synthetic leather material is lightweight and responsive […]
You put a plastic glove in your oven at 350. By the way, depending on the material, in particular when talking about Vinyl, burning it may release incredibly toxic fumes, although that mostly applies to PVC. Depending on the details, I’d still considered that oven ruined though, at least for food.
I get that this sucks in more ways than one, but how the heck did you not actually check the complete material composition… almost all modern items are a mix of different materials anyway.
Ugh, are there no consumer protection laws against this shit? Or just no enforcement?
Not really laws, at least in the US. So long as they don’t claim it’s made of things it isn’t, they can say “well the packaging clearly states it’s not real, actual leather”.
Also who would believe they got an all leather glove for $20
I promise you full size ovens can have exposed heat elements.
Sure. Did I get the terminology wrong? In either case the exposed heating element toasts the contents, rather than just baking them, which may be undesirable depending on what you’re making. The size of the oven doesn’t matter.