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tuna roll

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Where is the simplest guide for this? There are so many different guides, I can't really figure out what is essential and what's not. My main goal is to not mess up my shoes.

Here are the things I can tell I need:
* Brush: How many do I need? One for each color?
* Creme polish: How often do I apply this?
* Conditioner: How often do I apply this?
* Saddle soap?: How often is this necessary?
* Heel dressing? How often is this necessary?

I don't have any shoes that need glossy shine. I know this has been asked 100 times, but I'm having trouble parsing all the options. If there is a simple guide, please point me to that.
Brush: one for dusting, one for dark leathers (black, dark brown), one for medium brown / tan. So I’d say one for each group of relatively similar colors (no need to be super precise here)

Cream polish: they restore color and give a bit of shine and hydration. So whenever you feel you need any of these things. I’d say once every 1-2 months is fine, for shoes that get regular use.

Conditioner: their purpose is to hydrate the leather. If you use cream polish regularly you may never actually need this, but it’s useful for shoes that feel or look dry.

Saddle soap: I wouldn’t bother using this. It’s quite potent and should only be used on heavily dirty / soiled shoes. Or if you have wax buildup.

Heel dressing: it’s mostly cosmetic, so whenever you feel you need to refresh your heel and sole edges. You can also use colored cream polish for this.

Hope this helps. I’d start with a few brushes and neutral cream.
 

actionjbone

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Brush: one for dusting, one for dark leathers (black, dark brown), one for medium brown / tan. So I’d say one for each group of relatively similar colors (no need to be super precise here)

Cream polish: they restore color and give a bit of shine and hydration. So whenever you feel you need any of these things. I’d say once every 1-2 months is fine, for shoes that get regular use.

Conditioner: their purpose is to hydrate the leather. If you use cream polish regularly you may never actually need this, but it’s useful for shoes that feel or look dry.

Saddle soap: I wouldn’t bother using this. It’s quite potent and should only be used on heavily dirty / soiled shoes. Or if you have wax buildup.

Heel dressing: it’s mostly cosmetic, so whenever you feel you need to refresh your heel and sole edges. You can also use colored cream polish for this.

Hope this helps. I’d start with a few brushes and neutral cream.
Adding to this: cream polish and lotion really come down to personal preference, in a lot of ways.

If you like the natural patina that leather develops over time, condition.

If you like maintaining even and consistent coloring, polish with a matching cream.

There's no right or wrong answer, so it mainly comes down to individual preference - the caveat being that if you over polish, the polished layers can start to flake or crack; if you over condition, you could get some bloom, but the bloom can be easily brushed away.

Personally, I typically stick to conditioning. I occasionally use cream polish for a touch-up, if the leather gets scuffed or starts to look too uneven for my taste.
 

tuna roll

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I need tips on removing mold smell from a pair of 986’s.

A fried of mine thrifted a pair and installed topys. I bough this pair from him and only later noticed the mold smell (maybe it’s mildew, definitely one or both).

I wiped it (inside and out) with Lysol and diluted vinegar probably about 10 times at this point, leaving it to dry well between each application. Left it on the sun for an hour or so, also a few times. All of this time it was kept on a corner of my living room to ventilate.

The smell is still there and I haven’t noticed any significant improvement. Which makes me think the culprit could be trapped in the sole/cork.

Any ideas?
 

JUAN MANUEL

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I need tips on removing mold smell from a pair of 986’s.

A fried of mine thrifted a pair and installed topys. I bough this pair from him and only later noticed the mold smell (maybe it’s mildew, definitely one or both).

I wiped it (inside and out) with Lysol and diluted vinegar probably about 10 times at this point, leaving it to dry well between each application. Left it on the sun for an hour or so, also a few times. All of this time it was kept on a corner of my living room to ventilate.

The smell is still there and I haven’t noticed any significant improvement. Which makes me think the culprit could be trapped in the sole/cork.

Any ideas?

Hello:

The guys at the vintage shoe thread have loads of experience with thrifted shoes. They are very nice people willing to help.

