Acetone didn't do the trick - Plan B?

[triathlete]

I tried to take the finish off a EBayed pair of McAfee's with acetone, and the polish just isn't budging. After a half hour of elbow grease, plus the smell of the stuff burning out the part of my brain responsible for remembering the names of state capitals, language and reasoning, I gave up.

I was able to rub down to a few small spots of unfinished leather, but this took a lot of work. Way more work than i'm prepared to do to complete the whole shoe.

Is this a superpolish I'm up against? Any other alternatives I should try to remove the finish? I was actually thinking of escalating the battle to sandpaper next. no joke.

 

[aldica]

You have more guts than I do. I would never had tried the do-it-yourself approach. Consider taking the shoes to a GOOD cobbler and ask them to refinish the shoes.

 

[Golf_Nerd]

Originally Posted by triathlete

I tried to take the finish off a EBayed pair of McAfee's with acetone, and the polish just isn't budging. After a half hour of elbow grease, plus the smell of the stuff burning out the part of my brain responsible for remembering the names of state capitals, language and reasoning, I gave up.

I was able to rub down to a few small spots of unfinished leather, but this took a lot of work. Way more work than i'm prepared to do to complete the whole shoe.

Is this a superpolish I'm up against? Any other alternatives I should try to remove the finish? I was actually thinking of escalating the battle to sandpaper next. no joke.

I like the idea and tried the same with an old pair of sanders. They were black. With acetone nothing happened. Then I sanded them with no result. After all I was amazed, because of everybody is scared about his shoes and I sanded them without a result.

To get a real cool finish it is best to get bright shoes (the term is 'band-aid'?!) and to darken them.

What is your target? And wich color has the leather?

 

[triathlete]

They're a light brown, but it's more like a 'painted on' finish than a regular polish - see the pics. In the few spots i've been able to remove the finish entirely, it's basically the clear leather underneath.

 

[JasonC8301]

wipe the shoe down with 99% alcohol, spread shaving cream on it and leave it on overnight, then wipe it down with more 99% alcohol.

If that doesn't work, +1 on aldica's comment about the cobbler shop.

 

[Golf_Nerd]

Originally Posted by triathlete

They're a light brown, but it's more like a 'painted on' finish than a regular polish - see the pics. In the few spots i've been able to remove the finish entirely, it's basically the clear leather underneath.


What finish/ effect do you like to achieve?

Did you think about 'Renovateur' to remove the finish (Acetone is more to undye)?

 

[bigshoe]

Your shoe repair shop should have a product called " Sellari's machine cleaner and wax remover" if the finish is a wax this will remove it quickly. If not it is a polyurethane product usualy sprayed on at the tannery, removing it may ruin the shoes.
Tom

 

[koolhistorian]

It looks like book-binder - a sort of corrected grain with a plasticky feel, you cannot remove that with acetone.

 

[Thurston]

If you do manage to get it off, no new polish will ever take anyway. What you see now is all you can have with those shoes.