Which color polish with oxblood leather?

I just received a pair of Vass shoes in oxblood and am wondering which color of cream and wax to use on them. I use Saphir products on my other shoes but don't know if they have anything close to oxblood.

If I stay with Saphir, should I use dark brown cream and wax? Or would anyone recommend something in a different color and/or brand?

Originally Posted by Montesquieu

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I just received a pair of Vass shoes in oxblood and am wondering which color of cream and wax to use on them. I use Saphir products on my other shoes but don't know if they have anything close to oxblood.

If I stay with Saphir, should I use dark brown cream and wax? Or would anyone recommend something in a different color and/or brand?

Saphir is probably the best.

IMO red or brown will work. Saphir will provide many other colours:

http://www.valmour.fr/produits-entre...adier-saphir,3

I have the same question and so just bumped this old thread instead of starting a new one. Does anyone who has owned a pair of Vass oxblood for a while have any opinion here?

Don't own Vass but kiwi does oxblood polish.

Thanks. I prefer the saphir stuff, but i will check it out.

Well, oxblood is just a synonym for merlot and burgundy. Its just a reddish brown.

Allen Edmonds and Meltonian supply the color.

I like my oxblood dark and alternate one coat of Saphir black and two coats of mahogani.

well i might be a little more creative than most and mixed equal parts of cream DB, black and bordo together, then i just alternate between black and dark brown wax's when is comes to mirror shining

Originally Posted by Will

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I like my oxblood dark and alternate one coat of Saphir black and two coats of mahogani.


Similarly, Kiwi Oxblood and then Kiwi Black every 3rd/4th polish. I polish cordovan infrequently compared to my calf shoes.

Originally Posted by phxlawstudent

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Well, oxblood is just a synonym for merlot and burgundy. Its just a reddish brown.

Allen Edmonds and Meltonian supply the color.

I use AE Merlot cream.

Originally Posted by Will

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I like my oxblood dark and alternate one coat of Saphir black and two coats of mahogani.

Originally Posted by Champagnelifestylenomoney

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Similarly, Kiwi Oxblood and then Kiwi Black every 3rd/4th polish. I polish cordovan infrequently compared to my calf shoes.

This was the sort of recipe we used to polish our Weejuns in the 1950s and '60s when they were made in Maine and made of real leather. Over time the shoes took on a lovely patina from the black polish. And, of course, we wore them when we walked ten miles to school and back, in the snow, up hill both ways. No socks, naturally.

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luk-cha said:

well i might be a little more creative than most and mixed equal parts of cream DB, black and bordo together, then i just alternate between black and dark brown wax's when is comes to mirror shining

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Apologies for the necro-post, but it's related to another thread I started recently. I did try the Saphir Burg/Bordeaux cream and wax on my Vass loafers, and while it is very nice it didn't produce that "wait-- you mean those aren't black?" reaction that the original ox-blood shoes do. So as a follow-on I used a dark brown wax layer and then black. Perhaps not perfect yet, but it looks better.

Other solutions would include mixing my own blend of Bordeaux/dark brown/black in either the cream or the wax, so I don't have to keep alternating. Somewhere I do still have a can of Kiwi oxblood, so by smearing the various experimental results on white paper to compare I should get something pretty close.

Will's idea of black and mahogani is also intriguing. The latter is a pretty light color but the addition of black could tone it down where it needs to be, with the right mix of red and brown peeking through the gloom.

I use navy polish from Saphir and alternate with chili or mahogany.

Wow. How did you think up that one?