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

[SHS]



How do people feel about using renovateur on belts, wallets, bags etc.?

I think that the answer to my own question is that it would be better to use this product:

http://www.valmour.com/catalogue/index.php?action=consulter&rewrite=1&id=41&id_cdt=52&id_couleur=3

I have not tried it yet, but I think that I will use it on my leather bag someday.

 

[HORNS]



Still lurking... Just read the 13 page thread, overwhelmed. At this moment, I'm about 37% convinced that I have to buy some Meltonian cream, and maybe a Saphir product or 5. I will do some more reading, and hopefully my first post won't be a question that was answered on the previous page. 

Welcome! Lots of disparate opinions here but there's some people's input you should trust, like DWFII and your own common sense. My overall advice to you as far as polishes and creams are concerned is not what brand you buy but to show restraint in how much you use on the shoe at one time.

 

[HORNS]

I tried Renovateur on a couple of my wife's purses and they look, feel, and smell great. I've used Lexol for years on my belts with no problem whatsoever.

 

[Rambo]

Gdot - you going to be hitting the shoes with 6 coats of polish every time you polish them up, assuming the experiment works out that is?

 

[Gdot]



Gdot - you going to be hitting the shoes with 6 coats of polish every time you polish them up, assuming the experiment works out that is?

Definitely not. The idea is to put down a beautiful, mutli pigmented base coat that will eventually take on a patina of it's own. With that many coats of cream wax all I intend to do at this point is vigorously brush buff after each wearing to redistribute the wax and pigment until such time as they stop taking on a shine. At which point I will probably do one coat of cream and one coat of Saphir nuetral paste wax.

I wore those shoes on Monday - but it was a busy day so I didn't take a picture. The creases didn't crack or show too much wax build up - which is good. They did lighten up a good bit from the pigments/wax pushing out of the creases. This is also good and perfectly normal. All my G&Gs do the same thing when new. I put them back on the trees and buffed them thoroughly - the creases settled right back down and the color evened out quite a bit. But the creases are still visibly lighter. This is pretty much exactly what I expected.

The idea is to embrace the patina building!

 

[patrickBOOTH]



Definitely not. The idea is to put down a beautiful, mutli pigmented base coat that will eventually take on a patina of it's own. With that many coats of cream wax all I intend to do at this point is vigorously brush buff after each wearing to redistribute the wax and pigment until such time as they stop taking on a shine. At which point I will probably do one coat of cream and one coat of Saphir nuetral paste wax.
I wore those shoes on Monday - but it was a busy day so I didn't take a picture. The creases didn't crack or show too much wax build up - which is good. They did lighten up a good bit from the pigments/wax pushing out of the creases. This is also good and perfectly normal. All my G&Gs do the same thing when new. I put them back on the trees and buffed them thoroughly - the creases settled right back down and the color evened out quite a bit. But the creases are still visibly lighter. This is pretty much exactly what I expected.
The idea is to embrace the patina building!

What you're describing I believe is called a "crust" finish.

 

[NORE]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Here's a pair of Crockett and Jones Drummonds (Benchgrade) with my own 'special finish'.



Six coats of cream polish in various colors rubbed in as briskly and deeply as I could.

It's a bit hard to photograph but in real life it looks a lot like an Edward Green finish.

Nice job. Although I must say that an Edward Green finish is quite easily captured in photographs

 

[Gdot]



Nice job. Although I must say that an Edward Green finish is quite easily captured in photographs

Well - of course it's not completely up to the status of the 'Real Deal'. If it were I'd be taking in shoe shines at $400 a pop.

A certain amount of what they accomplish is via dye in the leather - and I'm not going to go there in any case.

 

[razl]

Cross post of my WAYWRN: Shoe & Boot Edition shot from today. Note that, as I replied to a compliment-er there, all my shoes were an embarrassment until about 3 months ago when I started being a serious student on this thread. I still can't get a mirror shine like the masters here, but I am thrilled with the progress I've made so far.

Many thanks to every single person who has contributed to this thread - believe it or not, I read it and it helped me, finally, care for my shoes which desperately needed it. I'm now not only proud of the shoe itself, but the care and maintenance that I put into them.

ps - as an added bonus, and a surprise, I'm finding taking care of them a relaxing sort of mini-hobby in and of itself. Who knew?

 

[SHS]

I have a horrifying story to tell from the lower echelons of the shoe trade. With Pictures. For some months now, I have been looking for a not too expensive loafer/slip on shoe to use just to go and get milk or a pizza or in the garden. I don't really like driver shoes, and a traditional loafer seemed a bit too formal for these small everyday chores. So, among others I discovered a site called endless.com, which had many styles I liked. Wonderful site, wonderful service, but perhaps not so wonderful shoes, if you are used to something better. I returned two pairs (not cheap when you live in Denmark). I just wanted a shoe that was easy to slip on and off, and with a rubber sole for all kinds of weather, and not downright ugly. Then my eye fell on the brown Ecco Biarritz slip-on here:

http://www.endless.com/s/ref=topnav...slip+on&asin=B004FLT1NC&ref=sr_1_1&pageCode=d

