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

[Lear]



(snip) Again - everybody develops their own methods.

Yes! This thread will soon reach monstrous proportions. Few will want to start at the beginning and read the whole lot. For anyone just dipping in, my opinion is this: just get an old pair of real leather shoes (not corrected grain) and simply play around with the wax, creams, conditioners etc. Make lots of mistakes and consider a slight twist on how you're doing it the next time round. Get a feel for the wax and make your own recipe from all the bits of info gleaned here. For example: I'm now using rubbing alcohol + water, experimenting with different amounts of pressure, wondering if the further I go, the more water & less wax I'll need etc.

I know it's only a pair of shoes, but what next... it's only a suit?

Lear (loving suede)

 

[fritzl]



For example: I'm now using rubbing alcohol + water, experimenting with different amounts of pressure, wondering if the further I go, the more water & less wax I'll need etc.

for the spit shine?

 

[chogall]

Yes! This thread will soon reach monstrous proportions. Few will want to start at the beginning and read the whole lot. For anyone just dipping in, my opinion is this: just get an old pair of real leather shoes (not corrected grain) and simply play around with the wax, creams, conditioners etc. Make lots of mistakes and consider a slight twist on how you're doing it the next time round. Get a feel for the wax and make your own recipe from all the bits of info gleaned here. For example: I'm now using rubbing alcohol + water, experimenting with different amounts of pressure, wondering if the further I go, the more water & less wax I'll need etc.
I know it's only a pair of shoes, but what next... it's only a suit?
Lear (loving suede)

I used to drip a few drops of rubbing alcohol to the water dish when spit shining. It actually helped slightly in breaking down the wax.

Nowadays I just use actual spit to bull my own shoes.

 

[Gdot]

vodka

 

[Lear]



for the spit shine?

You bet . With so many variation on the same theme, this thread could literally go on for ever. Come back in a few weeks and my methods will have changed slightly. Some have even used Champagne. Don't think I'll ever be using the 'shoes in the freezer' method though.

Lear

 

[razl]



For example: I'm now using rubbing alcohol + water, experimenting with different amounts of pressure, wondering if the further I go, the more water & less wax I'll need etc.

vodka

Dark rum (on brown shoes, of course) for some color?

 

[1k2go]

closed

 

[JChance]

edit

 

[fritzl]

for the spit shine?

You bet .

i don't do spit shine. slightly changes are always welcome.

 

[patrick_b]



Renovateur will take up a good deal of the Saphir polish already on a shoe (you can see the color coming off on your rag). It does not seem to take up much Kiwi wax (based on my experience).

It took me a while to figure that out. It's much easier for me to achieve the mirror shine with Kiwi wax (toe only) than it has been with Saphir. However, as Gdot indicated, Renovateur doesn't remove Kiwi wax as easily. I never understood why I couldn't successfully remove the old layers of Kiwi wax with reno. Thanks to Gdot, I now understand why.

 

[Gdot]



It took me a while to figure that out. It's much easier for me to achieve the mirror shine with Kiwi wax (toe only) than it has been with Saphir. However, as Gdot indicated, Renovateur doesn't remove Kiwi wax as easily. I never understood why I couldn't successfully remove the old layers of Kiwi wax with reno. Thanks to Gdot, I now understand why.

Interesting that you noticing similar differences between Saphir and Kiwi wax as I am noticing.

In my experience the Saphir is softer and shines up a bit easier when one is just doing a coat or two. But the Kiwi is harder and seems to dry harder more quickly and in that regard I'm finding that I rather prefer for toe bulling.

Although one can certainly obtain good results with either.

For those who are simply just caring for their shoes (no bulling) I think I would reccommend using Saphir Wax if they also use Reno. Because it seems the two products work especially well together (ie - it's a good thing that the Reno lifts up some old wax when it conditions). It seems that for those who want a simple and no brainer way to care for their shoes the two products together are pretty foolproof.

That's not to say that Kiwi is necessarily inferior, just different, I rather like it's harder finish for toes etc. in particular.

 

[patrickBOOTH]



Interesting that you noticing similar differences between Saphir and Kiwi wax as I am noticing.
In my experience the Saphir is softer and shines up a bit easier when one is just doing a coat or two. But the Kiwi is harder and seems to dry harder more quickly and in that regard I'm finding that I rather prefer for toe bulling.
Although one can certainly obtain good results with either.
For those who are simply just caring for their shoes (no bulling) I think I would reccommend using Saphir Wax if they also use Reno. Because it seems the two products work especially well together (ie - it's a good thing that the Reno lifts up some old wax when it conditions). It seems that for those who want a simple and no brainer way to care for their shoes the two products together are pretty foolproof.
That's not to say that Kiwi is necessarily inferior, just different, I rather like it's harder finish for toes etc. in particular.

To me reno is a very good "finish conditioner". Spruces up old polish rather well.

 

[Gdot]



To me reno is a very good "finish conditioner". Spruces up old polish rather well.

100% agree.

One quick coat of Reno over an existing old polish turns out a beautiful finish in a flash.

 

[patrickBOOTH]



100% agree.
One quick coat of Reno over an existing old polish turns out a beautiful finish in a flash.

Yeah, I think it is a combination of removing some old polish, conditioning, and depositing in new wax.

 

[patrick_b]



Interesting that you noticing similar differences between Saphir and Kiwi wax as I am noticing.
In my experience the Saphir is softer and shines up a bit easier when one is just doing a coat or two. But the Kiwi is harder and seems to dry harder more quickly and in that regard I'm finding that I rather prefer for toe bulling.
Although one can certainly obtain good results with either.
For those who are simply just caring for their shoes (no bulling) I think I would reccommend using Saphir Wax if they also use Reno. Because it seems the two products work especially well together (ie - it's a good thing that the Reno lifts up some old wax when it conditions). It seems that for those who want a simple and no brainer way to care for their shoes the two products together are pretty foolproof.
That's not to say that Kiwi is necessarily inferior, just different, I rather like it's harder finish for toes etc. in particular.

Another thing I'm finding is that I get slight, fine cracking on the bulled portion of the toe on certain shoes. In my case, it's only occurred on my AE Kenilworth. I'm not sure if it's due to the Kiwi wax itself, the type of calf coupled with the Kiwi or that I simply applied too much wax early on. In any event, I haven't seen this occur on my other AE calf shoes or my RMW yearling boots. It's so slight that it's virtually impossible to capture with a camera and you certainly can't see it at leg's length but I still know it's there . Maybe the high res images would capture it but not likely with the resized/compressed images. I tried to remove the 6 or so coats of wax when I noticed the cracking but the reno didn't remove the wax. It did however, do a fine job of removing the cracking by (I assume) mixing the layers of wax.