Best shoe polish? - Page 3

A few days ago at Bed, Bath & Beyond, I picked up a tin of Kiwi Select Premium.  The tin is black and silver, and according to the copy on the back, it "contains a fine blend of premium waxes."  It was $2.99, a little more than the regular Kiwi polish goes for at the drugstore.  I suspect that really isn't much difference between the two, perhaps just a slightly different formulation, but does anyone know for sure?

Just been last week to the new Edward Green factory in Northampton. Obviously EG shoes are famous for their antique finish, when trough heat and various polishes they achieve those subtle color-variations. What does EG use to do this delicate work? Some polish that old Mr Green had invented a hundred years ago and whose hand-written formula is even more highly treasured than the Coca Cola one (no two EG executives ever allowed in the same plane)? Is it EG's "Old Cobbler" polish, sold at premium prices in the shop? No. It's good old-fashioned and cheap Kiwi.  All the finishing benches and the supply shelves are covered in tins and tins of Kiwi. They must go through the stuff by the container load.

LOL, it's the same thing with Vass, and Lattanzi, and probably just about every other shoemaker. That's why I always laugh when people knock Kiwi   If it's good enough for them it's good enough for me...

In asking Tony G. at EG what he would recommend that I use on my bespoke shoes he made, he said to use Kiwi.

My veteran shoe shiner suggested this brand. It certainly looked great on my shoes. http://www.fiebing.com/product.asp?typeID=11

Rider, the one that I have been using and having excellent results with is the Saphir Creme Universelle Leather Balm. If you look at the J.M Weston mini movie on shoe polishing, that is the same bottle.

Ahh, thanks. This must be from the Saphir line, not Medaille d'Or...it does not appear on the product list from the factory, but I have not received the Saphir list, as we have been talking Medaille d'Or to this point...

A local shoe guy (heartily endorsed by Mr. Drinkwater, FWIW) says no polish at all. Just Meltonian cream. Says that wax polish dries out shoes and causes cracking. That strikes me as a little extreme, especially since colored cream gets rid of the depth of color that EGs are especially known for. But for brown pebble finish, focusing mostly on neutral moisturizer seems a reasonable strategy. And black cream gets one the same color of black that polish would--- just less glossy. Given the input of the guys who make the shoes, I think that liberal baths of Meltonian (neutral in the case of nicer brown shoes) punctuating the more regular application of Kiwi is the way to go. Green and Cleverley both recommend Kiwi. The plain stuff, not "parade ground" or similar fancy formulas.

Rider, having used both the Medaille d'Or and the regular line, I find there to be minimal difference between their creams. The Gold medal polishes are a bit better. The main problem with the Gold medal lines is that the limited selection of colours available. As for the Medaille d'Or "Renovateur" it is a bit greasy... it has mink oil. The Creme Universelle is much much better.

Cream or polish? Which is preferable?

I know, and I have posted the same over the years here, but I have received the MSDS on Kiwi and, assuming I can do better, I would like to offer something that works well and does not contain: 67% Stoddard Solvent 25% Heavy Naphta Maybe I can't (I can't find a MSDS for Lincoln, and have not received the one from Saphir), but I will try. Hell, maybe I should make my own...the original formula was something like sugar, vinegar, natural dyes, and some other innocent sounding ingredients.

I don't have a problem with the way that Kiwi shines up, but it does stink to high heaven. Lincoln works as well as or better than Kiwi, and it doesn't stink. That's good enough for me.

Hmm, I've never minded the odor of Kiwi, but my sister hates it, says it gives her a headache, so maybe you have something there...

I guy I know who has toured the Alden factory claims they finish with Lincoln. I have used the AE cream and carnuba wax and have been impressed. I'm starting to wonder if Lexol and Lincoln is the way to go. Any reason you couldn't replace colored cream with Lexol and finish up with a wax? Brad

I was chatting with someone at AE while placing an largish order last week, and I asked what the difference is between neutral shoe cream and conditioner. The answer given was "not much." So the Lexol conditioner would probably be a substitute for cream, so long as one uses wax for coloring.