My antique/polish result on a pair of AE Westgate in Brandy. What do you think?

Thank you guys for all the positive feedbacks. I am glad that I did it. As I said, this was my first experiment.

Wow yeah, having now seen the before color, you did GREAT. If the colors in the photos are true to life, AE's brandy is a rather yukky color, IMO.

what did you use? Cream? Wax? Dye?

Originally Posted by pocketsquareguy

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what did you use? Cream? Wax? Dye?

In a nutshell, first I used 2 coats of Meltonian dark brown creams with a circular motion to work them in...more liberal on the toe and heel areas. Waited about an hour, brushed and then buffed them off with a flannel cloth. Next step, I put a coat of Lincohn dark brown wax only on toe and heel areas (same circular motion to work the wax in), then brushed and buffed it off. Repeated this steps for 2 more times. The last step was to put anther coat of Lincohn dark brown wax, only this time was applied to entire shoes. That was about it.

Originally Posted by A Guy from Shanghai

Click to expand...

In a nutshell, first I used 2 coats of Meltonian dark brown creams with a circular motion to work them in...more liberal on the toe and heel areas. Waited about an hour, brushed and then buffed them off with a flannel cloth. Next step, I put a coat of Lincohn dark brown wax only on toe and heel areas (same circular motion to work the wax in), then brushed and buffed it off. Repeated this steps for 2 more times. The last step was to put anther coat of Lincohn dark brown wax, only this time was applied to entire shoes. That was about it.
Thanks for that.

Be sure to let us know how your antiquing holds up after being worn a few times, especially around the creases.

you did a fantastic job.

Awesome. You turned ugly shoes into nice looking shoes.

Great job! I really like the colour and finish that you ended up with.

They smoke! Great job!

That's awesome. How did you do it?

See post 20.

Originally Posted by DocHolliday

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See post 20.

My bad, did a quick reply without reading the whole post.

I have a pair of Grensons that I bought about two years ago. They were a very light tan and a rather porous leather. Even after a coat of neutral creme polish, anytime I wore them any moisture created a dark spot that would later go away. I was concerned about oil or grease staining them so I just didn't wear them. After reading Riders epic tales about antiquing shoes and a few other(most recently this post), I went to work on them. The original color was close to the color of the belt in the foreground.

I gave the shoes several coats of Meltonian Brown creme polish. I took my time and rubbed the cream into the leather, letting it get good and moist to open up the pores and take the color. I would let them sit then give them light buff. I probably did this three times. I then accented areas with Meltonian Mahogany Red. I darkened the toe and heal areas with small amounts of dark brown wax, deep red wax and green wax. I buffed the shoes with an old brush used to polish my dark brown shoes. I then took my brush that I use to polish black shoes and buffed the toe and heal. I like that darkened accent and am happy with the results. To me, they have taken on a lot of character and I won't feel cautious wearing them.

^^^ I think edmorel just blew an o-ring reading this...

Those look fantastic! I Have a pair or brandy Westgates that I would love to darken as you have. My only concern would be in the inevitable creases. Is there a way to prevent discoloration in the creases? If I can avoid that, I would readily try this on mine.