**The Official Shoe Care Thread: Tutorials, Photos, etc.**

fullb said:

Here it is : http://mydayshoes.tumblr.com/post/13493935289/real-time-shoeshine
Sorry for the delay and the blur on the first half.

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india said:

First post. 

First of all, I love this forum and have been coming here for ages, but only just made an account.  While this is a very male forum, I hope there's some indulgence for the women who love taking care of all things gentlemanly.

OK, one of the loves of my life recently got an absolutely stunning pair of Church's Burwoods in Sandalwood.  Thrilling for many reasons, not the least of which is that I planned to get him a similar pair of brogues from Lodger or whatever they're called now, but was holding off because I felt that he'd prefer something with a longer, square toe, so I get to revel in being right both as to his liking that style of shoe and his preferred toe shape.  Not the point.

I'd like to keep these in lovely condition for him, and tend to default to the shoe manufacturer's polish if they make one.  On this thread and elsewhere, however, I've heard some negative things about Church's wax polish. Could any of you sages advise?  What would be the best way of taking care of these, with the caveat that I see this particular man for a few days a month (he's on the other coast) and he plans to wear the hell out of them (and is having the soles rubberized in order to do so).

Man in question doesn't do a lot of caring for things himself but tends to send everything out, and sees shoe care (beyond the standard trees and storing things well) as something you have done on the way to the office or at the shoemaker when that simply isn't cutting it anymore.  He's letting me do some upkeep on a lot of his lovely, lovely things, which is fine when it's black Ferragamo loafers--I know exactly what to do there--but starting from scratch with something as nice as the Burwoods, I'd like to make sure I'm doing it well.

You're basically talking to an enthusiast rather than an expert; most of my shoe-care background comes from being raised by a grandfather who had gone from the military to the business world, rather than from having the sort of specialized knowledge that's so intimidating on this forum, but I'm not completely ignorant of what I'm doing, just a bit old-school.

Advice?

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Northampton Novice said:

Welcome to SF India - We're a diverse bunch so feel at home
Whilst I am not familiar with the Church Burwood model - I presume it's smooth calf leather. If so I suggest you use Saphir products to keep them at their best. I would use Saphir Renovateur to condition and gently clean the shoes. I would then cream the shoes using Saphir Medaille D'or or Saphir Cream Surfine in a corresponding colour. If your gentleman friend or you for that matter find a highly polished shoe appealing I would then finish using Saphir Medaille D'or Wax.
Basically Shoe cream is better for the leather than wax. As a simple rule of thumb cream usually comes in jars and wax in traditional tins. Cream is more nourishing, has more pigments and thus is better at covering scratches and scuffs.But a cream will only give you a soft mellow shine. Wax will give you a hard bright shine and generally helps to waterproof the shoe. You can use cream then wax as aforementioned.
Personally I don't consider Church's Wax polish to be high quality. Their Creams are a little better.
If you need more details around shoe care - you've come to the right place. Have fun reading.

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fullb said:

Here it is : http://mydayshoes.tumblr.com/post/13493935289/real-time-shoeshine
Sorry for the delay and the blur on the first half.

Click to expand...

patrickBOOTH said:

It is polished binder leather, (corrected grain) polish does very little.

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patrickBOOTH said:

The burwoods are made from polished binder leather, which is sanded and smoothed down. This makes caring for them a bit different. I know some people with this shoes and they just use some Saphir Renovateur and buff with a horsehair brush. "polish" will do very little on this kind of leather, but if you want to bring back a high shine I would just very, very, very little brown wax polish. There aren't pores in this leather and it can build up and get dull very quickly. Good luck.

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india said:

First post. 

First of all, I love this forum and have been coming here for ages, but only just made an account.  While this is a very male forum, I hope there's some indulgence for the women who love taking care of all things gentlemanly.

OK, one of the loves of my life recently got an absolutely stunning pair of Church's Burwoods in Sandalwood.  Thrilling for many reasons, not the least of which is that I planned to get him a similar pair of brogues from Lodger or whatever they're called now, but was holding off because I felt that he'd prefer something with a longer, square toe, so I get to revel in being right both as to his liking that style of shoe and his preferred toe shape.  Not the point.

I'd like to keep these in lovely condition for him, and tend to default to the shoe manufacturer's polish if they make one.  On this thread and elsewhere, however, I've heard some negative things about Church's wax polish. Could any of you sages advise?  What would be the best way of taking care of these, with the caveat that I see this particular man for a few days a month (he's on the other coast) and he plans to wear the hell out of them (and is having the soles rubberized in order to do so).

Man in question doesn't do a lot of caring for things himself but tends to send everything out, and sees shoe care (beyond the standard trees and storing things well) as something you have done on the way to the office or at the shoemaker when that simply isn't cutting it anymore.  He's letting me do some upkeep on a lot of his lovely, lovely things, which is fine when it's black Ferragamo loafers--I know exactly what to do there--but starting from scratch with something as nice as the Burwoods, I'd like to make sure I'm doing it well.

You're basically talking to an enthusiast rather than an expert; most of my shoe-care background comes from being raised by a grandfather who had gone from the military to the business world, rather than from having the sort of specialized knowledge that's so intimidating on this forum, but I'm not completely ignorant of what I'm doing, just a bit old-school.

Advice?

Click to expand...

india said:

Fantastic, I had a feeling about this.  I could see that there was something going on with the leather which I wasn't quite familiar.

I'm only just starting to get into the Saphir products after a couple of decades of "what was good enough for the old man is good enough for me," but the Renovateur is a go-to.  Thanks tremendously for putting a name to why I didn't want to touch the Burwoods until I figured out their story.

Also, the Church's website shows them as one of the two shoes they also make for women, which is causing entirely inappropriate coveting in a girl who adheres to pumps on weekdays and Western boots on weekends.  I'm trying to convince myself I need them for work.  (And trying to ignore the little voice that reminds me that all of my pants are hemmed for platform pumps).

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patrickBOOTH said:

Oh, my girlfriend recently found that Church's and Crockett & Jones makes women's shoes. She is in the process of picking out her birthday gift...

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