It appealed to me on several levels. I liked the shape, the sole and the brown color. Being a dane, and Ecco being a danish founded company, I thought it would be easy to get the shoe, but my request couldn't be solved. In the meantime the shoe was put on sale for $152,99 on endless, so I decided third time was gonna be my lucky one. There just kept being something wrong with the ordering procedure which wouldn't let me order the shoes, so I wrote the company, and they kindly informed me that they didn't ship that model out of USA. A bit ironic to sit in Denmark and not being able to get an Ecco shoe

The next day I remembered that I had previously seen a mail forwarding service called viaddress, where you could get an american address to ship your orders to, and the company would then ship them on to you. So i started this whole procedure, and the discount on the shoes made it easier to cope with the added cost of getting another company to do the shipping. I anxiously followed my shoes travels via the internet, from Kentucky to Indiana, to Paris France, and then to Denmark and to me. I opened the box, I liked what I saw, and they fit me perfectly. The colour was even better than on the website, where you can see some antiqueing effect, but the shoes I got was just plain brown, which pleased me a lot. Now all could have ended well, and if it wasn't for Style Forum and this thread, it probably would have. Or perhaps it was the first thing I did to them. I sprayed them with a water repellent spray and let them dry an hour. Then I gave them Renovateur, let dry 20 minuttes and buff. At this point I noticed that there was small lighter stripes along the welt, but I didn't really get too concerned. I thought I might have used the applicator brush too vigourously, or that the tree on the brush had made the marks. I thought that the wax would take care of the small stripes. For that was my next step: Applying MDO wax with a cotton cloth, let it sit 20 minuttes, and then brush it in. This made the shoes change colour, or rather loose colour, and now they look pale and like they have gotten a lot of antiqueing. I could send the shoe back, but I don't really want to go through all that trouble again. I actually like the shape and sole and such, and I don't want to use two more months to find what is basically an everyday shoe. So I will now have to find a way to dye them back to dark brown again. If anyone has good advice please let me know, so I can write the end to these shoes story.[ATTACHMENT=1908]SPA59229.JPG (2,303k. JPG file)[/ATTACHMENT][ATTACHMENT=1909]SPA59231.JPG (2,491k. JPG file)[/ATTACHMENT][ATTACHMENT=1910]SPA59232.JPG (2,425k. JPG file)[/ATTACHMENT][ATTACHMENT=1911]SPA59235.JPG (2,419k. JPG file)[/ATTACHMENT]

 

[Gdot]

They look just fine! Don't worry about them. Some color variation and mottling is wonderful thing on a brown shoe. Go out there and give them some wear!

 

[worldrunner]



The Saphir Reno'Mat is something that should be used instead of the Saddle Soaps, which can be a little too harsh. As Northampton Novice indicated, the Reno'Mat does a great job at removing all of the bad product, but should not be used with every polishing. It should also be considered as an essential to a transition of any shoe to an all-Saphir regement and only when shoes are really dirty. It will remove anything placed on top of the original leather. So, if you have built up antiquing with your polishes, the Reno'Mat will completely strip these off (to that end - if you accidentally use a polish that is too dark, the Reno'Mat can be used to completely strip the polish). Warning, though, is that it will remove the finish of cheap shoes.

Thanks for the advice Kirby....I cant wait for you to carry all the products...

 

[cbfn]

Need some expert help as well. Two days ago I polished my new pair of A&S Culford boots, and tried to get a high shine on the toe caps. I nailed the first one, but the second boot went crazy and went from tan to dark brown where I was polishing (probably too much moisture), so I let them sit for 24 hourse until yesterday hoping the moisture hadn't gone away, but it hadn't changed. I was afriad that the moisture was trapped behind the wax, so I removed it with neutral wax, which also removed the finish it came with (OH SHI-). So I sat there and saw the pale, raw leather, and thought I should try too treat it with some lexol cond., some Reno and then wax on to get the color back, and it didn't work, and went all dark brown again. I then stripped the front of both boots, and are noe thinking of just letting them dry completely before I start with some wax, good idea?

 

[kirbya]



Am highly interested in this as well!
Regarding the hundreds of products offered I have lost the feel for what is needed and what is mandatory.
For example I end up with questions myself:
To polish my shoes, should I use both creme and wax or would one of them be enough?
Should I buy leather soap/Renomat and strip my shoes to begin with as well as do so from time to time or is this only needed for worst case scenarios and renovateur should be fine to strip previously attached layers of creme and/or wax as well as condition my shoes?
How often/in which routine/with which products should I clean/strip, condition and wax my shoes in order to maintain them healthy and good looking?
How do I clean the edges of my rubber soles from persistant dirt?
Which colors should I use colored creme/wax and for which neutral one?
How to treat my pebble grain Cheaney FS029?

Since I just returned, I need a little time to regroup and begin writing. However, slated for this afternoon, I plan on testing the Reno'Mat and Renovating Cream. I'll be taking pictures of both. Will post here and on our website.

 

[kirbya]



do like the renomat. actually prefer the main line saphir to the mdo.

The main line of Saphir and the MDO are really designed to be worked together. The primary Saphir line is much more technical and specific in use. However, I can say with confidence that there is no better polish (cream or wax) or all-purpose cleaner conditioner (Renovateur) than what is offered in the MDO line. What you get with the primary Saphir line are complimentary products that are much more specific in purpose.