Crockett & Jones Handgrade Dry Leather - Faulty or Not? Help!

Sorry, but as Will and others have said above, this is not a problem with dry leather.
The prob is that you are using too much polish. Period. Not dryness, not cracking.
Use less polish. The shoes are great. Incidentally, the leather on my C&J handgrades is just beautiful. very very fine crazing all over, and the richness of the brown (in hte Weymouths) is stunning. I love it

Thanks for your thoughts. Will try using less cream/polish next time.

Originally Posted by aon

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Thanks for your thoughts. Will try using less cream/polish next time.

I beg to differ with Pliny. Of course one can use too much polish and that shows itself in residual wax in the creases and with age and time crazing over the surface of the shoe.

But you have neither of these problems from what I can tell from your pics. Your Cliffords reveal a kind of deep and broad creasing in the leather itself which comes from "boardy" and lower grade leather.

Please consider returning them to Pediwear and see what they or C&J say.

Originally Posted by Leather man

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Your Cliffords reveal a kind of deep and broad creasing in the leather itself which comes from "boardy" and lower grade leather.

Please consider returning them to Pediwear and see what they or C&J say.

Thanks Leather man! I will return the Cliffords to Pediwear and let you all know what they and C&J say. Will tell them what you told me about the leather and hope they solve the problem.

The Cliffords creasing is very deep and broad. After two months they look pretty ugly compared to my one year old Audleys, which look almost new, or five year old cheap Hugo Boss boots worn far more.

aon: Your shoes creases look normal, as Leather man said. They weren't dry, I just made it look worse thinking so and over polishing.

Btw how does the Carminas in your avatar compare to C&J HG? Ugly creasing?!

Originally Posted by Pliny

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Sorry, but as Will and others have said above, this is not a problem with dry leather.
The prob is that you are using too much polish. Period. Not dryness, not cracking.
Use less polish. The shoes are great. Incidentally, the leather on my C&J handgrades is just beautiful. very very fine crazing all over, and the richness of the brown (in hte Weymouths) is stunning. I love it

Pliny I don't exactly know why, but I feel you are just wrong. I mean fundamentally wrong, not just wrong about this thread, your current Cheaneys thread, etc.

There is something wrong with you.I can't quite put my finger on it- but it is real

This is not a personal attack, for all I know you may well be a great husband, father, wife, mother, he-she, whatever.

But in so far as this forum goes- you are always wrong-

Weird!

The leather on my carminas seems to be better than the only c&j handgrades that I have.

Originally Posted by aon

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I have a pair of c&j weymouth with ugly creasing. Is the leather on this pair also dry? Or have I been applying too much cream? I use this at most once a week and polish this maybe twice a month. Any thoughts? Thanks.
That means you polish every wear or two. I think that's too much. When we first get a new pair of nice shoes, we want to enjoy them as much as possible and care for them as well as possible. And that often leads to over-polishing. Of course, some say it's best to polish new shoes a few times before a first wearing. I think cream every three to five wears is good. Polish imho is best reserved for rare occasions when you want them to look particularly shiny, and then only on the toes and maybe the heels. Too much polish, particularly where the toes flex, will definitely lead to flaking. And imo, and others' too iirc, the better quality the calfskin the less less cream and polish it will require. For shoes that are really dry, I'd apply Renovateur, Lexol, or even good hand lotion (the folks at Glaser designs recommend Nivea), put the shoe in a plastic bag, leave them in there overnight so the oils can be absorbed deeply into the leather, and then buff with a fairly soft cloth (like an old t-shirt).

Originally Posted by emptym

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That means you polish every wear or two. I think that's too much. When we first get a new pair of nice shoes, we want to enjoy them as much as possible and care for them as well as possible. And that often leads to over-polishing. Of course, some say it's best to polish new shoes a few times before a first wearing.

I think cream every three to five wears is good. Polish imho is best reserved for rare occasions when you want them to look particularly shiny, and then only on the toes and maybe the heels. Too much polish, particularly where the toes flex, will definitely lead to flaking. And imo, and others' too iirc, the better quality the calfskin the less less cream and polish it will require.

For shoes that are really dry, I'd apply Renovateur, Lexol, or even good hand lotion (the folks at Glaser designs recommend Nivea), put the shoe in a plastic bag, leave them in there overnight so the oils can be absorbed deeply into the leather, and then buff with a fairly soft cloth (like an old t-shirt).

Yes, I apply cream on my shoes every wear or two. I use polish. Nevertheless, I think I am overdoing it. I'll try your lotion advice on a pair of cheaneys that seems really dry because of the very tiny cracks on the surface of the leather. This happened after the first time I wore it. I did not apply cream or polish before using it for the first time.

Originally Posted by countbaron

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Pliny I don't exactly know why, but I feel you are just wrong. I mean fundamentally wrong, not just wrong about this thread, your current Cheaneys thread, etc.

There is something wrong with you.I can't quite put my finger on it- but it is real

This is not a personal attack, for all I know you may well be a great husband, father, wife, mother, he-she, whatever.

But in so far as this forum goes- you are always wrong-

Weird!

prob just cultural differences.
I may have been too forthright in my post above - didn't mean to offend you or OP. I have seen the 'too much polish' prob before tho and mistakenly thought it was cracking.
these Weymouths are 2 - 3 yrs old:





,
the wrinkling u can see in bott pic are character lines, part of the charm.
I use Saphir - mebe helps

Calf creases. Wear your shoes, peeps, and don't be crazy about them. The shoes you see in the shooporn threads are pristine because they've never been worn. There is some natural variability in leather quality, of course, but also issues of fit, foot shape, walking habits and the like. If you don't want microcreases, wear shell.

Originally Posted by grimslade

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Calf creases. Wear your shoes, peeps, and don't be crazy about them. The shoes you see in the shooporn threads are pristine because they've never been worn. There is some natural variability in leather quality, of course, but also issues of fit, foot shape, walking habits and the like. If you don't want microcreases, wear shell.

In general I agree with this comment and the creasing on the above Weymouths is normal and adds to the character of this beautiful shoe.

I returned the shoes to Pediwear who sent them back to the Crockett and Jones factory. I'm dissapointed in C&J who after two months(!) came to the conclusion that they feel the creasing is caused by normal wear. Do they intend to offer the same customer service as EG?!
Does anyone have an idea how often this occurs? I find the handgrade shoes normally very nice.

Pediwear did however very generously offer a refund. The costumer service of Pediwear really impressed me! They are offering great prices, good advice and excellent customer service. I will defenitely buy from them again! Maybe I will even considering a few more pairs of C&J... who knows!

I think Pediwear should start selling Carminas, especially sonsidering C&J's lack of stock.



Melvin Udall said:

I returned the shoes to Pediwear who sent them back to the Crockett and Jones factory. I'm dissapointed in C&J who after two months(!) came to the conclusion that they feel the creasing is caused by normal wear. Do they intend to offer the same customer service as EG?!
Does anyone have an idea how often this occurs? I find the handgrade shoes normally very nice.

Pediwear did however very generously offer a refund. The costumer service of Pediwear really impressed me! They are offering great prices, good advice and excellent customer service. I will defenitely buy from them again! Maybe I will even considering a few more pairs of C&J... who knows!

I think Pediwear should start selling Carminas, especially sonsidering C&J's lack of stock.

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+1 for Carminas...-1 to C&J quality control.