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Rugger

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Firstly, i discovered some inbalance blackish color when i tried to do a mirror shine, maybe due to i used a little too much alcohol drops in water? Then i used renomat to remove those stains but it got worse. What can i do to save my shoes?
View attachment 1356466

If you hit the spots gently with hot air from hairdryer, do they lighten in color? They look like blemishes in the leather that were uncovered when you used either too much alcohol, too much pressure, or both - you will need to re-dye
 

DapperAndy

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Firstly, i discovered some inbalance blackish color when i tried to do a mirror shine, maybe due to i used a little too much alcohol drops in water? Then i used renomat to remove those stains but it got worse. What can i do to save my shoes?
View attachment 1356466
This is the problem with people blindly recommending to use alcohol in your mirror-polish solution. Alcohol will remove your finish. And if you are trying to do a mirror shine on a shoe that does not have multiple base layers built up to protect that finish, it's too early to be applying water, let alone alcohol. At least water doesn't remove the finish if you're swirling it around on a premature base.
 

DapperAndy

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Many years ago I saw on Saint Crispin’s website a guide for mirror shine which recommended adding alcohol to water to make the shining process easier. I tried it and have been doing it ever since Sadly that guide is no longer there.

Kirby Allison of the Hanger Project also recommends it: View attachment 1357070
The point of adding alcohol to the final buffing stages of a mirror shine is that it is a more powerful solvent than turpentine and evaporates quicker than water.

In the words of my/Pure Polish's predecessor Glenjay:
The purpose of solvent in shoe polish is to keep it relatively soft (not a solid block of wax) so that it can be applied to a shoe and spread around. Once the polish is on the shoe you want the solvent to evaporate so as no to impede the wax from setting. The faster the evaporation the better the wax sets up because of the cooling effect related to evaporation heat transfer.

How well a solvent works is measured by its Kauri-Butanol (Kb) value (the higher the number the stronger the solvent). Turpentine has a Kb value of 56, while orange oil has a Kb value of 67. (Isopropyl Alcohol has a Kb of 80)

In regard to evaporation speed: One of the main factors in determining evaporation speed is the Vapor Pressure (in millimeters of mercury) it takes for the ingredient to evaporate. The vapor pressure for turpentine is 4 mmHg, and the vapor pressure for orange oil is 1.4 mmHg (both at 68F/20C).
So before adding Isopropyl Alcohol to your water-mix during your mirror shine, ask yourself, "why am I doing this?" And, "do I need to do this in order to achieve the result I'm after?" Or at least, "what are the risks of adding a very strong solvent to my mix, if I'm still not totally sure of where I am in the process?" This appears to be the aforementioned case. And the finish was removed.

I don't do it. santoni-cap-toe - 3.jpg navyboot-ultimate-shine - 1.jpg
 

KaleidoscopicK

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Does anybody have experience in cleaning the inside of a shoe? I'm trying to clean out a blood stain:

IMG_20200324_173727.jpg
I'm thinking either soap, or perhaps hydrogen peroxide. Does anybody have advice/suggestions?
 

Rugger

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The point of adding alcohol to the final buffing stages of a mirror shine is that it is a more powerful solvent than turpentine and evaporates quicker than water.

In the words of my/Pure Polish's predecessor Glenjay:

So before adding Isopropyl Alcohol to your water-mix during your mirror shine, ask yourself, "why am I doing this?" And, "do I need to do this in order to achieve the result I'm after?" Or at least, "what are the risks of adding a very strong solvent to my mix, if I'm still not totally sure of where I am in the process?" This appears to be the aforementioned case. And the finish was removed.

I don't do it. View attachment 1358163 View attachment 1358164

Thinking about the vamp wax cracking and potential flaking on these is giving me anxiety
 

inTROYspection

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DapperAndy

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Thinking about the vamp wax cracking and potential flaking on these is giving me anxiety
Actually, I didn’t use any wax on the vamp, only cream polish. I’m very keen on this, given I own a leather care company. If you’re curious, I wrote a guest blog on these exact shoes and my process in getting this level of shine with as few layers as possible, and proper product and care along the way, step-by-step: https://www.iconicalternatives.com/2019/09/12/how-to-create-a-mirror-shoe-shine/
 

Mercurio

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Does anybody else have suggestions to clean it up?
You will find different web pages with suggestions on the matter such as:

 

JFWR

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Does anybody have experience in cleaning the inside of a shoe? I'm trying to clean out a blood stain:
I'm thinking either soap, or perhaps hydrogen peroxide. Does anybody have advice/suggestions?

I would use saddle soap. Regular soap is really harsh on leather and saddle soap is known to clean things.

If necessary, use a harsher soap after trying saddle soap first. We know saddle soap is good on leather.

Sadly, the stain has also set, so this might be hard. Good news: it's on the inside of the shoe, so no one will see. You just want to make it less obviously apparent your heels exploded blood on them.

Yikes, man, when your heels are in that much pain, take off your shoes. I get blisters whenever I break in shoes, but I have never bled that bad through my socks like that.

I am having flashbacks of the 2004 American League Championship Series. Bad days for a Yankees fan.
 

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