Shoe Care / Shoe Shine

[filfoster]

Soles to Last

Mycroft and Wingnut have described the best practices to maintain shoes for the long walk. I would distinguish the care given work/outdoor shoes and dress/dress casual shoes. You may want your 'work' or knockabout shoes to get pretty tatty before giving them a good stripping, oiling/lotioning and polish again. I may only do this a few times a year and it's enough.
My daily work shoes, cap toes or plain toed oxfords, I spit shine. The recommendation to strip with lighter fluid is correct but I am lazy and may only do this once a year because the spit shine, with several layers of polish and a layer or two of neutral over that, buffed with a lady's nylon stocking, is tedious. It is also, besides eating too fast and calling the floor the deck, the only vestige of my military experience.
The amorphous category, "dress casual", seems best tended by the regimen Mycroft describes.

 

[cookie]

FURTHER INFO ON SHINING SHOES

http://blog.leffot.com/2009/08/13/shine-time-2/ http://www.dimitribottier.com/3en.aspx
http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=55732

 

[mannySpaghetti]

That was an informative post, though I'm set in my ways. I happen to like a high gloss on the toes though, it's an old Army habit. I'm finishing up the used Bostonians I mentioned a couple posts up and will post pics soon.

 

[jamespowers]

Bulling seems to be a nice civilized way of putting it with an accent.

 

[mannySpaghetti]

I scored these off of ebaY a few days ago for like $24 and received 'em just yesterday.

Straight out of the box the uppers are in great condition though scuffed up pretty good. Polishing the shoes probably wasn't something the previous owner did often. The soles are slightly worn, not too bad at all. It came with what looked like "sport" or "casual" laces; definately changed out to replace the old ones, but totally wrong for dress shoes, so they went into the wastebasket soon as I got 'em.

Now on with the resurrection! I used an applicator brush to put the wax on, just 'cause I was lazy and wanted to be quick about it. the left shoe is in it's previous condition in each pic so yous can follow what I'm doing and compare. Left: straight out of the box.

Then a vigorous brush shine making sure every nook and cranny gets some horse hair across it. Just a little effort makes a ton of difference already.

Of course once I'm satisfied with the brush shine I "Bull" the toes.

A big step up from how they looked.

Added new waxed black 30" dress laces and voila', almost as good as new. I'm just waiting on some "Fiebing's sole edge polish" as Tomasso suggested and it should be totally complete, but they look great already.

 

[EmergencyIan]

^ Very nice outcome!


- Ian

 

[jamespowers]

Excellent. I am sending five pairs for the same treatment,

 

[filfoster]

Ressurection!

Now on with the resurrection! I used an applicator brush to put the wax on, just 'cause I was lazy and wanted to be quick about it. the left shoe is in it's previous condition in each pic so yous can follow what I'm doing and compare. Left: straight out of the box.



[

Added new waxed black 30" dress laces and voila', almost as good as new. I'm just waiting on some "Fiebing's sole edge polish" as Tomasso suggested and it should be totally complete, but they look great already. [/QUOTE]

That is one fine polish job. I must look back through the thread to see if 'bulling' means what it implies: polish and spit applied with much brio

 

[filfoster]

Nylons

You can polish your shoes with a plain nylon stockings/pantyhose.
For exampla a 'used' one your lady doesn't need anymore.
Use the method on yourself like a shoeshineboy do with a cloth wrapping your shoes.
It gives a nice shiny result.
We do this all the time in the military.

My recruiter gave me the tip on the nylons and I managed to get a small patch into the barracks. He also mentioned the lighter fluid for stripping off the quartermaster but we didn't have that and no one could collect enough of the platoon sergeant's spit to substitute.

 

[HoundstoothLuke]

Wrong polish for the shoes.

Good evening gents,

I have a pair of rather beautiful brown shoes, which normally require the use of kiwi Light Tan polish. However, in a fit of stupidity a fortnight ago, I used dark tan polish on them. Although they have largely recovered as it was only a small amount of polish, there are still dark patches around the bottom of the toe cap.

Is it possible to remove polish after applying it using chemicals, or should I just polish them all with dark tan and keep on doing so until the shoes are that colour?


