Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[smfdoc]

While I calm down from that last post, I thought I would show a vintage item I found as I cleared my house for a move. This little knife was hand made for my father in law when he was boy scout. His father had died young and unexpectedly when my FIL was about 10. A male member of his church in the scouting program made the knife and leather holder. The story would have been lost except for the etching on the blade near the hilt that states "Hand crafted for Larry Robinson by Bud Jacobson." I estimate that it was made between 1945 and 1950. The leather was quite dry and my shoe products turned that around nicely. I like the way the leather was folded back around to make it wearable on a hip. The real mystery is how it came to be in my house as I have never seen it before. I have to assume that it may have been given to one of my sons who left it here. I will not waste any time in trying to chase down the proper son as it is mine now. I would welcome any thoughts as to the type of wood used on the handle. It is quite dense and heavy.

 

[Nealjpage]

Florsheim Imperial 92611 PTB that I picked at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. Date code IC, September 1982. The sole has a wicked curl, so I soaked them in water for a couple of hours, and put some tight shoe trees in them. Dry time was about a week, and I conditioned the uppers with Bick 4 every few days during the dry. Curl is better, but not totally gone. Now the nails in the heel are pretty rusty, but hopefully a few wearings will solve that.

Before
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After they were dry, they got a couple of coats of black Kelly's Shoe Cream followed by two light coats of black Kiwi wax. I'm pretty happy with the final result.
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Update: I wore these to the grocery store yesterday and I think it is pretty clear that they're too big. These are 8.5 D, which is what I wear in Allen Edmonds. I'll try them again this week, but I guess I'm prepared to be disappointed.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

I like it, and would be interested in reading about, and seeing pics of, the process.

Okay. Here you go:

I initially intended to dye these a Cordovan color while keeping the cognac orange color. But I was slightly disappointed when the shoe repair shop I found in town did not have any cordovan dye. I also found my large tub of shoe polish and brushes and various conditioners this weekend.

I found one box of Fiebings leather dye but it was black. I also found a bottle and dauber of kiwi brown dye.

Here they are after removing laces and brushing.

I started by using alcohol to remove the old polish and any corrected grain glaze on the brogueing. But I decided the alcohol was not sufficient enough to remove the coating.

So I switched to acetone. I had purposely not tried to remove the coating on the orange color areas because I wanted to have the CG coating to protect from any drips while I was using the dye.

I decided to try the Kiwi brown dye. But it was not coming out very well and making almost no difference. I had a choice to either wait until I could get better dye or try to use the Fiebings black dye.

I was hesitant to use black as I thought it might be too much of a difference. When I first spread on the black dye I thought I had made a huge mistake. But I decided to wipe it with a rag to try to lessen the color. That worked perfectly. So what you see is a first thin coat of black dye.

After coloring the first pair with black here’s how they looked.

I continued on to the next shoe. After completing all of the black. I decided to try to remove some of the glaze on the remaining orange.

I’m not sure how quickly you were supposed to polish some thing after it has been dyed. But are used a medium brown and it actually removed some of the black dye and made it look deeper and more antiqued. Next I polish the cognac area. I was fairly happy with the results. Then I brushed the entire shoe and it darkened both colors.

I think the end result was interesting.

 

[davidVC]

‘69 with that sole and heel. Really cool find!

I agree. 1969. Good year.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

A few recent pick up. Both Florsheims are from this morning. "LJ" code on the spectators. '69 or '79?
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Those Spectator Florsheims are fantastic!

 

[happypebble]

very difficult to say. The darker color may never lighten up, which is why it is easier to make them darker overall than it is to lighten up on shoe.

Oh, I don't necessarily want to change the color on them as much as I want whatever coating's on them gone so I can condition them. Right now you try and put conditioner on and it doesn't soak in.

 

[stook1]

Just an fyi, there is a pair of nos shoes on Ebay marketed as shell cordovan. They are, in fact, corfam. I confirmed with the seller. It's an honest mistake. Nonetheless wanted to alert you fine gentlemen since I dont believe the listing has been updated. This pair:

Rare Vintage New Oxblood Phi Bates Wingtip Men Dress Shoes Size 10 C | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Rare Vintage New Oxblood Phi Bates Wingtip Men Dress Shoes Size 10 C at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

rover.ebay.com

 

[stook1]

These mid 80's Dack's 10 B Bond Street long-wings just arrived, still cold from their journey. From the early 1950's on, Bond Streets were Dack's made in England entry level offerings. By the mid 80's, due to the diminution of quality of most of Dack's Canadian made shoes (not all), these bison leather Bond Streets are near the top of the heap in terms desirability. They are easily among my favourite from this era, along with some of the Canadian made camel, water bison and seal leather shoes. Hartt sold virtually the same shoe branded as the Gold Bond. A few of these Bond Street and Gold Bond bison long-wings were also made in Canada, although they are rare. They can be distinguished by their Canadian style coding and a made in Canada stamp on the sole. The advert is from 1986.

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Wow! Fantastic!

 

[The Apostle]

Sitting in church...surrounded by a sea of cheap tennis shoes...my Weyenberg Massagics are outclassing everybody. View attachment 1310922

What's a good price for these? Found a pair that's never seen the concrete.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

Did we set up a Shoe Challenge for 2020?

I wonder if we could set this up to benefit a Charity? What I mean is have everyone who wants to participate pay a $10 fee and we donate that to some charity we pick?

OR, would that discourage participation? I know it takes a lot of time and work to revive some of these thrift finds andmaybe having to pay to enter would stop some folks?

just A thought.

Separate question: does neutral Cordovan cream work as well as the tinted varieties? I have a pair of Shell loafers in an unusual color and burgundy or brown would be way too dark.

Anyone ever tried to strip the finish off a black pair of shoes? I have some old black LWB that aren’t my size that might make a fun project.

 

[friendlygoz]

Incoming... I’ve been feeling like my collection is good; that I don’t really need another pair and that I’d only add a pair if it adds stylistic range to my current collection. The price has to be right too. AE sharkskin Warton’s thread that needle. I grabbed these for $72 shipped today. Pretty...pretty...pretty good... @eTrojan wore his black pair the other day, stoking my desire for a pair of my own. Spousal customs will likely have something to say about these, but I can get them through.

 

[Raimar]

NOS Gold Bond Casuals. A bit narrow at 8 1/2 B but leather is soft.

 

[friendlygoz]

First time out with my new (to me) J&M shell saddles. I grabbed these off of @davidVC ’s list. The previous owner was sloppy with the edge dressing. Are used alcohol to try to get off the excess. What I discovered is that there was a stubborn coat of acrylic on top of the shell. I rubbed it off completely. The shell soaked up conditioner - Bick 4 and Collonil- much better after that, and I think the patina looks a lot better for it.

 

[suitforcourt]

Did we set up a Shoe Challenge for 2020?

I wonder if we could set this up to benefit a Charity? What I mean is have everyone who wants to participate pay a $10 fee and we donate that to some charity we pick?

OR, would that discourage participation? I know it takes a lot of time and work to revive some of these thrift finds andmaybe having to pay to enter would stop some folks?

just A thought.

Separate question: does neutral Cordovan cream work as well as the tinted varieties? I have a pair of Shell loafers in an unusual color and burgundy or brown would be way too dark.

Anyone ever tried to strip the finish off a black pair of shoes? I have some old black LWB that aren’t my size that might make a fun project.

I will set one up in February. Any ideas are welcome and will receive full consideration.

 

[suitforcourt]

Hartt PTBs in prairie oxhide. Wore matching black pair yesterday.

Rubber overshoes left some nice black marks.