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

[glenjay]



Can someone tell me what is causing this light strip of color on my shoe cap? The story behind what happened is this:

Spoiler: Shoe Image

I bought some Saphir wax in order to attempt a mirror shine on my Alden captoes. Not realizing that I need to wait a bit for each layer of wax to harden before rubbing it with a cloth, I put on 20+ layers of wax that did almost nothing. However, notice that the part of the leather closest to the cap stitching is pretty polished and no longer has the "grain" texture. I'm guessing that's because during my 20 attempted layers, I would rub there the least, giving the wax the most time to harden. Eventually, I realized my mistake and put on a few more layers, waiting between each one and I got the current shine. However, now I have this light streak in the middle. What is causing this and do I just need to remove the wax and redo to fix it?

20 layers is way too much in my opinion. You should be able to spit shine with just a few layers. I typically put on a cream coat, as a base coat, in the shoe color to blend out any blemishes, then I add paste in small quantities with very little water to build the shine using a small circular motion. You can't rush or force a spit shine. Also, I typically only apply paste to the toe cap and heel counter, the rest of the shoe only gets cream and is brushed vigorously. This minimizes the wax build up in areas of the shoe that flex.

As far as the banding effect, it may be due to using too much water when applying the wax and the leather absorbing it more in some areas than others, but that is just a guess.

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make when first learning to polish shoes is adding too much polish, and secondly adding too much water in the polishing process.

 

[coffeecupman]

I have a question that I have wondered about for some time.

Do any of you ever have any problems with colored shoe creams and polishes rubbing off on to your pant cuffs?

Although I have followed and read this thread from start to finish, I work offshore on a pretty rough rotation, and I still haven't had a chance to start practicing this art, since all my shoes and gear are at home.

I remember a long time getting a shoe shine on the street somewhere. I was in my early 20's and it was just an old pair of black Doc Marten's. However, for a long time after this, all my jeans had blackened hems which were a pain ********** to shout out come laundry day.

Since now my pants are of better quality than Levi's, I was always kind of afraid of polish after that experience. I got away from leather shoes for years and never had to think about it until now.

So, since this is the thread for even sometimes embarrassing questions, do the good Saphir Medaille D'Or polishes, which are now in my closet awaiting my return, ever leave deposits on your pant hems?

I would imagine that finishing with a clear polish layer that hardens should immunize against any pigment transfer, but would love to hear confirmation of this from the experienced.

If you finish with pigmented shoe cream, for example, on a shoe where you didn't want a high shine, would you have a problem with this? Or was it just because the shoe shine guy years ago used a ****** polish?

ccm

 

[Gdot]



20 layers is way too much in my opinion. You should be able to spit shine with just a few layers. I typically put on a cream coat, as a base coat, in the shoe color to blend out any blemishes, then I add paste in small quantities with very little water to build the shine using a small circular motion. You can't rush or force a spit shine. Also, I typically only apply paste to the toe cap and heel counter, the rest of the shoe only gets cream and is brushed vigorously. This minimizes the wax build up in areas of the shoe that flex.
As far as the banding effect, it may be due to using too much water when applying the wax and the leather absorbing it more in some areas than others, but that is just a guess.
I think one of the biggest mistakes people make when first learning to polish shoes is adding too much polish, and secondly adding too much water in the polishing process.

+1 Completely agree!

 

[unbelragazzo]



I have a question that I have wondered about for some time.

Do any of you ever have any problems with colored shoe creams and polishes rubbing off on to your pant cuffs?

I haven't had a problem with this...I'd guess if you are, it's because you're not brushing and buffing enough after applying?

 

[coffeecupman]

Right, well it wasn't me. It was a shoe shine boy. Anyway, yes, either it was that he put too much polish on I guess, or he used a crap quality polish that never properly hardens.

The shoes are long gone now of course.

ccm

 

[Liquidus]

I'm almost sure that this isn't a problem, but is this a normal amount of stretching for a shoe tree? This is a handgrade shoe tree in a C&J Belgrave 6E.

 

[Northampton Novice]



It shows dicks.

No doubt a special Saphir production to reflect the buyer's persona.

