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Shoes Ruined!? Can they be rehabilitated?

Unfashionable

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This is how I ruined a perfectly good pair of AEs...

I went to polish them with Kiwi wax. The color was a bit darker than the shoe. When I added some water during the buffing phase, the shoes became variegated in color showing dark specks and splotches. I tried to clean it up with a really light colored Kiwi wax, but it didn't work. In fact, it got slightly worse. I used a leather cleaner I had for leather furniture, and that didn't work. I tried (after consulting this forum) to strip off all the wax using rubbing alcohol, and...yep...you guessed right...that didn't work either. After all of these steps the brown splotch on the front of the (left) shoe just kept on getting worse! As a last resort, I tried acetone figuring that I could re-dye the shoes if I messed this up, but the acetone did not remove the dark area.

If there is anyone here that has the expertise to help me salvage these shoes--preferable back to the lighter color--that would be great. Otherwise I can always strip as much as I can and use the lightest dye that is darker than the splotch to refinish them.

Help!!!
 

Geoff Gander

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With some added wear, the eventual patina will make this patch unnoticeable. I wouldn't worry about it, personally.

Keep in mind, as well, that we are a bunch of OCD shoe freaks. Most people won't notice it, period.
 

Unfashionable

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I think it is pretty bad. I am certainly not mission critical code red OCD, but these are bad enough that I will not wear them in this condition.

You are right--95% of the population wouldn't notice!
 

mrjames

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ok, I think the leather is just over processed right now

is there a texture to the 'patch', or is it as smooth as the surrounding leather? You may have removed the factory finish with the acetone as I guess AE shoes are not anilyne dyed, but probably have surface pigment on them.

If you have removed the facvtory finish then the best course of action is probably to strip down the whole shoe and then re-dye/repolish


but before you do that we need to rule out the possibility that the leather contains too much internal moisture from all the chemicals/water
so
leave the shoes alone for a couple of days and I wouldn't be surprised if the mark didn't come right out- I had a pair of similar shoes and I realised that even though the leather felt dry, it was saturated with chemicals- so leave it alone for a couple of days to see what happens. If the mark is still there then condition the leather a couple of times with conditioner and some clear shoe cream, leave this to soak in for a day and take off with a cloth. Then using a dark shoe cream or wax polish just polish the whole shoe


They are far from ruined- but it will take some work on your part to get them back into shape
and don't use acetone again
 

kungapa

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Get some darker colour and work up a nice gradiant across the shoe - darker in front, lighter in the back.
 

Unfashionable

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Originally Posted by mrjames
ok, I think the leather is just over processed right now...even though the leather felt dry, it was saturated with chemicals

I like your hypothesis. The only problem is that now I will have to find another pair to ruin in the interim!
 

Unfashionable

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Originally Posted by kungapa
Get some darker colour and work up a nice gradiant across the shoe - darker in front, lighter in the back.

Something along these lines is my backup plan for now.
 

mrjames

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Originally Posted by Unfashionable
Something along these lines is my backup plan for now.

please leave the shoes alone for a few days before you start messing with them again. At the very least the leather needs to recover

trust me on this, I spent a solid week repairing a pair of topcoat dyed shoes, and the thing that worked best was to leave them for a few days to let the leather dry out


if you need to re-dye them, use saphir pommadier- it is a high pigment cream polish that will eventually recolour the whole shoe to the colour on the jar
 

Quadcammer

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hate to say it, but those shoes are not very attractive in the first place.
 

mrjames

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Originally Posted by Quadcammer
hate to say it, but those shoes are not very attractive in the first place.

+1
would look soo much better in oxblood I think
 

JamesX

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Just wait a few days, and just polish away. The color will blend. Since the shoes is not wear able in this condition anyways, just start experiment with all sorts of darker shades of brown.

Alternatively you can be really brave and try to strip the color from the shoes and start from scratch. There are a few shoe re-dying threads on this forum. Maybe one of those would be of some help.
 

Unfashionable

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Originally Posted by JamesX
Alternatively you can be really brave and try to strip the color from the shoes and start from scratch. There are a few shoe re-dying threads on this forum. Maybe one of those would be of some help.

This gives me a perfect excuse to play! I am, however, going to wait the few days mrjames suggested...


And to HarleyBob: Thank you.
 

Melcombe

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One thing you might try is some glycerin saddle soap. It should remove much of the polish and other gunk you've accumulated whilst also conditioning the leather. Wear the shoes in over a few weeks with intermittent soapings and then start building up the polish to a state where you can bull them.

It's likely to darken the leather due to the glycerin, but if you just leave them, they will most probably lighten - I'm on a similar project with some Jones's Bluchers. I forgot they were under a pile of junk under the stairs and they had gone quite hard. I gave them a coat of Mars Oil, left a week then started wearing them lightly. Polishing is coming on a treat: aiming for chestnut effect with a wide variation of light and dark under a high gloss.
 

Doc4

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+1 on letting the shoes rest for a few days.

Then I'd try saddle soap, followed by Renovateur, followed by neutral cream and polish, with a day or two rest after each step.
 

NAMOR

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