Shoe polish: thoughts, fun facts, questions

[Tobus]

On the subject of mixing wax colours in different layers, I'm seriously considering taking my brown Corcoran jump boots down to the original finish and starting over with a black cream polish first, then layers of brown over it. There's a YouTube video that shows how a black cream polish can really add some visual interest to brown boots. He's trying to make cheap boots look more expensive, and maybe he did, but to me it comes across more like an "antiqued" look, very similar to the leather antiquing products I've used before. In the video, he just did black polish over the brown boot and that was it. I'm wanting to do the black first, then layers of brown for a deep, dark character to the leather.

We had a rainy weekend here, and my wife was at work today, so I took a couple of hours and worked on my boots among other things. I didn't take all the old wax off; I just cleaned them with warm soapy water first. Then I applied a black cream polish, rubbing it in thoroughly to all the nooks and crannies. I probably shouldn't have let it completely dry, because I ended up with some black streaks that wouldn't buff completely out. We'll call it "character". But I opted for cream polish because I wanted to work it into the stitching to turn it nice and black, without having a lot of wax to scrub out. Then I put a couple of layers of brown Kiwi paste wax over it, brushed it vigorously, and re-bulled the toes and heels. I also took the opportunity to rub some mink oil into the laces, which they sorely needed, as they were starting to become stiff.

Thanks for the pointers on this, Blaidd. I do like the deeper colour that it turned out, with more of the oxblood look. You can see below on the inside of the boot (at the top) what the original colour was, compared to the darker finish on the outside that it has now.

After brushing, but before bulling toes/heels:



After bulling: