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shoe polishing - Page 2

post #16 of 21
1/10/12 at 12:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GBer View Post

Translation?

Bulling = spit-shine.

Lear
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post #17 of 21
1/10/12 at 2:10pm
The polish place I use to goto switched to Machine. It is this really large monstrocity that has a rotating fluffy wheel that just grinds over your shoes. I happened to be in the shop when mine was polished. The sound it makes is ghastly. I never went back.

The pair of shoes survived that machine (as far as I can tell). Though the polish was pretty bad. It is uneven at spots and there are slightly visible streaks caused by the brussel on the wheel.
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post #18 of 21
1/10/12 at 3:18pm
Machines suck. The one time I had a pair done, they stripped and frayed the laces. Terrible.

I also do as JayJay does... five minutes a pair. It's pretty damn easy to shine a nice pair of shoes made with high quality leather.
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post #19 of 21
1/10/12 at 4:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by musicguy View Post

Machines suck. The one time I had a pair done, they stripped and frayed the laces. Terrible.
I also do as JayJay does... five minutes a pair. It's pretty damn easy to shine a nice pair of shoes made with high quality leather.

also risks burning if you hold it under the buffer too long.
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post #20 of 21
1/11/12 at 4:21pm

Several comments:

 

1) RPM should be low - 850 is recommended by manufacturer of the horsehair brushes.  With anything like normal pressure and duration it would be unlikely to burn the shoe if you keep it moving under the brush. 

 

2) Need to develop a "feel" for how long to buff an area to get the right effect. 

 

3) The machine if working right and used properly makes little noise

 

4) If you apply polish, buff with horsehair wheel, then finish with the cotton yarn wheel you can get a great shine.   If you want to take multiple steps with the water spray and multiple polish applications you can get as good a mirror shine as by hand. 

 

Boils down to proper use by the operator, if you are not good with tools - ie don't have that magic sense of when you are pushing wood into a saw at the proper feed rate from the sound and force you are applying and similar such skills, then stick to polishing by hand.  If you learn how to use it, it is way faster and better than polishing by hand.   Thirty seconds of buffing on an 8" horsehair wheel is equivalent to about 1700 strokes with a 6" shoe brush - about 5 minutes non-stop at the breakneck rate of 6 strokes per second.   I get tired just thinking about it. 

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post #21 of 21
1/11/12 at 9:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesX View Post

The polish place I use to goto switched to Machine. It is this really large monstrocity that has a rotating fluffy wheel that just grinds over your shoes. I happened to be in the shop when mine was polished. The sound it makes is ghastly. I never went back.
The pair of shoes survived that machine (as far as I can tell). Though the polish was pretty bad. It is uneven at spots and there are slightly visible streaks caused by the brussel on the wheel.


They just don't know how to operate a machine, that's all.  Most RTW shoe makers, if not all, use machine to finish for their RTW/MTO shoes.

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