 

[Lear]



Do any of you ever have any problems with colored shoe creams and polishes rubbing off on to your pant cuffs?

The red colours are particularly prone to this. That's Médaille d'Or Burgundy to my shoes. The browns and yellow I find to be the most forgiving. Yellow is a nice tin to have in your arsenal. It makes whiskey coloured leather sparkle.

One day I'll get a tin of blue to use on black leather. It's apparently fairly 'strong' stuff.

Lear

 

[patrickBOOTH]



I have a question that I have wondered about for some time.

Do any of you ever have any problems with colored shoe creams and polishes rubbing off on to your pant cuffs?

Although I have followed and read this thread from start to finish, I work offshore on a pretty rough rotation, and I still haven't had a chance to start practicing this art, since all my shoes and gear are at home.

I remember a long time getting a shoe shine on the street somewhere.  I was in my early 20's and it was just an old pair of black Doc Marten's.  However, for a long time after this, all my jeans had blackened hems which were a pain ********** to shout out come laundry day.

Since now my pants are of better quality than Levi's, I was always kind of afraid of polish after that experience.  I got away from leather shoes for years and never had to think about it until now.

So, since this is the thread for even sometimes embarrassing questions, do the good Saphir Medaille D'Or polishes, which are now in my closet awaiting my return, ever leave deposits on your pant hems?

I would imagine that finishing with a clear polish layer that hardens should immunize against any pigment transfer, but would love to hear confirmation of this from the experienced.

If you finish with pigmented shoe cream, for example, on a shoe where you didn't want a high shine, would you have a problem with this?  Or was it just because the shoe shine guy years ago used a ****** polish?

ccm

I have never had this issue personally. However, I have witnessed some shoe shines in various places and I can say that they seem to really cake polish on shoes at shoe shine places. I don't really understand it, but they probably apply at one time what probably touches my own shoes over the course of an entire year. Also, lower quality polishes, which is what a lot of stands use seem to have much more pigment in them then higher quality stuff that is only lightly pigmented.

 

[Northampton Novice]

Also, lower quality polishes, which is what a lot of stands use seem to have much more pigment in them then higher quality stuff that is only lightly pigmented.

Sorry this is wrong. Lower quality polishes have less pigment than the higher quality polishes.

 

[patrickBOOTH]



Sorry this is wrong. Lower quality polishes have less pigment than the higher quality polishes.

Really? That's not what I was told. I have always heard that lower quality polishes are more of a paint job and have less waxes and oils.

 

[Northampton Novice]

Question is who told you that?

The only 'low quality' product that acts like a paint job are self shine liquid applicators, these literally coat your shoes in a polymer i.e plastic, hence why they aren't great for the leather.

 

[HORNS]



Your frequency of conditioning should be relative to the conditions the shoe is exposed to (pretty much what patrick_b stated).
A shoe should be conditioned anytime it has been exposed to an unusual amount of water, like walking in the rain or snow without protection.
A shoe that is worn frequently (every other day or so) needs to be conditioned more often than a shoe worn once a week or less (mostly due to perspiration diminishing the oils, and general wear).
Shoes in storage need even less conditioning, but still require some (due to long term oxidation of the leather and oil evaporation).
It is possible to over condition your shoe leather and damage your shoes due to rot over time. If you continually add oil to shoe leather on a frequent basis you can saturate the leather fiber which can trap moisture and retain it until the leather rots. Like everything else, moderation is important.
I condition my chukkas much more frequently than my dress shoes for a couple of reasons: I wear my chukkas in inclement weather much more often than I do my dress shoes (most of my chukkas also have rubber soles), and I have a much larger selection of dress shoes to choose from than I do chukkas.
There is no specific conditioning frequency rule that I am aware of, as even the number of wears is not a good measure. On a typical day in the home office I might put a total of 50 yards of walking on a pair of shoes. However, if I’m flying cross country, I might put in 5 miles of airport terminal walking/running on them (maybe it just feels like 5 miles). I usually condition whatever shoes I have taken, after a trip.
When to condition shoes is more of an art than a science (you have no way to measure the oil saturation ratio in your shoe leather), it’s more about feeling and observing than anything else.
Also keep in mind that both shoe cream and shoe paste contain oils, so every time you polish your shoe you are adding a small amount of oil (less with paste than cream).

