Polishing brown wingtips -- lots of issues!

Hi,

This is my first post in this forum. I'm looking for some help/advice on polishing brown wingtips. I'm prior military, so I'm well adept (although a bit out of practice) at the art of shining shoes. That being said, I've only ever shined black shoes, and they were never wingtips.

I attempted to apply a coat of neutral kiwi to my brand new Bostonian brown wing tips, and I've experienced nothing but issues. The holes are all filled with kiwi, and there is a horrible yellowish white build-up around all of the stitching. With black polish, on black shoes, I guess this was never an issue.

I know the general steps for polishing, and establishing a base, but I can't seem to establish a smooth surface because of all the dried bits that come off the stitching and out the holes. Please help!

PS, I know I used to use a lighter to melt a great base into the leather. I'm nervous about doing this with these shoes. Is this an option?

I'm no expert and I'm not familiar with the brand of your shoes, but that leather looks very dry. How about getting some Saphir cream?

There is a large thread completely dedicated to shoe care here:

http://www.styleforum.net/t/228153/the-official-shoe-care-thread-tutorials-photos-etc/0_40

Ask the experts on the shoe care thread: http://www.styleforum.net/t/228153/the-official-shoe-care-thread-tutorials-photos-etc

Your best bet is to forget everything you learned in the military and then visit the shoe care thread. Those shoes are in awful shape and need a lot of attention before slapping wax polish on them. Also, if your wax polish is crusting in the brogueing, you're using way too much polish.