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

[smoothie1]

In my experience, shell is very low maintenance. If you buy whiskey or other lighter colored shell and want to keep it perfectly pristine, you might think/find shell to be high maintenance. Otherwise, all it takes is a brush and some wax polish, and it's all good. Despite what others might contend, shell is a sturdy material, perfectly suited for rain, work, or winter boots/shoes. Also, it definitely wears warmer than leather. But it can look plasticky and unappealing in some contexts. Cheers.

 

[laufer]



In my experience, shell is very low maintenance. If you buy whiskey or other lighter colored shell and want to keep it perfectly pristine, you might think/find shell to be high maintenance. Otherwise, all it takes is a brush and some wax polish, and it's all good. Despite what others might contend, shell is a sturdy material, perfectly suited for rain, work, or winter boots/shoes. Also, it definitely wears warmer than leather. But it can look plasticky and unappealing in some contexts. Cheers.

It is a whiskey, MTO Harlech. Thanks for the tip.

 

[smoothie1]

Funny. I have been wearing my whiskeys more than ever this summer/fall, and the only consequence is an ever so slight darkening overall.

 

[PCK1]

Curious - specifically wax, or would a cream be all right? Was looking at Saphir shoe cream, specifically.

I only use wax...it will darken that navy up....

 

[laufer]



Funny. I have been wearing my whiskeys more than ever this summer/fall, and the only consequence is an ever so slight darkening overall.

Good to know I would like them to darken a little bit.

 

[SushiOfTheGods]

Hardened wax streaking?

It's those little ripples in the reflection that makes it so that the reflection isn't completely flat.

I know what you're talking about but the 'orange peel effect' refers to the way adding layers...such as an insert inside the shoe...changes the radius and lengths and measurements etc.. The way an orange measures n in circumference with the peel intact and the n-x when the peel is removed.

I suspect that the rippling--the "alligatoring"--of the shine...which is, if I'm not mistaken, what you're referring to...is due to inconsistent polishing, but I'm not sure. I get it more at the side of the toe...along the welt, where I've not been concentrating my efforts...than on top.

--

Bingo~ I don't know the cause but it doesn't seem to get better as I add more layers.

its quite easy to fix that!! just work a little more the first 2 layers and not adding water from the start!! it ll fill the pores a little faster!!

Thanks for the tip! I tried that but I think I may need to add more layers. Either that or I need to strip it down and start over... Maybe the leather's too new? The shoe itself is only half a year old and I haven't worn it all that much.

 

[aglose]



In my experience, shell is very low maintenance. If you buy whiskey or other lighter colored shell and want to keep it perfectly pristine, you might think/find shell to be high maintenance. Otherwise, all it takes is a brush and some wax polish, and it's all good. Despite what others might contend, shell is a sturdy material, perfectly suited for rain, work, or winter boots/shoes. Also, it definitely wears warmer than leather. But it can look plasticky and unappealing in some contexts. Cheers.

So my dark brown linderick boots in shell are always very bumpy where ever the creases are in the shaft and on the vamp. Are they just dry? I rub them every time after I wear them with my deer bone, but still they end up super bumpy.

 

[MasonAndSmith]

So my dark brown linderick boots in shell are always very bumpy where ever the creases are in the shaft and on the vamp. Are they just dry? I rub them every time after I wear them with my deer bone, but still they end up super bumpy.

take a picture for all of us to see, super bumpy due to crease or due to inconsistency of the wax. or could be the previous layers of wax/ residue left uncleared

 

[aglose]



 
take a picture for all of us to see, super bumpy due to crease or due to inconsistency of the wax. or could be the previous layers of wax/ residue left uncleared 

I will wear them tomorrow and snap a picture at the end of the day. Just kidding, my denim today ended up bleeding on my suede carmine chukkas. Here is a picture that shows them at the beginning of the wear. You can see the right boot has a bit of bumps that get progressively worse as the day goes on.

 

[medinfoto]

Found me a pair of bespoke Trickers (which thankfully correspond to my feet quite well!) for 25 quid; though they looked a bit rough the leather itself looked quite good all things considered. Brought them home and started a Saphir treatment. You can see before/after here. Even with a future resole I think I'll have a lovely pair of shoes for not a lot of money. Three coats of Renovateur and one of cream.

 

[patrickBOOTH]



I will wear them tomorrow and snap a picture at the end of the day. Just kidding, my denim today ended up bleeding on my suede carmine chukkas. Here is a picture that shows them at the beginning of the wear. You can see the right boot has a bit of bumps that get progressively worse as the day goes on.

Welcome to shell.

 

[Isolation]

I see people putting the shoe bags on their shoes on their shoe racks, or have cases with dust covers/glass, but it's actually perfectly fine to have the shoes on your rack in open air right? Because I am sick of having bits of cloth everywhere when picking my shoes.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I don't cover mine, but I do give them a quick brush before putting them on just to get some of the dust off. Especially the vamp gets a bit dusty and I don't want that dust to settle in the creases and cause unnecessary wear.

 

[medinfoto]

I see people putting the shoe bags on their shoes on their shoe racks, or have cases with dust covers/glass, but it's actually perfectly fine to have the shoes on your rack in open air right? Because I am sick of having bits of cloth everywhere when picking my shoes.

A local shoe salesman (who is around 76 now) made a very long term bet with his son (who runs another shoe store) about whether storing shoes in bags or boxes vs "in the open" made a difference over time. A decade or two later they came to the conclusion that it _did_ make enough of a difference to settle the bet, though I do not have any objective data from this particular test...

 

[Isolation]

Interesting, thanks.

I wonder if exposing it to "the elements" of your house is what causes it or if it's the dust, and if so, would the fact that you wear and brush them now and then be enough to counteract that.