My input on conditioning, and sorry if this has already been mentioned, is to condition more frequently if your shoes are subjected to a lot of sunlight or are in a very warm/hot environment. The oils in the leather by nature are volatile and will leave the shoe more quickly in those environments.

Of course, you say, don't store your shoes in sunlight. Well, duh, but sometimes **** can't be avoided.

 

[patrickBOOTH]



Question is who told you that?
The only 'low quality' product that acts like a paint job are self shine liquid applicators, these literally coat your shoes in a polymer i.e plastic, hence why they aren't great for the leather.

A great thread choice Mr Moo. Notably once we have got our precious shoes, the next logical step is to ensure they are well looked after, and if you can bare it, to actually wear the damn beauties!


I have picked out some wise words from Ron Rider on this very subject, posted here some years back, they help to define some of the key products we'll utilise:


"True shoe aficionados can argue for hours over whether wax or cream is the most effective polish for their prized footwear. Both are effective, and the use of one or the other is certainly necessary for the proper upkeep of your shoes.


Paste (Wax) Polish


Finding the "˜recipe' that manufacturers use for their paste, or wax, polish is as difficult as prying a BBQ sauce recipe from a Texan - can't seem to be done. Nevertheless, in examining the Material Handling Safety Datasheets that the government requires of these concoctions, it appears that the overwhelming ingredient is Stoddard Solvent (Naphtha) which, in the case of Kiwi (division of Sara Lee) and Kelly's (Fiebings, Inc. in Milwaukee) exceeds 90%. The two other popular shoe polish brands here, Lincoln and Angelus, do not make their MSDS as readily available, so I cannot speak to their main ingredient, but both seem to contain more pigment/waxes than the more popular Kiwi*. A notable exception is the Avel wax polishes (Saphir and Medaille D'Or) which both use a turpentine (natural) base. All use some combination of Carnauba and Beeswax as a binder.


Despite this information, which would seem to counter-act the marketing messages of these products, all are useful in the general upkeep of the finish of fine dress shoes. A personal observation is that Lincoln and the Avel polishes are the most effective in regards to coverage, protection and filling/fixing minor scuffs and cuts.

http://www.herc.org/library/msds/shoepolish.htm
http://www.avel.es/ang/ingles/index4.html
http://www.lincolnshoepolish.com/
http://www.fiebing.com/product.asp?typeID=11




Cream Polish



Available in a huge variety of colors, Cream Polish is very similar to the harder wax polishes with the main difference being some subtraction of solvent and a corresponding addition of mineral oil, or similar ingredient. While equal in it's ability to impart color, the cream polishes generally do not have the same ability to cover the inevitable scuffs and cuts that a leather shoe is prone to experience. In addition to the above manufacturers, others of note are Urad (Italy), Colonnil (Germany) and Smart (Turkey).

http://www.urad.it/english/01pomata.htm



Conditioner/Cleaners


The most under-used products in the shoe care market might very well be the neutral, more natural "˜cleaner & conditioner' products. In my opinion, the continual use of these products on a weekly (or more often) basis is far more important to the overall "˜health' of a fine leather upper than even the regular use of colored waxes and creams. Easy to apply, these products all go a long way in keeping leather supple, protected and, in the case of the brown tones, help to bring out that all important "˜patina' that can only develop naturally thru time and attention. Containing little or no harmful chemicals, any of the following are worth investing in: Allen Edmonds Conditioner/Cleaner, Crema Alpina (Italy), Renovateur by Avel (Spain/France) and Lexol (USA).

http://www.lexol.com/
http://www.nubian1880.it/english/homepage.html"

See the bold, that you quoted from Ron. I have also heard it from other shoe guys that I know.

 

[Gerry]

Looks about right to me. I have the same shoes with the same trees in a 7.5E and my trees look very similar gapwise.

I'm almost sure that this isn't a problem, but is this a normal amount of stretching for a shoe tree? This is a handgrade shoe tree in a C&J Belgrave 6E.