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

[grendel]

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.

I'm pretty sure I've seen Horween say no to Lexol on shell... In fact I think it was followed by multiple exclamation points.

 

[cbfn]

Received my shells today, and WOW, I NEED MORE SHELL! I started with brushing for about 10 minutes, then some saphir, and then more brushing; and they now look beautiful. I stayed away from lexol due to the uncertainty, only used some on the sole. Horween has said both; that it may be used and that it may not be used, but I'm waiting for my neutral saphir shell cordovan cream instead.

 

[kirbya]



Thank you very much for the pictures, made me deceide that I'll go the Saphir neutral cordovan cream way on my Marlows! The boots are absolutely beautiful, I hope one day I will have such an astonishing pair on my feet.

Wow. Well done!

 

[highlifeman]

I'm pretty sure I've seen Horween say no to Lexol on shell... In fact I think it was followed by multiple exclamation points.

http://horween.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/brownout/#comment-324

 

[cbfn]

I've read that, but he states otherwise here:
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/...sturize-30-Year-Old-Hanover-Cordovan-Bluchers

However, I have deceided to stay away from it, the reno seemed to condition them up good, and a small amount of the saphir cordovan cream should help a bit as well, as stated everywhere; shell is filled with oils already.

 

[grendel]

I've read that, but he states otherwise here:
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/...sturize-30-Year-Old-Hanover-Cordovan-Bluchers
However, I have deceided to stay away from it, the reno seemed to condition them up good, and a small amount of the saphir cordovan cream should help a bit as well, as stated everywhere; shell is filled with oils already.

I don't think that's Nick Horween, though... Is it? Why would he be linking to B. Nelson?

 

[cbfn]

100% correct, sorry for the mixup. No lexol on shell then!

 

[Gilmour]

Regular cream polishes are not recommended for shell. If you're talking about the cordovan-colored shell cordovan cream polish, that should be fine. But I don't think you're going to get the effect you want.

Cheers

Yes i was talking about the Cordovan cream polish and also the Cordovan color

 

[pfhtrad]

So here is a shoe care question:

Pulled a shoe tree out of my favorite Cheaney's (purchased new from Herring's) and was met with a big green puff of mold. This recently started and I took to wiping down the inside with an alcohol soaked rag prior to treeing. I also stopped treeing after taking them off and began treeing them the next morning. I also wipe down the trees which is killing the ceder smell.

After a month, none of this has helped much and the footbed looks like a forest.

I usually have a three day shoe rotation, never wearing the same shoe twice in a row, they are treed and I don't have a moisture problem in my house.

And yes, I wash both my socks and feet daily. Sometimes twice. And have no issues with my feet.

Oxygen bleach is out, will dissolve the leather (been there with a pair of Church's quarter brogues last year, I cried. They had the same problem). Alcohol will most likely remove tannins and salts making the leather more brittle over time. Tried bleaching some thrifted shoes in a mild chlorine bleach soak (learned from the church's) and (again) disolved the shoes.

Thankfully, my Aldens have been wonderfully free of complaint.

Is there a fix to this? I'm running it of money to buy new shoes and never had this happen to my cheap Timberlands I wore every day in highschool.

 

[mymil]

Is it only one this one pair? I imagine it's possible that the the leather was insufficiently or improperly tanned, so it wasn't appropriately preserved.

 

[NOBD]

Operation Tetbury

Now wait untill they're dry...

 

[djwoblely]

NOBD, Could you do a step by step instructional on what you are doing with all materials used.

Thanks

 

[NOBD]



NOBD, Could you do a step by step instructional on what you are doing with all materials used.
Thanks

I´ll give it a try.

– I brushed the shoes to get rid of dust and dirt. I also cleaned the soles with an old brush.

– I put some of the suede shampoo (the small bottle in the pic) in a bowl of water (let's say 1:10 ratio shampoo/water)

– I rinsed the shoes under a running tap (lukewarm); made them real wet (while trying to keep the inside of the shoe dry)

– I took the yellow side of the spunge (not the scratchy green side), dipped it in the bowl with shampoo/water and 'brushed' the whole shoe

– I left it with the shampoo on for a few minutes

– Then I rinsed the shoe under a running tap to remove the soap

– Then I repeated the process and gave the laces a litte rinse in the bowl

– After that, I put newspapers inside the shoe to get the inside dry

– I left the paper in for an hour or so and then put the shoe trees back in


Now, I'll leave them to dry for a day or so (don't know how long it will take). If they're dry tomorrow, I'll give them a brush
(I use a regular shoe brush, the one you see in the first picture, not a suede brush) and then spray them with Saphir Super
Invulner spray (the black spray can). After that, I'll apply Saphir Rénovateur to the sole edges and the soles themselves.
I leave that to dry for say half an hour. If the edges need some colour, I'll use a medium brown Saphir crème to touch
up the colour. I might do part of the sole as well. I'll leave that to dry, and give it a brush for a nice finish.

That's about it, I think.

 

[pfhtrad]

Last year, a pair Church's I purchased with the Cheaney's - a pair of brown quarter brouges - also developed a blooming mold. I tried swishing them with a percarbonate solution which stiffed up the leather, and chemically "burned" them from the inside out.

Should I contact Cheaney and ask them? I will admit that perhaps 5 or 6 times over the two years I've owned them I've worn them back to back.

 

[mymil]

Wearing the same pair of shoes two days in a row 5 or 6 times does not cause mold.