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

[FosterandSon]

Shoe Polish Prize Competition - Now with Photo's and Bonus Prize

Gentlemen, In order to help you with your deliberations there are some pictures of people at the event our chap is going to in September. It's the Goodwood Revival meeting (http://www.goodwood.co.uk/revival/welcome.aspx). As you can see from the photo's below it can be costume-y and our man wants to avoid that. He will be wearing a grey POW check DB suit with 1 1/2 inch turn ups and wants to know what shoes will go best. We can't post pictures of the suit yet as it's still being made but need to work out the shoes soon as they will be MTO.

Beau has already suggested saddles and posted a photo. Best suggestion wins a tin of polish and a polishing cloth delivered to your doorstep. There will be a bonus prize for the member who provides the best caption for photograph five and identifies a fellow member who might best represent the admonished boy! So who's the cheeky boy?






So who's the cheeky boy then?



Foster & Son

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Chocolate colored wingtip derbies, though I do have a preference for black shoes with white shirts. If his shirt is white I would say black punch cap oxfords.

Caption "Keep those bulled toes of yours out from under the ladies skirts!"

 

[FosterandSon]

Chocolate colored wingtip derbies, though I do have a preference for black shoes with white shirts. If his shirt is white I would say black punch cap oxfords.

Caption "Keep those bulled toes of yours out from under the ladies skirts!"

Excellent choice for the shoes. He wants to go with black and white (calf and buck) semi-brogue co-respondents, but they're hardly versatile. Love the caption!

 

[patrickBOOTH]



He wants to go with black and white (calf and buck) semi-brogue co-respondents

I thought he didn't want to look costumey

 

[benhour]

"sun damage" on my bad weather shoes!


i ll upload some more pictures with natural light tommorow morning!! hope you like the outcome

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Looks awesome, mirror em'

 

[FosterandSon]

I thought he didn't want to look costumey

Exactly, he needs to be rescued from himself

 

[David Copeland]

Another great quote:

No deer bone or spoon on scuffs, I used to worry a lot whenever I nicked or scuffed one of my shell shoes. But have found that over time they "self heal" for the most part but it may take several wearings and brushings. I read everything that I could find that Mac has written over the years and it has helped a lot.

He talks about shinning them as soon as you take them off and I have found that shell warmed by your feet responds to brushing much better than "cold" shell. As soon as I walk in the door at home I walk back to the deep sink and take my shoes off. I use a toothbrush, run it under lukewarm water then clean the top of the welt and then the edge. I will usually run the brush under the water coming out of the tap several times keeping it pretty wet. Then dry them with a rag and use edge dressing if they need it wiping it off after 30 sec. to a minute. I do this with calf and shell both.

Water brushing-
Then I use a microfiber cloth that I soak and then squeeze out most of the water to wipe down the shoe. It will be more than damp but not quite soaking wet. Then brush with a dedicated brush for shell brushing for 3-5 minutes each shoe. The first pass I generally go over the whole shoe quickly spreading the water around till it is pretty much dry. Then I take my time and work in sections. Mac says it is all in the wrist and I have found that to be true, but hard to explain. The brush never leaves the shoe and I work it in more of a cross hatch pattern than just back and forth although I do both. Usually they are good to go after a few minutes and the last step when I am satisfied with the shine is to use a microfiber cloth and buff them for a final polish.

If they have scuffs or the shell is dry after I do my first water brushing then I use a microfiber cloth and with one finger dip it in some reno and spread it on the shoe just like I am doing a final spit shine rubbing it in a circular motion. I do the shoe in sections then when done use another brush to level it out and brush the shoe just like water brushing. The Reno on AE (but not Alden's) will pick up cream and I work it into the scuffed sections. I had to do that twice on the 744's they were scuffed up pretty badly, but always have been able to recover them. Once the Reno is brushed where it levels the color out I keep brushing it for a few minutes. Then do another water brushing and final buff with the microfiber cloth.

