Did an acetone strip, now what?

[Joel_Cairo]

last night I stripped the glossy finish off my black CT Chelseas (it was easier than I had anticipated, and the shoes look worlds better already, pics forthcoming). What should I do next? I figure that some leather conditioner would be good, as the acetone probably dried the hell out of the leather, but do I then go straight on to polish and wax, or should I do some other treatment? I'm wondering if maybe I should include some kind of water-proofing step somewhere, as the de-finished uppers are now essentially raw leather... any ideas?

 

[zarathustra]

I am interested to see how this turns out. I have beat the hell out of these boots and the gloss is really scuffed in some places.

 

[sho'nuff]

Go ahead and apply leather conditioner rubbed in and buffed. Let them dry for an hour and then if you have shoe cream do an application of that and buff off.
You can forgo cream and just go straight to wax polish after the leather conditioner if you want.

 

[Englandmj7]

Hmm. I would really like to see these as well, as I have the CT Chelseas in black and am not a huge fan of the particular sheen they give off.....makes the leather look cheap (then again, it is cheap). Progress pics would be great!

 

[j]

Wax polish is the waterproofing step. Do conditioner and/or cream if you want (use one, at least) and then let them sit a while. I'd probably wait overnight to make sure they are totally dry before doing the wax.

Did any color come off them in the process?

 

[Joel_Cairo]

Originally Posted by j

Did any color come off them in the process?

good god yes, they bled like a gunshot victim. This was the sleeve of a white T shirt before it met acetone and a CT boot. Thankfully the dye seems pretty deeply saturated into the leather, as the boots' color isn't splotchy.

Here are some shots from halfway through the stripping. Needless to say, the boot on the left hand side is untouched, while the other is in various stages of strippedness (in the first shot, you can see I havent gotten to the toe yet). You have to go over them a few times, especially in parts that aren't flat or taut (I used a bunch of Q-tips for where the uppers meet the sole, and am havinga hell of a time on the ankle portion, especially where the elastic and leather are stitched together). You have to rub a lot, but not terribly hard, the finish comes right off like wax.

I'm gonna condition them tonight and polish tomorrow. Im thinking of using Meltonian dark navy cream polish and then Kiwi black wax, in hopes of getting a bit of dimension to the black color (a contradiction in terms, perhaps). Is this a good idea? I don't want to end up with a blue leather shoe, but I can't imagine the cream polish would have that much of an effect on leather which is already black.

 

[j]

I think it's a good idea. If you don't like the effect (if there is any) you can always go back and use all black products. If you like the color after the blue cream (before waxing) you might consider using a lighter color of wax. Navy blue wax is also available from Lincoln.

 

[j]

BTW, those seem to have a different toe shape from my CT chelseas. When did you buy them? Markings inside?

I also wonder what the finish is like that you've stripped down to. Is it smooth or grainy? Does the cream sink in well?

In any case, once they are all polished and everything, you will probably have to do another application of cream after you wear them a bit. The wear seems to cause the cream etc. to sink further in and the surface to dry out a bit after a little while.

 

[Joel_Cairo]

I bought these just before Xmas. The toe is a little bit more pointy in real life than the pix (in which the toe is closer to the lens than the rest of the boot). Lastwise, it's just what I wanted for a black chelsea. i was considering a Craftsman, but it was just a bit too wide. Thats cool for brown, but not what I wanted for black. The Craftsman's a little bit country, i wanted more rock n roll. here's the markings inside the ankle and on the sole, maybe this'll help determine whether they're still by Loake:

the stripped down leather is smooth to the touch, but has a kind of "matte" or "powdered" look to it. If the boot was originally chome, this would be brushed steel. At ten paces, you might mistake them for suede, but they are indeed smooth leather (this is before any conditioner or cream or wax).

 

[raley]

Cool, will be interested in seeing the finished result. I have a pair as well and was considering this.

Edit: What concentration of acetone did you use? Did you just go to the store, buy it, and rub it on? Or was your method more precise?

 

[norcaltransplant]

I highly recommend adding the navy blue cream undercoat. Just make sure to apply thin layers and dont get too generous around the crease points. You might also want to glaze the final polish in dark navy or black depending on your personal preferences. Please keep us updated. Aside from iammatt's preference for solid color shoes, I think a fair number of us enjoy a little leather variation.

 

[Joel_Cairo]

Originally Posted by raley

Edit: What concentration of acetone did you use? Did you just go to the store, buy it, and rub it on? Or was your method more precise?

full-strength. I just stopped up the bottle with a corner of the rag, turdned the bottle upside down and then rubbed. Repeat as needed.

 

[bespoke-london]

View this link to another thread that I have given details on:

www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=28204

I hope they look good when you have finished.

 

[zjpj83]

where does one buy acetone?

 

[VMan]

Originally Posted by zjpj83

where does one buy acetone?
any hardware store. places like kmart should sell it too. you could probably use fingernail polish remover as well - that is pretty much straight acetone.