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

[Crat]

Black Cordovan

 

[patrick_b]



Black Cordovan

Wow!! Holy CRAP.

 

[bik2101]

i recently bought a pair of the red wing work chukkas and was wondering how i could waterproof them. i saw a few posts mentioning something called sno-seal? was just wondering if this would be cool to use on these boots. only reason i'm wondering is that one of the employees at a local red wing shoes store told me that pretty much any product you use on them will end up causing color to bleed into the white threading, which i would prefer not to happen. but i imagine if i use snoseal, those seams closed by the threading are where i would have to apply to, right?

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Number one, don't use sno-seal. Next, it depends on what you want the shoes to end up looking like. If you want them to really be waterproof, however will have a matte, oily kind of finish I would recommend obaneuf's, or Montana Pitch Blend. If you want them to be kind of on the shiny side I would recommend Saphir renovateur, and plain old Saphir wax polish. There is way too much worry about getting leather wet. If you are using trees, letting them air dry, not wearing on consecutive days, and proper conditioning and polishing, you won't have issues.

 

[cbfn]



Black Cordovan

Is that even possible with cordovan?

 

[Crat]

If I remember correctly the guy who did this to these dit it only to prove that it is possible.
They aren't mine but I thought I'd share the pic.

 

[bik2101]

Number one, don't use sno-seal. Next, it depends on what you want the shoes to end up looking like. If you want them to really be waterproof, however will have a matte, oily kind of finish I would recommend obaneuf's, or Montana Pitch Blend. If you want them to be kind of on the shiny side I would recommend Saphir renovateur, and plain old Saphir wax polish. There is way too much worry about getting leather wet. If you are using trees, letting them air dry, not wearing on consecutive days, and proper conditioning and polishing, you won't have issues.

ooh.. thanks for that info.

 

[unbelragazzo]

Gents,
While trying to get a nice shine on the toe cap of my brown wingtips, some kind of rough blackish patches emerged. They look matte, not shiny...they came out WHILE I was polishing. When I started they weren't there, and then in the course of polishing, they appeared. I was using Saphir MdO mid-brown cream - my technique was applying a little dab, polishing in small circles, then after a while putting on a dab of water, and continuing and repeating. The water seemed to enhance these black matte splotches. Any idea of what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it? Sorry for lack of pictures, I'm sans camera at the moment.

 

[patrickBOOTH]



Gents,
While trying to get a nice shine on the toe cap of my brown wingtips, some kind of rough blackish patches emerged. They look matte, not shiny...they came out WHILE I was polishing. When I started they weren't there, and then in the course of polishing, they appeared. I was using Saphir MdO mid-brown cream - my technique was applying a little dab, polishing in small circles, then after a while putting on a dab of water, and continuing and repeating. The water seemed to enhance these black matte splotches. Any idea of what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it? Sorry for lack of pictures, I'm sans camera at the moment.

I will be closely monitoring the answer to this question.

 

[unbelragazzo]



I will be closely monitoring the answer to this question.

You've experienced something similar? Btw, I had something similar appear while polishing last night, applied some Reno, waited 15-20 min, brushed, and this morning the black spot was gone. Went back to polishing with the brown MdO, and a couple more black matte areas appeared in different places than the original....

 

[patrickBOOTH]

As I understand it could be a sign of too much water in that area. I could be wrong, hence the monitoring...

 

[Gdot]

Patrick, I think you are correct.

It sounds like moisture is being absorbed into the leather during the polishing and then evaporating out overnight to me.

So either you are using too much water on your polishing rag or the leather is very dry and absorbing the moisture from the polish. Gotta be one of the two in my mind.

The OP mentioned that he was using a creme polish. This is not the right product for producing a super shiny finish - try a wax. The creme polishes contain lots of pigment and conditioner - but very little wax. It is the wax that you need to build up a good deep mirror finish.

 

[fritzl]

i got my hand on this pair of shoes:

http://www.styleforum.net/t/181173/operation-paprika/300#post_4934347

they have been sitting in a garage and were covered with dust and mould. any idea how to remove the stains.

i don't mind to change the colour a bit and no i'll not bin them.

many thanks.

 

[fritzl]



Black Cordovan

i know the picture. your shoes?

 

[unbelragazzo]



Patrick, I think you are correct.
It sounds like moisture is being absorbed into the leather during the polishing and then evaporating out overnight to me.
So either you are using too much water on your polishing rag or the leather is very dry and absorbing the moisture from the polish. Gotta be one of the two in my mind.
The OP mentioned that he was using a creme polish. This is not the right product for producing a super shiny finish - try a wax. The creme polishes contain lots of pigment and conditioner - but very little wax. It is the wax that you need to build up a good deep mirror finish.

Thanks for this response, Gdot, very informative. I bought my creams before reading this thread, and I'm not quite ready to stop using them yet I did get a pretty nice shine on some boots using the cream, but I'm sure the wax would be significantly better. Do you use cream on the rest of the shoe if you put a mirror finish on the toes with wax?