**The Official Shoe Care Thread: Tutorials, Photos, etc.**

[Al in Philly]

Gentlemen,

I need some help with cleaning my shoes. There is definitely a build up of wax that I am trying to remove using Lexol cleaner. The cleaner certainly takes a lot of elbow grease to work and below is how far i've gotten on one shoe. Notice the wax wearing away around the broging. It took me maybe 30 minutes just to remove that. Should it be taking that long? Would Renomat work faster?

Any help would be mostly appreciated.

 

[cbfn]

Renomat would remove it in a minute.

 

[Al in Philly]

Renomat would remove it in a minute.

Ok then! Going to give it a try!

 

[glenjay]



Gentlemen, I need some help with cleaning my shoes. There is definitely a build up of wax that I am trying to remove using Lexol cleaner. The cleaner certainly takes a lot of elbow grease to work and below is how far i've gotten on one shoe. Notice the wax wearing away around the broging. It took me maybe 30 minutes just to remove that. Should it be taking that long? Would Renomat work faster? Any help would be mostly appreciated.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

There is actually a difference between cleaning a shoe and stripping a shoe. It sounds like you want to strip your shoes, and RenoMat would be the best product for that. The difference between stripping a shoe and cleaning a shoe is the amount of wax that is removed. Since most shoes (unless they are brand new) have a build up of wax, a leather cleaner is only going to remove a few surface layers of wax. This is effective for cleaning because that is where most of the dirt is trapped anyway. Scrubbing harder with a cleaner will remove more wax, but you also run the risk of damaging the leather surface with being too aggressive with your scrubbing. Although RenoMat states that it is a "cleaner-stain remover" on the bottle, it is actually a wax stripper. RenoMat will easily dissolve the wax for removal with a cloth, but it will also remove some of the oils from the leather, so you will want to condition your shoes (with leather conditioner) after you use it.

 

[Al in Philly]

There is actually a difference between cleaning a shoe and stripping a shoe. It sounds like you want to strip your shoes, and RenoMat would be the best product for that.

The difference between stripping a shoe and cleaning a shoe is the amount of wax that is removed. Since most shoes (unless they are brand new) have a build up of wax, a leather cleaner is only going to remove a few surface layers of wax. This is effective for cleaning because that is where most of the dirt is trapped anyway. Scrubbing harder with a cleaner will remove more wax, but you also run the risk of damaging the leather surface with being too aggressive with your scrubbing.

Although RenoMat states that it is a "cleaner-stain remover" on the bottle, it is actually a wax stripper. RenoMat will easily dissolve the wax for removal with a cloth, but it will also remove some of the oils from the leather, so you will want to condition your shoes (with leather conditioner) after you use it.

This is the information that I needed to hear. Thank you.

I have Renovateur and Saphir Pate De'Lux, so they will be conditioned after they are stripped. I will probably let them sit with Reno on them for a day before I brush it off. I bought these shoes used and they had a build up even before I got them.

 

[benhour]

I made the video a while ago and posted it here at the time. Decided to start a blog later on later and put it on there as well.
I'm glad you're finding it useful.

And yes, leather really is a lovely material and can take quite a beating. The chemicals and salt in snow are terrible though.

Crat really great job as always! salt is reaping of the leather(2 shoes destroyed till i take the lesson to wash my shoes asap)!!

 

[TheSizzle]

After a small mishap that had to be corrected, I decided to make my first attempt at some light antiquing. I think it turned out well enough and covered up the small blemish.

 

[dddrees]

After a small mishap that had to be corrected, I decided to make my first attempt at some light antiquing. I think it turned out well enough and covered up the small blemish.

Looks good.

How exactly did you go about it?

 

[TheSizzle]

Looks good.

How exactly did you go about it?

Thank you.

I had to strip the wax off the toe cap to deal with the stain. After that, I basically just worked around the shoe forcing some darker cream into the areas that would wear more with age. Using that as a base layer, I applied the proper color of cream, and buffed it off. Finally, I used some slightly darker wax polish to give a little shine to the toe and heel, as well as some of the antiqued areas.

 

[nickrut]

Anyone have experience with Allen Edmonds cleaner/conditioner? Not expecting it to be as good as Saphir, but it's also only 5 bucks for 4 ounces. Any thoughts?

 

[Schweino]



I think the accent makes Crat more adept. He certainly *sounds* more adept/expert

Glad you think that of the Dutch-English accent since most people think we sound like

 

[JDMills]



Anyone have experience with Allen Edmonds cleaner/conditioner?  Not expecting it to be as good as Saphir, but it's also only 5 bucks for 4 ounces. Any thoughts?

Its the only stuff I can get where I live and Ive never had a problem with it, works great

 

[goodlensboy]



After a small mishap that had to be corrected, I decided to make my first attempt at some light antiquing. I think it turned out well enough and covered up the small blemish.

Those are orange laces? Look so good

 

[TheSizzle]



Those are orange laces? Look so good

Thank you. They're actually red, and I cleaned up some of the slight swirl marks I saw after posting that image.

 

[ShoesShoesShoes]

Thank you for your suggestions!

I think that most if not all of the black mark had gone, and I don't think it is at all a factor in the mark that is left - what's left is unfortunately much worse, covering a larger area. I suspect you are right that I applied too much and too vigorously. I probably didn't let it try fully before applying the cream.

I will give your suggestions a try and report back!

Thanks again

Just a quick report back on my grenson boots. They are looking a lot better after a gentle application of renomat, followed by sponging with warm water. I think that now they have dried out it is possible to see that they might benefit from another gentle warm sponging - there is still some wax embedded in the leather.

I was wondering about the next step - it was suggested that I use Saphir Renovator - presumably this contains no waxes? Just a little nervous having got the leather back to something resembling it's original colour!