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

[traverscao]

The lady at Tricker's advised me thus: "The Production Office have advised me that you’ve purchased a Red Calf leather pair, not Cavalier. Therefore, this needs just the usual polish and care of regular leather shoes"

[The Cavalier are mostly boots and made of stuffed leather - my comment.]

I notice, though, that the red tan goes right the way through the leather. The insides are pretty much as red as the outers. .

Well, Munky, from what we're all told and seen, that's chrome tanned calf drum dyed.

 

[traverscao]

The question is...given the nature of leather...how do you hot stuff a hide/side without the oils/waxes/greases moving from the flesh to the grain surface? The grain surface is not (except in the case of CG) an impervious barrier to the migration of those oils. It is porous. It is also why most, if not all, hot stuffed leathers are deemed "pull-up" to one degree or another.

From what I've seen over the years "hot-stuffed" leather and a "non-oily surface" are mutually exclusive.

--

Can the surface of the hide be glazed afterwards - or burnishing, as you'd like to put it - though?

 

[patrickBOOTH]

i just did a mirror shine on the toe. It was fine.

 

[traverscao]

I don't really know, Pat, many CXLs were coated with acrylics for attractive looks, or else the skill of the burnisher, or shoe shiner, is excellent (with you, I've got no doubts to high hopes).

 

[patrickBOOTH]

With enough wax and patience you can make nearly anything mirror shine. It's the wax that is shining, not the leather.

 

[traverscao]

I was afraid the shiny wax finish would crack or flake off terribly. I've seen what happened, so I had the kind of phobia like you never know.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Well, I mean you don't do it where the leather bends.

 

[traverscao]

As in the tip of the toe? Possible.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

What? The toe cap doesn't bend.

 

[Kahuna75]

With enough wax and patience you can make nearly anything mirror shine. It's the wax that is shining, not the leather.

I do not know why but this exchange made me think of this ...sorry for the interuption

"Oh, you can milk just about anything with nipples"

"I have nipples Greg...could you milk me?"

 

[Goodman]

I would say Lexol, or Bickmore. Even the Hydrator/Fatiliquor Leather Doctor system. You don't want to oversaturate them because the diff fibers will just come apart easier.

I assume that answer was intended for me. Thanks for the response. I will recommend the Lexol as it is convenient and straightforward. Still glad I asked as I was thinking just really saturate them with Lexol as the leather would be "thirsty." Will recommend it be used judiciously.

 

[DWFII]



Can the surface of the hide be glazed afterwards - or burnishing, as you'd like to put it - though?

First, as I've known it, man and boy, burnishing is only done on (can only be done on) vegetable tanned leather. It is a process of dampening the leather and then rubbing with a super smooth bone or piece of hard and fine grained wood until the leather is dry (or all but) and shines like a mirror. Sometimes you can do it with canvas or glass. But wood and bone is what I've always used. Just as good beer has only three ingredients---barley, water and hops, so too burnishing has only three ingredients--veg tanned leather, water and bone.

[BTW oiling or greasing leather that has been burnished will destroy the shine]

Second, I don't know when the optimal point for top finishing (glazing) a leather would be (I'm not even sure what "glazing" means--it's not a term that is ordinarily associated with leather, in my experience as a shoemaker).

Obviously, the cavalier has an opaque top finish. And I suspect it would be difficult to apply if the leather was oily...so perhaps hot stuffing is done after the leather is top finished. But top finishing is not burnishing and in my understanding usually involves a coating on the grain surface of the leather such as an acrylic wax or, like CG, a plastic film bonded to the grain. That said, most of these top finishes are at least somewhat porous as well (only the CG would be impenetrable) so esp. with flexing, the oils will tend to surface despite the top finish.

All of this ties into why I am leery of putting any non-homogenized, viscous, heavy (or light) oil on fine calf. The oil remains resident in the leather over a long period of time. Additional applications tend to be cumulative. It will tend to surface where the leather is flexed. It will collect dirt. It will impede a shine...depending on the rigour of your definition of shine ("gleam" is not shine in mine).

I believe CXL can be mirror shined...as pB said, it's the wax that's shining. I suspect that, ultimately, it's a waste of time.

--

 

[traverscao]

What? The toe cap doesn't bend.

Wait... The shoe has got a toe cap? I thought they were smooth toe and vamp...

 

[patrickBOOTH]

What are you talking about?

 

[traverscao]

You're right, DW, about the CXL shine thing.

How about hot stuffed veg tanned leather being machine glazed - rolling smooth glass rod rolled over the hide?