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

[patrickBOOTH]

Interesting, I have different experiences with polishing and such. I find that if you use a dauber to apply polish or reno you always end up using too much and it is hard to get a good shine. Also, I find that leaving reno on the shoe too long like over a couple minutes it gets very, very, hard to buff out. I would say waiting 10 minutes is entering the too long territory in my experience, but who knows the weather could affect it.

 

[patrickBOOTH]



Hello benhour, here is a simple test for color density.

http://www.burgol.de/shoecare#schuhpflege6

BTW, Marc Moura says that the coloring agents of CREME 1925 are not pigments but only dyes in the following interview.
http://allabout.co.jp/gm/gc/418273/

If you translate the page that this picture came from they have a very unique view on shoe care. They pretty much dismiss the "conditioning" step many of us love. They more or less say that their wax polishes is all that is really needed for regular shoe care. They also seem to think turpentine is essential for proper cleaning and conditioning. They said that many modern cream polishes use water rather than a proper solvent, which is harmful. Anybody have more info on Burgol products, or their view on things? It seems that their products have a lot more pigments in them than pretty much all other polishes as well.

 

[benhour]

Hello benhour, here is a simple test for color density.

http://www.burgol.de/shoecare#schuhpflege6

BTW, Marc Moura says that the coloring agents of CREME 1925 are not pigments but only dyes in the following interview.
http://allabout.co.jp/gm/gc/418273/

first of all i dont speak Chinese so i cant read what he says in his interview!! i am really sorry about that!!

according to the picture of the test i have a lot of doubts about it!!
first of all it's not objective because it's from burgol company(i can produse different sades on a paper with the same polish,according to how i press it on the paper,the ammount i take with my finger etc) that's why i put a picture of the products where the color depth is obvious!

secondly i have never used their products so i can only talk with what i see!! they sell their products as premium and they compare it in the picture with low end polishes!!(collonil interpolish is the cheapest polish of collonil(1909 is their high end),they are not saying whitch saphir product they used (MDO,pate de luxe (witch one?????)i am sure they used the old pate de lux!!,when they did the comparison??? cause saphir changed the ingredients of pate de luxe the last few years for better shine and coloring! witch kiwi shoe polish they used?) !! and as the names of products indicates they compared cream(paste polish) with wax's!!!totally different things !!
i am sure glenjay can analize this in more depth(i think he has already posted something in the past)

most important look at the trace of the finger at burgol sample!!! firstly it looks like cream(paste) polish trace!!and from the amount of polish stayed at the sides of it they took a lot of exes product on the finger!!

their jar's are identical to the old MDO jars!!so i am a little suspicious about that!

btw if i am correct pigment means coloring agent so i suppose dye is coloring agent so it is pigment! i am not sure if that is correct
sorry for my English i try to do my best!

 

[OzzyJones]



If you translate the page that this picture came from they have a very unique view on shoe care. They pretty much dismiss the "conditioning" step many of us love. They more or less say that their wax polishes is all that is really needed for regular shoe care. They also seem to think turpentine is essential for proper cleaning and conditioning. They said that many modern cream polishes use water rather than a proper solvent, which is harmful. Anybody have more info on Burgol products, or their view on things? It seems that their products have a lot more pigments in them than pretty much all other polishes as well.

Skoaktiebolaget stocks this stuff. Dunno if there's more info on it tho

 

[patrickBOOTH]

They say they use natural oils and waxes and turpentine as the driver. IMO, they are probably almost identical in theory to Saphir. I just think it is interesting they really think the oils and waxes in their products are enough for conditioning.

