**The Official Shoe Care Thread: Tutorials, Photos, etc.** - Page 209

A pair of lightly used RL wingtip marlows at a great price. I've been looking for them for over a year! I was thinking about using some reno, but I'm not sure after reading G's experience. I was looking for venetian, but I was quoted $38 for shipping.

Gdot,
That's good to know. Thanks for the heads up. I take that into consideration, especially on light colors.

Any idea what difference in formulation between Reno and the lotion might be that causes this difference, Gdot?

Well - this is ONLY AN OBSERVATION BASED THEORY so take it for just that.

Reno is clearly forumlated with a fair amount of solvent in it - as part of it's intended function is to clean and remove built up finish.

I can only suppose that this cleaner/solvent reacted badly with this particular shoe. (And yes, I'm aware that light toned shoes are prone to darkening with moisturizing).

I'm thinking that with new shoes one would be wise not to immediately apply a conditioner that has any solvent in it at all. I used to use plain old mink oil for conditioning - this was my habit for years - I'm thinking going back to something that is STRICTLY for moisturizing for new shoes would be the most prudent action. As the saphir lotion contains mink oil and to my knowledge no solvents it seems a good choice.

 

Good luck with that and congratulations on the shoes. I have a pair and they're among my favourites!

I can see the benefit of something with at least a little bit of solvent in it to clean off the surface of the shoe (although obviously any liquid or cream being applied to a shoe is going to be a solvent for something). That said, what products are strictly moisturizers besides mink oil?

In fairness to myself, I believe even Nick Horween himself has recommended Reno for shell. The shoes in question are the lightest color of shell available (whisky). And my personal experience may be a 'one off' reaction of some sort.

If your wingtips are in the dark finish I doubt you would see any problems at all with Reno.

I'm currently happy with Saphir Lotion:

http://www.hangerproject.com/closet/saphir-leather-lotion.html

I'd like to pick up some venetian shoe cream. That's also been recommended by the folks at horween.

I got mine here:

 

http://www.mostshoestuff.com/browse.cfm/venetian-cream/4,95.html

 

It was $16 + 7.95 shipping, now it's a bit more

Thanks! Yes, I have been planning on purchasing these for a long time, fell in love with them the first time I saw them.

Of course, but I fully agree on not oversaturating the shoes with reno. I myself has always been catious with the use of solvents on my shoes, and rather use Lexol Cond. on my calf shoes. But the Mac method has truly been holding up great, and a coat of reno every blue moon should not be to bad.

I've read a bit on caring for shell cordovan the past week, especially after ordering a pair, and have come up with a possible solution for caring of shell cordovan:
I often see reports on the dryness of C&J's shell cordovan and thought that maybe some conditioning would help. I saw that lexol conditioner was actually said by N. Horween to work on shell, so that's one way it may be solved. I also see that beeswax formulated conditioners like Venetian(?) and Saphir leather lotion is said to work well when conditioning shoes. How about warming up a very small (pea sized) amount of Obenauf's HDLP and applying it on the SC shoe? It would make them more water repellent and condition them at the same time, while still having the glow of the shell cordovan? I know this is fully against the Mac method, but my OC of maintaining my shoe hates the thought of not conditioning them. Sorry if I bore or annoy someone with bringing up a topic that's already been beat to death.
Edited by cbfn - 10/27/12 at 4:15am

 

 

 

That's fantastic!! Gotta love Lumbergh.

Absolutely, Office Space is a movie I recommend everyone to watch.

Enjoyed reading your thoughts RE: conditioning. The only potential issue with using HDLP is that it becomes virtually impossibleto get a shine after LP's been applied (IME).

Also, a note on dryness. My two pair of Allen Edmonds shell shoes are super dry. They appear dry to the touch just a day or two after conditioning.