burnishing shoes DIY?

[polarcreamsoda]

i just picked up a pair of lodings with a goodyear welted sole and i am already looking to changing up the color a bit. These shoes have more of a light brown/walnut coloring to them and i was looking to go a bit darker to a cognac color with a slightly burnished toe cap and rear quarters. Now is there a way to do this without resorting to using an industrial paint stripper and re-dying the shoes? ive read that using creams in conjunction with a wax would get me the color i want but it wont last as long as dying? is this true?! and with the issue of burnishing the toe caps, how does one go about doing that? also, i noticed on the shoe that the previous owner might have used a black edge dresser on one of the shoes and not the other. kinda weird, why would you do that to one shoe and not the other. is there a way to get the original color of the edge aside from using a brown edge dresser? here is a pic for reference, sorry about the terrible quality. i only have my cell with me at the time.

 

[cptjeff]

Hmm. Looks like you have carrot foot syndrome. Long, narrow and orange. Sorry, it's often fatal.

Er, where was I going again?

Slightly darker polish and wear. You'll get the look over time.

As for the edge dressing, you might as well just put black dressing on the other shoe. Pity, since I like the natural brown, but I don't think the black ever really goes away.

 

[polarcreamsoda]

do you think using acetone will get rid of the black edge dressing?

 

[Clifff]

Acetone sure will but it also dissolves all leather paint it touches. Be careful.