Shoe polish: thoughts, fun facts, questions

[HenryK]

My Tony Lammas' were well taken care of for a number of years ( one of those in Viet Nam) and the cobler after 13 years made me two fine holsters for my pistols from the uppers.

[BorstalBoy]

I whole heartedly agree with the sentiments about polishing shoes being cathartic (might have something to do with that military indoctrination...). Anyway, in my search for some ghillie brogues to wear with my kilt on semi-formal occasions, all the ones I’ve come across are made if corrected grain leather - i.e., leather that has the top layer of hide sanded down to remove blemishes and then is treated with a lacquer or acrylic varnish. These don’t take polish as the pores have been sealed over and moreover, the varnish will crack with use.

Unless anyone is able to point me to a source of full-grain leather ghillie brogues, my plan is to use acetone to remove the varnish after which I will dye the brogues and then polish as usual. I don’t know how this will turn out, but I’ll report on the results. I’ve read about others doing this with mixed results on other forums in regards to generic dress shoes.

[Tobus]

Anyway, in my search for some ghillie brogues to wear with my kilt on semi-formal occasions, all the ones I’ve come across are made if corrected grain leather - i.e., leather that has the top layer of hide sanded down to remove blemishes and then is treated with a lacquer or acrylic varnish.

What about these? Thistle Shoes Luxury Ghillie Brogues

[Steve Ashton]

In my days flying you never used polish on your boots. It is a fire hazard. And your boots for combat conditions were not polished either.

But there were a pair of boots back in the far recesses of the closet with polish for those rare times when they were needed.

Dress shoes were polished, work shoes and boots were not.

[BorstalBoy]

What about these? Thistle Shoes Luxury Ghillie Brogues

It’s hard to say without seeing them in person - I might try ordering a pair if I can find a US retailer, otherwise the return shipping costs to the U.K. are outrageous. I bought a pair of Jamie Alexander ghillie brogues (which I will need return or try to pass along to someone in the US as they are too large) because they looked like they might be a full-grain leather, but alas are not. I want to say other photos I’ve seen of the Thistle brogues made them appear to be corrected grain (in between unpolished full-grain leather and patent leather in terms of glossiness), but again, this is judging off the photos I’ve seen.

I might return the Jamie Alexander brogues and then try to find a pair of the Thistle brogues instead as I could still go ahead with my plan to strip them if they do turn out to be corrected grain...

[Tobus]

In my days flying you never used polish on your boots. It is a fire hazard.

That's a new one on me. I could see how it makes sense, but this is the guy (my father) who I grew up watching polish his flight boots. The three smells that remind me of him are shoe polish, waxed canvas, and that slightly vomit-like aroma of military rubber waterproof coating. I wonder if the shoe polish fire hazard issue was something the Marines practised but not the Air Force?

[BorstalBoy]

In my days flying you never used polish on your boots. It is a fire hazard. And your boots for combat conditions were not polished either.

I can appreciate that - I’ve got the Navy perspective where combat conditions are less of an issue, and given that we have Marine D.I.s, polished everything is a must. For firefighting on the ship, we’ve got separate, galosh-type boots as part of the firefighting ensemble. Flight deck boots have a flame-retardant layer, which I believe aviators wear with flight suits.

[Steve Ashton]

Maybe the Air Force is different. When I was flying, it was illegal to polish boots used on the flightline.

[kilted redleg]

Tobus

I was taught to shine shoes by my dad [WW2 vet and NYPD member] who taught me and my brother the fine art of button
polishing and shield [badge] polishing. In the military I always got compliments on my footwear but, to Nomad's point when
I was in law enforcement I had guys chide me about my shoes. When I pointed out their shoes I would get the reply "I want
people to know that I work for a living." Apparently sloppiness is associated with being able to work.
The best shoe polishing story I've ever seen was on you tube involving a BBC documentary I think it was called Guarding the
Queen. A new solider get assigned to his unit whose turn it is guard her majesty at Buckingham Palace, a corporal sends the newbie
outside with his dress shoes. There stands three sergeants one has like a paint buck full of shoe polish over a sterno fire can he stirring
with a paint brush. Next to him is one with a blow torch, next to him is one with a mountain of rags. As the newbie hands over his shoes
they get painted with polish the next guy blow torches them then hands them to the third guy who wipes them down leaving a mirror
shine and says something to the effect of welcome to the unit son like this every time you guard her majesty understood! I've never
seen that done in my life!

[FossilHunter]

Tobus

I was taught to shine shoes by my dad [WW2 vet and NYPD member] who taught me and my brother the fine art of button
polishing and shield [badge] polishing. In the military I always got compliments on my footwear but, to Nomad's point when
I was in law enforcement I had guys chide me about my shoes. When I pointed out their shoes I would get the reply "I want
people to know that I work for a living." Apparently sloppiness is associated with being able to work.
The best shoe polishing story I've ever seen was on you tube involving a BBC documentary I think it was called Guarding the
Queen. A new solider get assigned to his unit whose turn it is guard her majesty at Buckingham Palace, a corporal sends the newbie
outside with his dress shoes. There stands three sergeants one has like a paint buck full of shoe polish over a sterno fire can he stirring
with a paint brush. Next to him is one with a blow torch, next to him is one with a mountain of rags. As the newbie hands over his shoes
they get painted with polish the next guy blow torches them then hands them to the third guy who wipes them down leaving a mirror
shine and says something to the effect of welcome to the unit son like this every time you guard her majesty understood! I've never
seen that done in my life!

The doc sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out.