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The Tellman and I: A Love Story

sho'nuff

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thanks gentlemen, i used kiwi brown wax polish and cordovan colored cream bought at nordstrom rack.

dab cloth into cream and apply to leather. let dry for 10 minutes. buff with brush. repeat two more times.
let sit dry for about an hour or two.
use tightly wound cloth around index finger and apply wax, do not press hard as the solvent in the wax does tend to make the cream come off.

after 3 minutes, buff with brush.
repeat application this time buff with brush and then use tightly wound cltoh around index to buff quickly and lightly

repeat buff this time with a little water on the index and a little dime shaped thin layer of wax and work the toe and heels. buff with water tiny bit when friction occurs. after 20 minutes of toil, depending on the quality of the leather, the mirror shine will appear.
 

Vintage Gent

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Thanks, fellows, for the story kudos. A couple of questions for the shoe cognoscenti among us:

(1) On what last is the Tellman? To my eyes, they look like the C&J Whitehall, but on the 337 last.

(2) The shoes came with a green felt cloth (with a leather Polo patch) in addition to the shoe bags. Never having received such a thing with my other shoe purchases, I'm flummoxed. Is this supposed to be some kind of a high end polishing cloth?

Originally Posted by rnoldh
But have you ever tried out the A. Taghi store, across the street. Mostly Italian clothing of course, featuring Brioni, but they will really make great deals, especially if they know you.

Haven't been to A. Taghi. I'll have to give it a whirl sometime. Thanks for the suggestion.
 

Wes Bourne

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Bump for those who had never read VG's story of shoelove at 1st sight...

Originally Posted by Wes Bourne
C&J PRL Tellman
100_3835.jpg

100_3836.jpg


Together at last!
100_3837.jpg


100_3544.jpg

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Originally Posted by Wes Bourne
Then here's my contribution, PRL Tellman in Antique Tan:

100_3119.jpg

100_3120.jpg

100_3121.jpg

100_3123.jpg
 

imatlas

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Great patina developing on the tan pair!
 

SuitingStyle

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good bump, I just wore mine yesterday.... and enjoyed every minute of it, but I think they need shine badly
 

sho'nuff

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Originally Posted by sho'nuff
nice prices on the tellman lee and vintage. mine were 191 total at beverly hills RL.

for some reason the tellman leather is very easy to antique, like most have seen this pic before, i have turned my tellmans into a dark burnished brown.

IMGP0707.jpg


IMGP0709.jpg


dont know why my photos disappeared, but here is the tellman i antiqued that others were oohing about in the earlier page

IMGP0706.jpg
inlove.gif
 

Wes Bourne

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^ shoe, you changed your pair's color from tan to antiqued brown with several layers of cream and wax only (no dyeing) right? Iirc, you mentioned that the finish started to crack afterwards because of this...
 

sho'nuff

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Originally Posted by Wes Bourne
^ shoe, you changed your pair's color from tan to antiqued brown with several layers of cream and wax only (no dyeing) right? Iirc, you mentioned that the finish started to crack afterwards because of this...

that is right. i just basically did sort of a polish job on a crust leather .

it did do a crackly bit on the crease area, but it remained intact at the toe and heel (most important aesthetic features for the polish job)

i kept repolishing the crease area over and over again, and by after the 10th time or so, it did end up a lovely 'patina' visually from 6 feet away.
 

Wes Bourne

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Originally Posted by ilvwhtgrls
Wow great looking pair(s) of shoes... soo much to learn and so little money.

Originally Posted by imatlas
Great patina developing on the tan pair!

Thanks! The pics I posted are in reverse chronological order top to bottom. I've always liked tan shoes because they develop subtle highlights almost as soon as you start polishing them. I don't purposely darken them or apply different color polishes to various areas; I only polish the toes and rear quarters more.

The brown + tan pics (1-3) are from today, the middle ones (4-5) are a few months ago shortly after I had the nailed on taps replaced with sunken ones and the last pics (6-9) were from when I had just gotten them.
 

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