I put a pair of my work-gloves up on the oil-burning heater (at work) to try dry them out a bit and warm them up, because it's been below freezing for most of the day at work.
Uuuuuuunfortunately, I then raked out the ashes on the heater and got it really roaring, and now the cuffs of my gloves have shrunken and become not unlike stone. And it appears this is an irreversible process! Thankfully it was an old pair...
But you would think I'd remember that's what excessive heat does to leather, because I've ruined plenty a welding glove in the past with the way I prop myself up on my hand, close to the most intense heat of the weld, while welding...