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

[traverscao]

Brian the Bootmaker is located in Los Angeles and should be able to do anything you ask. He is quite expensive, but he knows his stuff.

Brian Truong?

 

[Carson]

Brian Truong?

It does appear to be the very Brian….looks promising

 

[danne888]

I have a pair of shoes in suede that i have brushed to hard and the Suede is slightly damaged. Is it possible to fix somehow?

 

[Stemo79]



I have a pair of shoes in suede that i have brushed to hard and the Suede is slightly damaged. Is it possible to fix somehow?

what kind of damage are we talking about here? It's hard to tell by your image...

 

[DWFII]



I have a pair of shoes in suede that i have brushed to hard and the Suede is slightly damaged. Is it possible to fix somehow?

Hard to tell anything significant from a photo regardless how good or bad it may be.

The suede looks to be a chrome tanned leather and it is not dyed through...at least not with the same colour as is on the surface. So you've probably brushed away the leather that was darker. That may seem obvious...but what may not be obvious to anyone but yourself is that in the process you have actually broken and knocked off much of the fiber mat that comprises the leather. If we were to "mic" the leather in the places it is lighter, we'd probably find that it was thinner too.

So yes, the leather probably is damaged, no, there's nothing you can do to remedy that. The only thing you can do is re-dye the leather either a darker colour or the same original colour.

And stop scrubbing.

 

[Stemo79]



Hard to tell anything significant from a photo regardless how good or bad it may be.

The suede looks to be a chrome tanned leather and it is not dyed through...at least not with the same colour as is on the surface. So you've probably brushed away the leather that was darker. That may seem obvious...but what may not be obvious to anyone but yourself is that in the process you have actually broken and knocked off much of the fiber mat that comprises the leather. If we were to "mic" the leather in the places it is lighter, we'd probably find that it was thinner too.

So yes, the leather probably is damaged, no, there's nothing you can do to remedy that. The only thing you can do is re-dye the leather either a darker colour or the same original colour.

And stop scrubbing.

Although I've not tried it myself (I'm very careful with my suede shoes!!) I heard that you can get the nap back by using a sandpaper....? This could be codswallop though.

 

[DWFII]



Although I've not tried it myself (I'm very careful with my suede shoes!!) I heard that you can get the nap back by using a sandpaper....? This could be codswallop though.

You need to be extra careful doing that. If you have dirt and such caked or embedded in the fibers of the leather, you can sometimes loosen them with sandpaper but the same thing happens with sandpaper as with too hard a brushing...except quicker and deeper...the fibers are cut or broken, or loosened from the surrounding matrix, and eventually the leather is worn down to where the fiber mat is too dense to make a good suede. Or too loose, and things go downhill fast from there.

But again, the real problem danne888 has with these shoes is the dye variations...at least from what I can tell from the photos. The "nap" may be a little coarse but if the colour were restored no one would notice but him.

 

[traverscao]

How does one take care for stingray hides? Or does the stuff needs any kind of care at all?

 

[joachim92]

Anyone knows a good cobbler in Belgium to add a sleek sole to my boots? I want to maintain the low profile of the boots (mmm side zips). I walk a lot in them and notice the sole is wearing down pretty fast.

 

[kbuzz]

Hello all I would like to get the advice on the following. I have a pair of rm wiliams craftsman in whiskey. The pair has always been a bit too red in tone for me and I am curious if there might be a way to tone them down a bit and shift them more towards the brown family. Now I know there have been a few threads on this topic in the past but I don't seem to have found any on the Merlot burgundy to brown change. (Usually is brown to black or tan to cordovan etc). Now this lack of prior threads and pics may be a sign that's it's just impractical but thought I'd take a stab since these have been impervious to less invasive applications of brown, cordovan or black surface wax polish

So the thought was to follow some of the tutorials and try to hit them with either the Saphir Decapant Stripper for Smooth Leather or Saphir reno mat. Condition with Saphir renovateur And follow with some creme polish in dark brown, chocolate or similar. Finally if all went well maybe hit them with final wax polish in brown or neutral. Would Saphir Juvacuir Recoloring Cream be appropriate for any of these steps or is this product for spot repair?

So any thoughts appreciated. Is this folly? Would dye be a better way and then creme polish? While the boots are older and I'm not worried about destroying them, I was hoping to avoid the acetone dye route just due to the harshness factor.... So I tthank all In advance, with any opinion on strategy, products color or technique. And of course here's a quick pic of Boots in the current little red riding hood condition.

 

[Layered Player]

Quote: That's exactly what I meant.

Thanks benhour, I suspected as much. Damned shame given how solid it's construction is.

I've gotten the Lexol on them and it's helped a bit but I'm sure I'll have to hit them with tinted creme at some point as the underlying calf is lighter.

Thanks all for the continued input, I'll get updated pics asap.

 

[traverscao]

Hello all I would like to get the advice on the following. I have a pair of rm wiliams craftsman in whiskey. The pair has always been a bit too red in tone for me and I am curious if there might be a way to tone them down a bit and shift them more towards the brown family. Now I know there have been a few threads on this topic in the past but I don't seem to have found any on the Merlot burgundy to brown change. (Usually is brown to black or tan to cordovan etc). Now this lack of prior threads and pics may be a sign that's it's just impractical but thought I'd take a stab since these have been impervious to less invasive applications of brown, cordovan or black surface wax polish

So the thought was to follow some of the tutorials and try to hit them with either the Saphir Decapant Stripper for Smooth Leather or Saphir reno mat. Condition with Saphir renovateur And follow with some creme polish in dark brown, chocolate or similar. Finally if all went well maybe hit them with final wax polish in brown or neutral. Would Saphir Juvacuir Recoloring Cream be appropriate for any of these steps or is this product for spot repair?

So any thoughts appreciated. Is this folly? Would dye be a better way and then creme polish? While the boots are older and I'm not worried about destroying them, I was hoping to avoid the acetone dye route just due to the harshness factor.... So I tthank all In advance, with any opinion on strategy, products color or technique. And of course here's a quick pic of Boots in the current little red riding hood condition.

I'd say many rounds of Saphir Renomat is sufficient for stripping off. If you want to use Avel Decapant, then you may want to think of nourishing the leather with something heavy afterwards - Lexol, Bick4, or even a light coat of grease.

As of coloring, per reference, you can try DIY with the Juvacuir, because it is largely removable. However, I'd suggest you alter between dark brown and light tan to get your desired finish.

 

[Branndonm1]

Hi Gents,

I am new to the forum. So first of all, hello to all. Now I'd like to explain why I am here. I was walking through the mall the other day and I saw this nice pair of clarks on sale so I picked them up. I am big on boots but I opted to try out a low top option this time since I couldn't pass up the deal. I usually polish off my boots with "Kiwi Neutral Polish" and they come looking beautiful. Most of my boots are dark (blacks, browns, burgundies) so I'd never tried the polish out on light brown shoes, and let me tell you, it was a mess. My shoes are now dark brown and look terrible. I'd like to know what you guys suggest? I browsed a few other forums and have encounter others who have had the same problem, but most are opting to totally recolor the shoe. I'm wondering if there is anything I could do to save them and maybe preserve the original color? if not possible, I'd like to know your suggestions on how I would go about repainting them to get back the original tone. Thanks a lot guys.

Before:
.

after:

 

[Beach Bum]

Collonil or Saphir have plenty of light brown options that would work.

 

[Branndonm1]

So should I just apply some light brown Collonil/Saphir polish on top of whats already there? or will I need to remove the Kiwi polish first somehow?