 

[benhour]

If you translate the page that this picture came from they have a very unique view on shoe care. They pretty much dismiss the "conditioning" step many of us love. They more or less say that their wax polishes is all that is really needed for regular shoe care. They also seem to think turpentine is essential for proper cleaning and conditioning. They said that many modern cream polishes use water rather than a proper solvent, which is harmful. Anybody have more info on Burgol products, or their view on things? It seems that their products have a lot more pigments in them than pretty much all other polishes as well.

i just did that as you right pointed Patrick and have the same questions as you do!!they defenatelly have a unique view on shoe care!!



the first five is the same wax polish!!! the longer black is collonil 1909 and the last is saphir MDO

 

[OzzyJones]



They say they use natural oils and waxes and turpentine as the driver. IMO, they are probably almost identical in theory to Saphir. I just think it is interesting they really think the oils and waxes in their products are enough for conditioning.

Imagine if we could all stop using Reno!!

 

[patrickBOOTH]

And only used Lexol!

 

[OzzyJones]

Good point well made! Still not sure about Reno and started using lexol instead after using it to revitalise my aniline sofas

 

[chogall]

Well maybe wax and oil are really enough in the absence of using strong water based stripper like Renovator.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Do we know that renovateur is water based? As far as I know it is a **** load of oils, beeswax, and turpentine.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I was talking with a friend of mine recently about the headaches of shoe care. He noted that his least most cared for beaters were holding up better than his well cared for shoes. We also noticed that many people we see walking around, like hipsters and such who wear these vintage, second hand crappy leather shoes all beat up, worn every day show little signs of crackage in most cases. Leather is very fickle and the "less is more" adage came up again. I really think leather is much tougher than we think, even crappy leather. Constant pigmenting, and solvent applications could be doing us injustice as I have certainly seen and cried about on here. Ultimately, the notion of "conditioning" leather is an overrated concept and what you are really doing is making it look better to your eye.

 

[laufer]



I was talking with a friend of mine recently about the headaches of shoe care. He noted that his least most cared for beaters were holding up better than his well cared for shoes. We also noticed that many people we see walking around, like hipsters and such who wear these vintage, second hand crappy leather shoes all beat up, worn every day show little signs of crackage in most cases. Leather is very fickle and the "less is more" adage came up again. I really think leather is much tougher than we think, even crappy leather. Constant pigmenting, and solvent applications could be doing us injustice as I have certainly seen and cried about on here. Ultimately, the notion of "conditioning" leather is an overrated concept and what you are really doing is making it look better to your eye.

Patrick,

I agree with everything you said. Saphir is very good at marketing its products. I am not saying its products are not good but Saphir is excellent at marketing those products. Definitely less is more.

 

[Ulsterman]

Thanks for the tips so far Gents, to clarify a couple things from my first post, the dauber I used was about the diameter of a nickle, and when using the Reno and Cream polish I would barely wet the tips of the dauber, so I thought I was using a very small amount, but even that was enough to seriously coat the shoes. For Saphir does one just need to use a ridiculously small amount?

Also, I gave each coat about five to ten minutes to dry in between before brushing.

After brushing off the Reno the finish was very matte and some rich patina had developed.

After two coats of cream polish the shoes looked clean and had some shine, but nowhere close to what I would get from a five minute process using Allen Edmonds cream polish. I had to buff or nearly 45 minutes to get the Saphir cream to shine.

I'm wondering if with Saphir I need to dramatically reduce the amount of product used.

Another potential issue I realized was that the dauber I used to apply the Reno was cleaned before using and may have been a bit damp, would the addition of some water screw up the application ofthe Reno?

I'll certainly read the thread over time but any immediate advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[MoneyWellSpent]

I was talking with a friend of mine recently about the headaches of shoe care. He noted that his least most cared for beaters were holding up better than his well cared for shoes. We also noticed that many people we see walking around, like hipsters and such who wear these vintage, second hand crappy leather shoes all beat up, worn every day show little signs of crackage in most cases. Leather is very fickle and the "less is more" adage came up again. I really think leather is much tougher than we think, even crappy leather. Constant pigmenting, and solvent applications could be doing us injustice as I have certainly seen and cried about on here. Ultimately, the notion of "conditioning" leather is an overrated concept and what you are really doing is making it look better to your eye.

I think this is spot on!