BeSpiffington
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2013
- Messages
- 1,773
- Reaction score
- 297
Super shine. I really like the way the color variations come out in the shoes.Alden Brethren - I've discovered a great secret of the Mac Method that I felt impressed to share today.
I've been struggling with water spots on my Cigar LWBs, and so after a few separate brush sessions, I decided to take a new approach to getting rid of these little things. Followed the method as best as I understand it:
Brush down with a slightly damp cloth.
Particularly rubbed the spots with a little extra "umph" with the damp cloth - not quite a scrub, but more forcefully than the rest of the shoe.
Let dry 2-3 minutes.
Lacking a deer bone, took a teaspoon and rubbed and rolled all over the spotted areas (mainly on the vamp), both pressing down with the spot, as well as rolling over them back and forth. I also used a swirling method to rub them from different angles. (I noticed that this closed up a particularly nasty scratch that I'd gotten on one of the shoes).
Let that sit for 1-2 minutes.
Applied a dose of Renovateur over each shoe separately, allowing the other shoe to set while I did the other.
- This is all normal and expected.
Here, at the brushing time, I did things a bit differently than in the past. Taking my horsehair brush to brush the Reno down in, I started using very heavy strokes of the brush to no avail - the shell still looked a little muddy and clouded. I lightened up the brush strokes (increasing speed/frequency and only allowing the very tip of the bristles to skim the shell) and it began to light up immediately and shine. I noticed the more I relied on friction generated by the brush on the shoe, the better and better it looked, and the more the Reno cleaned up. This is in stark contrast to heavy-handing the brushing, as I'd done previously, almost slathering the brush across the cordovan.
High, light, and fast - at times almost barely making contact. Each shoe for 3-5 minutes and they were sparkling.
So, if any are having issues with their method application, brush high and fast, and don't worry about applying actual pressure during brushing. Let the friction work for you rather than strength.