Wish it was easier to explain, just keep at it and find what works for you. On the boots I took a break after about 15 minutes, I have found they have to rest in between major treatments. So I let them sit overnight and repeated the process the next day for about 30 minutes work total. On shell shoes and boots that sit in my closet for long periods without wearing I have found they lose some of the shine and the night before I wear them to work will take those out and wear them around the house for about half an hour. And then give them a water brushing to restore them. Normally 3-5 minutes total for each shoe is what I spend in time. My dress shoes and boots I keep well shined most all the time so it is doesn't take long to get the shine back up.

HTH if anything is not clear please let me know and I will do my best to explain it.

Congrats on your shell Strands, great choice.

I missed the earlier Reno vs. Saphir cream debate, I can't stay up with this thread anymore it is so active, which is great! I do have the Saphir neutral shell cream along with the colored ones also, and very seldom use them. To me Reno is very much worth it and is basically all I ever use on shell but most of the time just use the Mac method.

On rare colors like the 744's I never use anything but Reno. I have worn my 744's hard for the last several months for everything including putting up several cords of Oak firewood. I should have taken before and after pictures but did think to take a picture of one done and another to do yet. The one on the left looked just like the one on the right before I started on it.



I used just Reno and a lot of water brushing. These have never seen wax or any cream and I don't expect that they ever will.

 

[dohare]

from what I gathered from skimming through this thread - most of the time reno alone will bring the shoe back to life? do most people only use cream polish to bring back faded color or something?

 

[Van Veen]

I'm bulling/polishing the toe cap of my shoes, and there is a huge dull spot the size of a quarter on the top of the toe cap. Everything else looks great. Is there any way to fix this?

 

[glenjay]

A good picture of the problem would help in the quality of advice, but: If it is hazy then it was probably too much water in that area. If it is more of a dull dead spot, it was probably too much wax. In either case you will probably have to remove a number of layers and start over.

 

[Van Veen]



A good picture of the problem would help in the quality of advice, but: If it is hazy then it was probably too much water in that area. If it is more of a dull dead spot, it was probably too much wax. In either case you will probably have to remove a number of layers and start over.

It is more of a rough spot. Basically it has the same texture as the rest of the shoe (cream polish only) rather than the smoother texture of the rest of the toe cap. I'll post a picture when I get home. (I am nowhere near a mirror shine yet. This is my first try.)

What is the best way to remove wax in this situation?

 

[Crat]



"sun damage"  on my bad weather shoes!

Thats what you get for wearing bad weather shoes in the sun

 

[Van Veen]



A good picture of the problem would help in the quality of advice, but: If it is hazy then it was probably too much water in that area. If it is more of a dull dead spot, it was probably too much wax. In either case you will probably have to remove a number of layers and start over.

Here it is. Don't know how it got this bad. I'm guessing too much water, and that I rubbed the wax off since that was the spot where I started polishing. Or too much wax. Any thoughts? (Live and learn.)

 

[glenjay]

I would guess that it was too much water because of the discolored haze.

There are a number of ways to strip the wax down to start over:

Personally I use pure orange oil as a solvent for this type of thing, and just rub off the wax, but most people don't have that handy.

The cheapest way (which is also very messy) is to simply get the toe damp and brush it with a short bristle shoe brush.

You could clean the toe with some saddle soap to remove some of the wax.

You could use some Lexol leather cleaner, and rub briskly to remove some of the wax.

You could rub it down with some Renovateur, and by rub it down I mean with some pressure with the intention of removing the wax, no just applying the Renovator.

Or you could just use a small amount of RenoMat, using light pressure to remove just the layers of wax you have applied.

I have used all of these methods with some degree of success. In order of preference I would suggest:

Orange Oil
RenoMat
Renovateur
Water and Brush
Lexol leather cleaner
Saddle Soap

You will want to redo both shoes to keep the look even. You may also want to add a little conditioning to the leather to replace the oils that were removed by the cleaning agent (with the exception of Renovateur with already includes Mink oil).

I'm sure other members have preferred ways of removing excess wax.