Shoe Damage Report & Shoe P0rn Central - Part II

patrickBOOTH · May 13, 2010

Originally Posted by Wes Bourne

Alright, here's what I do with a new pair:

1- 1 coat of Lexol conditioner, allow to dry.
2- 1 coat of Sno Seal, a bit of heat from a hair dryer, moving briskly. Allow to dry.
3- 1 coat of coloured cream, applied with old cotton t-shirt, but never brushed (my cobbler/Saphir distributor told me this)
4- 1 light coat of coloured wax, applied with old cotton t-shirt, then brushed in with horsehair brush. You may add a second, even third application if you wish, but I usually don't bother.
Then on to the actual mirror shine
5- 1 light coat of wax polish applied with old cotton t-shirt (wrapped around fingers) on the caps and rear quarters only.
6- bowl of cool tap water (no Dom or secret mixture required); drop 1 or 2 droplets on the area to be mirrored.
7- get a bit of wax on the tip of the cotton strip wrapped around your fingers and work the wax in small circles on/close to the area where you dropped a bit of water. Decrease pressure applied as you go along. At first, you should feel a lot of friction from the wax on the t-shirt rubbing onto the wax on the shoe. This is gradually replaced by a smooth feel as the wax gets worked into the pores and you decrease pressure.
8- you will have to keep alternating between dabbing a bit of wax on the shoe, adding 1-2 droplets of water and working that wax in.
9- final touch: quick allover buff with a clean old nylon stocking. This really brings out the shine like nothing else; I'd recommend you try this after brushing the wax in for those who don't mirror shine. Apparently an old necktie works too.

There are a bunch of helpful vids on Youtube; search for bulling, mirror shine, etc. I don't suggest trying anything that involves applying wax onto your shoes and lighting them on fire...

@ Ich_Dien: I thought bulling was considered 'smart' and all you blokes were taught how to do so as kids.

I guess all of this depends on what kind of finish is already on the shoe, for example if I have a pair of shoes that already has some sort of shine from my normal routine will I need to deglaze and sort of build a whole new finish, or will starting fresh with what you have written here work from the get go?

Lear · May 13, 2010

Wes Bourne, nice bulling on those lovely shoes. There's a bloke on dresswithstyle, who shines until he can read the reflected time from his watch. Some can even surpass that; the mirror being taken to a whole new level!

Lear

srivats · May 13, 2010

Originally Posted by Wes Bourne

Here ya go Sri (I had to get the built up wax out of the medallion with a toothpick)

:

<snip>

Looks great, Wes! Thanks for sharing.

Have you considered these Tricker's models?

Newcomer · May 13, 2010

Wes, thanks a lot for that guide--I will let you know how my attempts go!

Wes Bourne · May 13, 2010

Originally Posted by patrickBOOTH

I guess all of this depends on what kind of finish is already on the shoe, for example if I have a pair of shoes that already has some sort of shine from my normal routine will I need to deglaze and sort of build a whole new finish, or will starting fresh with what you have written here work from the get go?

Imo, either way should work. If you do my whole procedure, you're basically doing a reg. polish (building up an allover shine/base coat, then adding the bulling. If you already have a good allover shine on your shoes, no use deglazing and starting over. Just lightly brush them to remove any surface dirt and skip ahead to the mirror shine instructions.

Originally Posted by Lear

Wes Bourne, nice bulling on those lovely shoes. There's a bloke on dresswithstyle, who shines until he can read the reflected time from his watch. Some can even surpass that; the mirror being taken to a whole new level!

Lear

I saw that vid post. Dood is French. Nuff said.

Originally Posted by srivats

Looks great, Wes! Thanks for sharing.

Have you considered these Tricker's models?

Adelaide...

Originally Posted by Newcomer

Wes, thanks a lot for that guide--I will let you know how my attempts go!

Btw, there's an EG trunk show going on at l'Uomo in Montreal today/right now. Word on the street is that the EG rep. in attendance was in awe at the shine on one of our resident tailors' shoes. Might have even offered him a job as EG's shoeshine man!

srivats · May 13, 2010

Originally Posted by Wes Bourne

Adelaide...

Channeled soles too ... I am so tempted with the kensington.

jefferyd · May 13, 2010

Only being delivered in September.......

viv2geo · May 13, 2010

Originally Posted by viv2geo

I especially love the Burgundy colour that Paolo managed to attain, not to mention the excellent workmanship and beautiful finish.

Originally Posted by viv2geo

Burgundy - Model Pirandello

Originally Posted by meister

That is one of the nicest burgundy based colours I have ever seen....so complex is the mixture of tones...meraviglioso!

Originally Posted by ljrcustom

beautiful shoes! -LR

Originally Posted by TheWraith

They are indeed. Exquisite

Thanks for the compliments. Full credit to Paolo. I had some problem capturing the colour of the Burgundy shoes, in all photos they seemed darker than usual. Guess taking photos with a mobile phone camera doesn't help. Anyhow, as can be seen in the picture, I overcame the issue by taking a shot against a blue background. It really brings out the richness in the colour. Getting a cream/polish which matches the colour (Burgundy) is going to be quite difficult. I guess I stick to neutral polish so that the original colour doesn't change over a long period of time? Your suggestions in this regard would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance. viv2geo

cptjeff · May 13, 2010

For anything other then black I stick to neutral.

jsqfunk · May 13, 2010

Originally Posted by jefferyd

Only being delivered in September.......

what kind of EG shoes are those?

Michael Ay329 · May 13, 2010

Originally Posted by jsqfunk

what kind of EG shoes are those?

Wing tip adelaide oxfords...the adelaide name stems directly from the brogueing design along the throat

Unless Jeffryd opts to disclose more, its just a model they have been making for years

bengal-stripe · May 14, 2010

Originally Posted by Michael Ay329

Unless Jeffryd opts to disclose more, its just a model they have been making for years

Not quite! - EG doesn't have a wing tipped "˜Adelaide' in their collection.

In this case, judging by the photograph, the Adelaide throat 'window' is real and set-in, but the wing-tip is faux, It is not a separate layer laid-over, just a shaped row of punching and stitching within an undivided vamp (forepart).

Rather like the "˜Walcot' (also a relatively recent design) with an additional wingtip

(there might be other differences in the heel, which I cannot see).

There is a problem with classic shoe design (like with classic-anything), the parameters are rather narrowly defined. You can only shift the existing components around slightly and (possibly) change the proportions a bit.

If you do too much, you end up in "˜fashion' territory.

jefferyd · May 14, 2010

Originally Posted by jsqfunk

what kind of EG shoes are those?
Saw them at the trunk show. It's a special edition for their 120th anniversary- an updated version of a classic something-or-other (that's where they lost me- I was just staring at the things thinking lusty thoughts) available by special order only (at least here) and delivering in September. Called the Brummel.

jsqfunk · May 14, 2010

thanks

jefferyd · May 14, 2010

Hopefully these will tide me over until the Brummel comes.....

Shoe Damage Report & Shoe P0rn Central - Part II

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