Regards
 

SpallaPerfetta

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This morning I spilled some gasoline on the toe of suede boots. The boots had been previously treated with a waterproofing spray but as gasoline is petroleum based there is still a stain. Any advice? I have a suede eraser and brush at home but won't have access to them for a few hours.
 

Fenners81

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I’ve just taken the gamble of buying some used Church’s Graftons in burgundy shell. They look in decent condition from the photos, in spite of a few scratches and scuffs that I’m pretty sure I can remove. I was planning on using the cordovan coloured Saphir cream to restore colour in the scuffs and do the usual brushing and boning. I’ve read some horror stories of shell tearing on older pairs though so I wondered how best to mitigate the risk through conditioning. I have renovateur, VSC and bick 4 - would any of these suffice? My other question, is how will I know if the shell is sufficiently conditioned to be able to wear safely? Are there any tell tale signs it’s dry other than just feeling it?
 

Fenners81

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I’ve just gone buy some more renovateur and was confronted with a second option of macadamia oil and the classic mink oil version. I don’t need this type of complication. Is there any reason to switch from the mink version?
 

armedferret

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I’ve just gone buy some more renovateur and was confronted with a second option of macadamia oil and the classic mink oil version. I don’t need this type of complication. Is there any reason to switch from the mink version?

Ethical ones perhaps?
 

tuna roll

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I’ve just taken the gamble of buying some used Church’s Graftons in burgundy shell. They look in decent condition from the photos, in spite of a few scratches and scuffs that I’m pretty sure I can remove. I was planning on using the cordovan coloured Saphir cream to restore colour in the scuffs and do the usual brushing and boning. I’ve read some horror stories of shell tearing on older pairs though so I wondered how best to mitigate the risk through conditioning. I have renovateur, VSC and bick 4 - would any of these suffice? My other question, is how will I know if the shell is sufficiently conditioned to be able to wear safely? Are there any tell tale signs it’s dry other than just feeling it?
Renovateur, VSC, Bick 4, Saphir Lotion, Creme Universelle - any decent conditioner works well for shell. The difference between these products and the shell-specific ones is that the latter are denser, more concentrated.

Shell doesn’t soak up product like calf. It’s not really a leather and it’s less porous. So in theory it benefits from these specific products. I haven’t tested enough to say there’s an actual difference though.

I follow many Japanese polishers on Instagram and they frequently use “standard” leather products on shell, say Saphir Lotion followed by Pommadier. I’d use whatever product I already have and see how I like the results!
 

tuna roll

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I’ve just gone buy some more renovateur and was confronted with a second option of macadamia oil and the classic mink oil version. I don’t need this type of complication. Is there any reason to switch from the mink version?
I’m curious if anyone actually tried both products and could compare. I believe they also make mink and macadamia versions of their Lotion.
 

lullemans72

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Hi everyone, I have a quick question I'd like to ask for some advice on.

One of my black pair of leather shoes recently started showing some "cracking" or "denting" around the toes. On one shoe, it appears in the form of white cracking (bottom photo), and on the other shoe it seems like the leather has been damaged (top photo).

Any idea what the cause might be?

To fix this, I thought my options were either:
  • If it's the leather that is damaged, sand it down in the areas where it appears to be "dented", thereby evening out the surface
  • If it's because of the build up of waxes, sse Renomat to remove everything from the shoe
  • If it's still the leather that is damaged, use a bit of Saphir creme Renovatrice to patch up the uneven surface
In terms of maintenance, I have periodically applied Saphir Renovateur, maybe 1-2 coats of Saphir shoe polish and then a a coat or two of Saphir wax. I would repeat that process a few times a year as I don't wear these shoes that often. Come to think of it, I haven't used Saphir Renomat on those shoes in a while....

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tuna roll

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Cross post from the Vintage Dress shoe thread... [BTW, do we have a shoe repair thread?]


Any tips for repairing the collar on these loafers? I guess replacing the whole collar would be ideal? How much would that cost?

They are in shell... using the same material would be my choice I guess.

Thanks!

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