What is this?

[Leaveitothexperts]

So I tried my first attempt at polishing and it went pretty well, imho at least. But I noticed that on one of the shoes there seems to be a spot which seems "bleached", I suspect it is the dye that has come off . . . .

Does anyone know what this is? What do I do to restore it?

 

[VMan]

This happened while you were polishing?

Never have experienced this before. Is it possible some kind of solvent dripped onto the toe?

 

[Leaveitothexperts]

Originally Posted by VMan

This happened while you were polishing?

Never have experienced this before. Is it possible some kind of solvent dripped onto the toe?

I think/suppose so; it was not there before. Nothing other than the regular shoe shine products were near the shoe, although I did seem to recall some guy pouring some beer onto my shoes, though I had wiped it off immediately. Could this be it, although I hadn't seent that spot before polishing?

This is what I did to polish . . .

I wiped the shoes down with a damp cloth. Then worked in Kiwi shoe lotion and let the shoes dry near an open window (it is was pretty cold outside) for about 15mins. Put on some kiwi wax polish, thin layer, letting it haze over and put the shoe near the window for about 10 min. Started to work on the shoe with water/wax polish. Several thin layers. Did get a good, really glassy, non greasy shine, but don't know what happened to that spot.

 

[Joel_Cairo]

Originally Posted by Leaveitothexperts

I did seem to recall some guy pouring some beer onto my shoes,

you need to learn to fight better.

 

[Leaveitothexperts]

Originally Posted by Joel_Cairo

you need to learn to fight better.

it was at a party and he was too drunk for me to fight him.

 

[Leaveitothexperts]

I forgot to mention that although the spot looks like it has a different texture, it doesn't; I ran my finger over it and the whole toe area has the same texture . . .

 

[hossoso]

Same thing happened to me last December when polishing a pair of Ferragamos with the polish/damp cloth/polish method. My spot was not so light and was on the outer heal of the shoe. It also never got as smooth as the rest of the shoe. The spot vanished with subsequent polishings, much to my relief. They are some of my favorite "go to" shoes and, although they are just the mid-range SF shoes, I would have hated to damage them as such. Unfortunately, I have no idea how I caused the problem. I polished the rest of both shoes the same way, with the same amounts of polish and water and the problem only manifested in a nickel sized spot on heel of the left shoe.

 

[hossoso]

Originally Posted by Leaveitothexperts

I forgot to mention that although the spot looks like it has a different texture, it doesn't; I ran my finger over it and the whole toe area has the same texture . . .

You posted this while I was writing, my mystery spot had a decidely different texture in comparison to the rest of the shoe in question and the mate that underwent the same treatment. I would be interested to hear if anyone else has ever encountered shoe-shining incongruencies or deviations from the norm.

 

[Leaveitothexperts]

Originally Posted by hossoso

Same thing happened to me last December when polishing a pair of Ferragamos with the polish/damp cloth/polish method. My spot was not so light and was on the outer heal of the shoe. It also never got as smooth as the rest of the shoe. The spot vanished with subsequent polishings, much to my relief. They are some of my favorite "go to" shoes and, although they are just the mid-range SF shoes, I would have hated to damage them as such. Unfortunately, I have no idea how I caused the problem. I polished the rest of both shoes the same way, with the same amounts of polish and water and the problem only manifested in a nickel sized spot on heel of the left shoe.

Seems like the same issue. Did you polish subsequently the same way? Were you using only wax or cream and then wax?

 

[Leaveitothexperts]

Originally Posted by hossoso

Same thing happened to me last December when polishing a pair of Ferragamos with the polish/damp cloth/polish method. My spot was not so light and was on the outer heal of the shoe. It also never got as smooth as the rest of the shoe. The spot vanished with subsequent polishings, much to my relief. They are some of my favorite "go to" shoes and, although they are just the mid-range SF shoes, I would have hated to damage them as such. Unfortunately, I have no idea how I caused the problem. I polished the rest of both shoes the same way, with the same amounts of polish and water and the problem only manifested in a nickel sized spot on heel of the left shoe.

Just adding, this spot is about the size of a quarter.

 

[hossoso]

Originally Posted by Leaveitothexperts

Seems like the same issue. Did you polish subsequently the same way? Were you using only wax or cream and then wax?

I have not used the same method on them again. I obviously screwed up somehow, but I don't know what I did. The shoes are not my finest but they are my mainstays and I don't want to ruin them. I was using the wax, little water,wax. Essentially I was trying to follow the "mirror shine" recipe that you will find on the StyleForumWiki, a sticky on this section of SF. There have only been two polishes after the incident because the wet weather here in Seattle has prohibited me from wearing any shoes that I want to keep. Subsequent polishes have been simple Nordstrom brand shoe polish applications/wipe/buff. I am no expert polisher and have only recently (in the last year or so) started doing it myself as I would never get the mirror shine that I see featured in pictures here from the polishers at Nordstrom.

edit: to be entirely honest, I don't think I can help you. I made a similar mistake that sounds worse than yours, the discoloration wasn't as severe but the texture was and i thought I had really damaged the leather. Luckily, I am quite sure that you will be able to remedy the spot on your shoe quickly and easily. I hope someone will provide you with great advice and I hope I can learn from it!

 

[Leaveitothexperts]

Does anyone have recommendations for what I can do to restore it?

 

[Leaveitothexperts]

Originally Posted by hossoso

edit: to be entirely honest, I don't think I can help you. I made a similar mistake that sounds worse than yours, the discoloration wasn't as severe but the texture was and i thought I had really damaged the leather. Luckily, I am quite sure that you will be able to remedy the spot on your shoe quickly and easily. I hope someone will provide you with great advice and I hope I can learn from it!

+1. Hoping that some of the shoe mavens can post something here. My understanidng is that most guys do their own polishing and if the polishing technique has been stickied (same method I used, excepting the shoe cream) then a lot of people are using it.

 

[scnupe7]

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago with a pair of EGs. I too was using wax and water to achieve a mirror shine. I assumed that I applied too much pressure and removed the finish while doing so.

 

[Leaveitothexperts]

Originally Posted by scnupe7

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago with a pair of EGs. I too was using wax and water to achieve a mirror shine. I assumed that I applied too much pressure and removed the finish while doing so.

EGs? That must be painful. So did it go away with subsequent polishing? If so, what did you do?

I was applying the same pressure everywhere and of course tappering the pressure each subsequent coat. Need . . . to . . . know . . . what . . . I . . . could . . . have . . . done . . . wrong . . .