Breaking in a leather football

[leathermanz]

Hello,

I have a brand new football that I am trying to break in.  The problem is that the leather is very hard and very slick.  I have googled ways to break in balls, and so far none have worked.  I have tried scrubbing it with a brush and a dampening the leather a bit.  I have tried saddle soap.  Nothing has worked.  I have no experience with leather working, so I figured I'd go to the experts to see what you'd recommend.  I'm looking to soften the leather and make it a bit tackier and easier to throw and catch.  Thanks in advance.  Here is a picture of the ball taken from the manufacturer's website:  

 

[electrathon]

I believe your trouble is that the football is not leather:

Model #: F7000L-QB

• Re-engineered leather for enhanced grip with a QB1 buckskin color

It is leather scraps ground up, mixed with glue and spread out to look like leather.  Think partial board compared to plywood.  The surface is mainly glue and paint.

[leathermanz]

Thanks for the information.  I never would have known that.  Now I know why it was so much cheaper than the standard Wilson footballs.  

I have had temporary success applying a tacky wax to the surface.  Although that method fades, it's better than nothing.  

[Art]

Bonded Leather (Re-Engineered?, that's a new one) is not classified in a manner approaching the quality or handling of Bonded Whiskey.  A leather "slurry" is applied (bonded) to a polyester or some other backing.  This can (and has) been classified as Genuine Leather.  It is generally put-up in rolls.  Most of the automotive "leather" interiors are of this type.  In a lot of instances I have seen, they put a tough, heavy polyester topcoat on it and often texture this topcoat.  It would be almost impossible to get any kind of finish to penetrate or adhere to that topcoat.

Art 

[Boriqua]

I still only know one perfect way to break in a football that has worked on almost every manner of football. Go out and play!! 

Being originally from NYC most of my football play came out on the street on asphalt and cement so once it hit the ground a couple of times and got abraded it was perfect! and yes doing a button hook between two parked cars is legal.

[leathermanz]

3 minutes ago, Boriqua said:

I still only know one perfect way to break in a football that has worked on almost every manner of football. Go out and play!! 

Being originally from NYC most of my football play came out on the street on asphalt and cement so once it hit the ground a couple of times and got abraded it was perfect! and yes doing a button hook between two parked cars is legal.

I'm with you there.  Nothing like playing a pickup game on blacktop or in someones muddy backyard.    

 Part of my reason for starting this thread is that I coach HS ball, and we have to bust out new game balls every few weeks, and need to break them in as soon as possible.  I decided to buy my own ball to see what techniques works best.  Turns out, buying the cheapest leather ball was a mistake.    

Here's an article about some of the prep that NFL players do to their footballs    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/nfl-players-very-particular-about-footballs--tricks-to-get-them-right-194020439.html

Of course, none of those techniques worked on my re-engineered leather.  I will have to try it when we get the team footballs back out this summer.  

[Boriqua]

Your a nice coach!! I played HS football ... truth is it is one of my fondest memories. Ah the glory days. I played both sides of the ball and played Half-back on offence so I got a lot of short passes and screens thrown at me. I had good hands but I will admit .. when that new ball came out all slick and hard as a brick ... well it was not my favorite practice but it did prepare me for game day. My wife bought me a football for Xmas ... now if I could just find someone in their 50's who would be willing to catch and throw it it would be awesome. Right now I just look at it longingly.