I don't own a digital camera, so I'm afraid there are no pics. Essentially, the shoe remains light tan, but just above the instep there is discolouration caused by the other polish.

 

[Orgetorix]

I'd try a leather cleaner/conditioner like Lexol, Saphir Renovateur, or the stuff that Allen-Edmonds sells. If that doesn't work, a very small amount of acetone, used very sparingly, should take it off. Make sure you condition the leather after using acetone, as acetone is harsh and can dry it out.

 

[Speedbird]

removing polish....

Hi Luke,

There are a number of different ways to strip back old polish ... some more aggressive than others!

I would suggest you use saddle soap first as it is the least aggressive .... but it involves a little time and effort - rub it in and rub off with a damp cloth - repeat until discolouration removed. You will need to do the rest of the shoe as well (and the other one), to make sure you end up with an even colour all over.

You could try steam from a kettle to soften the polish before rubbing.

There are other ways - white spirits, lighter fluid etc - I have even heard toothpaste works for stripping old polish. These might be a bit harsh for old delicate or valuable leathers .... these type of tricks are used on army boots to bring them up to scratch but in this case longevity is rarely a consideration.

Whatever you use, you will need to re-polish the shoes thoroughly to get an even colour.

As an aside, you could just leave it well alone and polish as normally with your light tan. After a while you will get an interesting look. On all my brown shiny shoes/boots I alternate using dark tan and ox blood (sometimes a little black) to build up a characterful patina.

 

[HoundstoothLuke]

Thanks for all the advice gentlemen. These shoes are very new, I only purchased them last month, and they're not vintage so I don't have to worry as much about the treatments being too harsh.

I'll try the saddle soap first.

Thanks again!

 

[daizawaguy]

My tips on shoe polishing - upon request

Lefty had commented in the Hats section about my polish technique, and asked for a few tips. Here goes:

1. Make sure polish is warmed up (place on radiator in winter for a few min)
2. Apply in small circles
3. Use a coarse brush (pig bristle) to distribute/take off
4. Use a softer (horse hair) to final brush
5. Occasionally use a wet cloth and apply small cirles to the toe cap.
6. Condition with cream a few times a year
7. Mix colors - dont be afraid - even a black occasionally for antique look
8. Polish often!

 

[Alex Oviatt]

Great advice--as straight-laced as your beautiful shoes.

 

[cookie]

For finally polishing and to get a blistering shine use a pair of old panty hose!

 

[Geesie]

Color matching - there are countless shades of brown shoe sold, but only a handful of shoe polishes.
[huh]

 

[Orgetorix]

First attempt at shoe antiquing/dyeing

A while back, I Ebayed a pair of AE's discontinued Brantley bal boots. While I'd been looking for a pair of bal boots for a while and was happy to snag these after a long time looking, I'd never been terribly happy with the color, an orangey tan that I think AE calls brandy:

I'd tried darkening them with creams and waxes, but the color change wasn't substantial enough. I also burnished the toes a bit with a buffing wheel on my drill. Since they're only AEs and I'd gotten them for about $40, and since I wasn't wearing them much in the orange color, I was willing to experiment with them.

So I finally got around to working on them over the course of the last week. I stripped the top layer of the finish off with acetone, though I didn't take all of the old color off.

I then moisturized with a couple applications of Saphir Renovateur, to feed the leather after the harsh acetone.

Then I used Fiebing's Leather Dye in Dark Brown, using the little wool dauber that comes in the box. I put on several coats, with applications of Renovateur in between to strip off the dye that didn't penetrate the leather and stayed sitting on top.

I'd say I ended up with about 5 or 6 coats of dye overall, and maybe a couple more on the toes. I finished with a couple coats of Saphir #05 dark brown cream and Kiwi dark brown wax, putting a low-grade spit shine on the toecaps.

I'm fairly pleased with the results. The finish is a bit more uneven than I could wish; there are a couple of spots where the old orange color shows through a bit. You can kind of see one of them on the heel counter in one picture. I'm going to keep polishing with dark brown cream and wax, and hopefully the finish will even out with time.

 

[davestlouis]

Nicely done, I like the antiqued finish a lot more than the original...looks like a lot of work though.

 

[The Good]

I'm fine with the way it was originally, myself, but the second photo, with your antiquing done on them, looks better for sure!