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

[cto15]

Great! Thanks!

 

[Munky]

You are right about John Lobb marking everything up, Benhour. They sell so 'felt bathroom slippers' for over £800. I wonder who buys these. People with more money than sense, I would imagine.

 

[benhour]

No problem at all switching brands. Especially now Saphir bought LCA!!

totally agree, i use products from diferent brands at the same time! i am not 100% sure but if i remember correctly LCA most shoe care products was always rebranded Saphir!

You are right about John Lobb marking everything up, Benhour. They sell so 'felt bathroom slippers' for over £800. I wonder who buys these. People with more money than sense, I would imagine.

hahahhah havent seen these!!! probably people with a lot money and no taste at all!!! hahahha

 

[goodlensboy]

Old t-shirt lovers, your old t shirts are no match for a selvyt cloth, selvyt is way better than any old t-shirt for polishing and buffing. I use PR (back side for polishing, and front for buffing).

For applying polish, i just use an old t-shirt though you can use selvyt as well because you can wash it over and over again and it becomes like new everytime

 

[Busa]

Has anyone bought a walnut shoe and successfully used a darker polish to get it more of a Bourbon color? If so can you share the exact brand and color of polish, even if it turned out a different but attractive brown?

I want something darker than Walnut, but not full-out dark browns- own a pair of AE Flatirons in Bourbon that are perfect, and would love to buy more shoes in Walnut since they aren't offered in Bourbon or similar and polish darker...

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Using darker polishes will definitely make it darker, but it would occur over time and many polishings. If you try and glob on a lot of dark polish to make it work it will look horrible and be hazy and built up and such. Maybe, Ron Rider can dye them for you which he is excellent at doing.

 

[OzzyJones]



Using darker polishes will definitely make it darker, but it would occur over time and many polishings. If you try and glob on a lot of dark polish to make it work it will look horrible and be hazy and built up and such. Maybe, Ron Rider can dye them for you which he is excellent at doing.

+1 For me seeing them evolve over time to what I had in mind (or something better!) would be part of the pleasure. Wear, care for, repeat.

 

[Ulsterman]

Gentleman, I'm having Saphir woes.

Hopefully a few words of wisdom here can keep me from feeling like a wasted 100$ on this stuff. I just spent over an hour on two pairs of shoes without achieving anything near as good a shine as i do in ten minutes using Allen ' polishes.

I purchased Rernovator, the Cream Polish, and the wax polish. I am willing to bet that I am doing it wrong as all of you have such good results. Basically i used a small polish dauber to apply the renovator, after ten minutes buffing it with a brush. The finish was matte, but I did notice a very cool patina developing as well as a nice supple feel to the leather. After that I used a small dauber to apply the cream polish, two coats, ten minutes apart, it took nearly half an hour of buffing with a brush and microfiber to get anything resembling a shine. At best a very weak shine.

Gave the neutral colored wax polish a try with a slightly damp rag and it started to remove all the pigment laid down from the cream polish so i just gave up, I don't have all night for this crap.

Am I going in the wrong order, wrong tools, so far I am not impressed.

 

[cbfn]

I would advise you to read the thread, polishing technique has been discussed in depth the last 20 pages.

 

[chogall]

Order sounds right. Tools sounds right.

But, for the polishing step, you were essentially use neutral polish to pick up pigments and everything else from cream polish. That isn't exactly "polishing" but "cleaning".

If you leave them to dry, buff, then you could get a better shine (not spit shine).

 

[glenjay]



Am I going in the wrong order, wrong tools, so far I am not impressed.

I would agree with chogall that the order and the tools sound correct, so that leaves technique.

Renovator is more of a cleaner/conditioner that can be used now and then, but does not need to be a constant part of your shoe care regiment. When I use a cleaner/conditioner I usually wait a day for the conditioner to be properly absorbed, before I add polish. This is not absolutely necessary, but it seems to work for me.

I can't tell from your sentence structure if you brushed/buffed your shoes between adding coats of cream polish, if not you should. In fact I suspect that either too much polish, or too little brushing is what is causing your problem. Each time you add a coat of cream polish (only a very little is necessary per coat) be sure to brush it well. You are trying to smooth out the wax by brushing down and through in the same motion with a moderate amount of force.

The test is to lightly drag your finger across the polished surface after each coat. You should get little to no resistance from the wax as you drag your finger. If you do get resistance, brush some more, and use less wax on the next coat.

You may pick up a faint amount of pigment when applying a neutral paste over a cream polish, but it should be very minimal. If you are picking up a fair amount of pigment you are either using too much paste (and the excess solvent is breaking down too much of the cream polish coat), or you are pushing way too hard trying to rush the mirror shine.

Creating a good shoe shine takes a little bit of skill and some practice, regardless of the polish brand. A pair of shoes can be polished well in 20 to 30 minutes (including a mirror shine on the toe). I usually take about an hour or so, because I have to stop and sip scotch now and then.

 

[Petepan]

Instead of daubers, I use thin latex gloves for spreading cream and renovator. This reduces wastage and allows more precise control over amounts applied. Make sure nails are cut to prevent piercing of gloves and getting pigment under your nails, which is a royal biatch to wash off. You do not need to wear the whole glove, just one finger is enough.

I must say that Collonil Diamant cream is much easier to use than Saphir creams. But Saphir has Hermes Red and Forest Green which you can do amazing things with. I have heard that Burgol is also pretty good, but the shops here do not have them.

 

[benhour]

Creating a good shoe shine takes a little bit of skill and some practice, regardless of the polish brand. A pair of shoes can be polished well in 20 to 30 minutes (including a mirror shine on the toe). I usually take about an hour or so, because I have to stop and sip scotch now and then.

that's SF for sure!!!

Order sounds right. Tools sounds right.

But, for the polishing step, you were essentially use neutral polish to pick up pigments and everything else from cream polish. That isn't exactly "polishing" but "cleaning".

If you leave them to dry, buff, then you could get a better shine (not spit shine).

i will agree with the Chogal and Glen!!! you have to wait at least about 3-5 minutes for the renovateur to get absorbed and the surface to dry(if you go straight buffing with the brush you ll start scratching the previous polish coats withc have been really soft from the renovateur and you ll end up making the surface uneven)i recomend apply the renovateur with a cloth,and not put a lot of it!! after that you ll get a shine quite easyly!

I would advise you to read the thread, polishing technique has been discussed in depth the last 20 pages.

totally agree with that!! in that thread there is a lot of information about any product and technique on shoe polish and maintenance!

Instead of daubers, I use thin latex gloves for spreading cream and renovator. This reduces wastage and allows more precise control over amounts applied. Make sure nails are cut to prevent piercing of gloves and getting pigment under your nails, which is a royal biatch to wash off. You do not need to wear the whole glove, just one finger is enough.

I must say that Collonil Diamant cream is much easier to use than Saphir creams. But Saphir has Hermes Red and Forest Green which you can do amazing things with. I have heard that Burgol is also pretty good, but the shops here do not have them.

use an old touthbrush and some alchohol and you ll clean them really easyly!!( i use gloves only when i "play''

with some dyes!! and polish go through cloths all the time so i have to clean them all the time)
btw use 1909 collonil cream!! this has a lot more pigment in it and shines a lot more than diamant!!

 

[benhour]

i think in these photos(with flash and natural light) the pigment consentration is quite obvious among these shoe polish creams

 

[VegTan]

Hello benhour, here is a simple test for color density.

http://www.burgol.de/shoecare#schuhpflege6

BTW, Marc Moura says that the coloring agents of CREME 1925 are not pigments but only dyes in the following interview.
http://allabout.co.jp/gm/gc/418273/