Ingredients in Venetian Shoe Cream

[dddrees]

I for one am glad you brought this up. I figured I would give venetian shoe cream a try since it appeared that a number of forum members seem to swear by it. But when I looked at the can it didn't say anything about being a conditioner or cleaner. Based on the name and the results it appears to be nothing more than a neutral shoe cream.

 

[patrickBOOTH]



I use my wife's La Mer to condition my shoes.

I'd like to get my hands on your wife's Le Mer.

I for one am glad you brought this up. I figured I would give venetian shoe cream a try since it appeared that a number of forum members seem to swear by it. But when I looked at the can didn't say anything about being a conditioner or cleaner. Based on the name and the results it appears to be nothing more than a neutral shoe cream.

Xactly.

 

[Cold Iron]

Just a SWAG but you can certainly smell turpentine in VSC, and because of the name I think it may be Venice turpentine which comes from the Western Larch tree. Pretty sure it is safe to say that turpentine is an ingredient in any event, but you can't even find a MSDS for it. The Saphir people say that turpentine causes swelling of shell and is bad for it but I'm not totally sold on that as Nick Horween says VSC is what he recommends for shell. And Reno also contains turpentine, don't know if it is distilled petroleum or pine sap distilled.

I also really like Bickmore's Bick4. It is the same exact thing as far as I can tell as AE leather lotion. You can pick it up at any tack shop or even cheaper at a Farm & Fleet store, a large bottle is all of $5. I also use Bickmore Gard-More on my suede.

I personally like Obenhauf's HDLP for hunting and hiking boots, it is all natural products. I switched to it about 7 years ago when I had Russell Moccasin build my custom Grand Slam Sheep Hunters. I also use it on my Meindl Pefekt boots, Bean Cresta Hikers, even AE CXL Bayfields. But not dress shoes or boots. Russell has a good leather care article including exotic leather care: http://www.russellmoccasin.com/leather_care.html


The hunting boots here see 8-12 miles a day through areas lousy with vegetation hunting pheasant and grouse from the end of Sept into Dec until the snow gets too deep for the dog to run. They have held up well cleaning with Fiebing’s Glycerin Saddle Soap and treating with HDLP. The CXL Bayfields I thought I'd try last year for chits and grins to see how well CXL can handle the work load and after 2 hours they looked like this:




But cleaned up just fine, the first picture is after cleaning and HDLP treatment.

 

[poorsod]



What kind of conditioner would you recommend for the vamp of a dress shoe? Lexol? It doesn't seem to condition very well. Mind you, I wouldn't mind a slightly matte vamp if it means no cracking.

I'm at the point now where I am fed up with shoes. I have a lot of shoes, none that I consider cheap $600 and up, yet they all crack except for shell. I am at the point where I am considering only getting shell shoes, but this seems ridiculous. Even though I take care of my stuff, don't wear it in bad weather it still leads to cracked uppers. Could it be poor fit that puts stress on the uppers? I'm kind of fed-up with shoes and I ask why I pay so much for something that is so short lived.

All my old shoes have some amount of cracking on the uppers. Even on some of the bespoke. I don't mind. if a hole appears, I repair it and keep wearing it. this doesn't even include the cuts and the gashes that I get on my shoes. I don't need my stuff to look perfectly new.

 

[MRMan]

What kind of conditioner would you recommend for the vamp of a dress shoe? Lexol? It doesn't seem to condition very well. Mind you, I wouldn't mind a slightly matte vamp if it means no cracking.

I'm at the point now where I am fed up with shoes. I have a lot of shoes, none that I consider cheap $600 and up, yet they all crack except for shell. I am at the point where I am considering only getting shell shoes, but this seems ridiculous. Even though I take care of my stuff, don't wear it in bad weather it still leads to cracked uppers. Could it be poor fit that puts stress on the uppers? I'm kind of fed-up with shoes and I ask why I pay so much for something that is so short lived.

Saphir Dubbin Graisse Conditioner is meant for this. I've only used it once, so I can't really say if it's done very much...but go easy on the trigger. Kirby at the Hanger Project gives a little write-up here.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I have been trying to adopt this approach of not caring. I mean, I guess cracking is inevitable.

 

[DWFII]



What kind of conditioner would you recommend for the vamp of a dress shoe? Lexol? It doesn't seem to condition very well. Mind you, I wouldn't mind a slightly matte vamp if it means no cracking.

Personally, I think that the heavier conditioners (those that contain tallow or grease) are more prone to causing the leather to crack. If you look closely at the cracks in any shoe they are always in the areas where the shoe creases. Heavy conditioners collect dirt...a portion of which is micro-fine rock/mineral dust...and hold it in the creases where it acts like sandpaper on the fibers of the leather.

I am liking Bick4.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I'm going with you on this one. I am sick of the hype.

 

[LS7]



I have been trying to adopt this approach of not caring. I mean, I guess cracking is inevitable.

Are your shoes cracking at the crease lines of the vamp? May I ask how old they are?

Personally I've only ever used Saphir Medaille d'Or cream on the vamp area, reserving Saphir wax polish for toes and heels only. I didn't do any research into whether this is an advisable regimen, it was a case of following advice found in other threads here. I don't subscribe to the shoe care thread any longer but I seem to remember you being quite active there.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

What do you think of neatsfoot oil?

 

[patrickBOOTH]



Are your shoes cracking at the crease lines of the vamp? May I ask how old they are?

Personally I've only ever used Saphir Medaille d'Or cream on the vamp area, reserving Saphir wax polish for toes and heels only. I didn't do any research into whether this is an advisable regimen, it was a case of following advice found in other threads here. I don't subscribe to the shoe care thread any longer but I seem to remember you being quite active there.

I guess about 4 years old, some a bit younger. Mind you this is only using Saphir products like all of the fanbois say. Cracks mostly on the outer edge of the vamp, where it creases by my pinky toe.

I was very active in the shoe care thread. While I can make my shoes shiny as all hell that does nothing for longevity. Just because your shoes are shiny doesn't mean they are healthy.

 

[edmorel]

I must be the only person here that does not shine his shoes.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Does somebody else shine them for you?

 

[LS7]



I guess about 4 years old, some a bit younger. Mind you this is only using Saphir products like all of the fanbois say. Cracks mostly on the outer edge of the vamp, where it creases by my pinky toe.

I was very active in the shoe care thread. While I can make my shoes shiny as all hell that does nothing for longevity. Just because your shoes are shiny doesn't mean they are healthy.

My oldest pair are four years old too, John Lobb Langton that I posted in the Lobb appreciation thread a few days ago. Really surprising you're suffering from this problem. It's not going to help any, but I'm not seeing any traces of cracking on mine, including a Lobb Philip II in suede which has, rather obviously, never been conditioned or shined once.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I will say that I wear them hard. I mean, I live in NYC. I do a lot of walking. I don't wear sneakers ever so I am constantly rotating through dress shoes. I think I just need a combination for more shoes, and probably better fitting shoes that maybe won't get as stressed.