How I shine my shoes

[IRISH]

shining my shoes for a meeting on thursday. i use the same black that i use on my football boots, adidas baranne, made in france. softens, strengthens, shines.

wash lightly with warm water, apply generous coat of baranne while shoes are still damp. allow to soak in for 15 minutes and then buff to a shine with cloth.

also have a 50th anniversary luncheon to attend on sunday; since my meeting is in the empire state building, i'm going to hit big apple shoe on my way out of the building for a good shine. will walk daintily to my car, remove shoes and drive home in stocking feet to preserve shine for sunday...

[jdriskill3]

I start with two coats of black Lincoln Stain Wax for the base coating. Follow with a coat of Kelly's black paste wax polish for a high shine. For the final touch after I have used the brushes to get the excess polish off, I use one of my wife's old knee high nylons to get the final high shine. You don't have to mess around with spit nor water. My combat boots are always shining since I shine them every day after wear. I haven't used Kiwi since I got out of bootcamp in 1968, its not as good as Lincoln Stain Wax which is USMC approved. Everyone has their own methods for shining shoes and boots and this is my way.

[Chas]

Tesco (the largest supermarket chain in the UK) had these little leaflets.

Front:



And back:



As soon as I saw the leaflet, I thought of this thread.

Regards

Chas

[thescot]

One point: never use a brush of any kind on the shined part of the shoe. Tooth brushes are only to be used in the stitching at the soles to get the polish down into them, and liquid polish can only be used on the flat expesed parts of the soles. I use a liquid dye on them over plenty of newspaper.

Xena's method is best, only I always used a soft cotton handkerchief since it never smears or leaves any kind of scratch. This takes time, and it sounds like a big deal, but the idea is to slowly build up the polish until you are polishing polish, not leather. Then it takes only a few minutes to put a good "spit polish" shine back on the shoes when they get a little dull. (Again: don't use saliva! only water in the lid.)

In the Corsps, we were issued barracks cover frames (the kind of the brim in the front like a traditional cop's hat), and it was pebble-grained leather. When you see a Marine with a really shiny visor on his white cover, know that the high shine is all polish which filled in the pebble-grains until it looks like patent leather! Now that takes a while.

And be sure to walk around in your shoes some while you're building up polish. If you don't, you run the risk of cracking the polished shine and ruining your work when you bend the leather at the toes.

Happy shining. Nothing looks better on a gentleman than well shined shoes.

P.S. I only go to all that trouble for evening wear, too. For day wear, it doesn't matter so much.

[piperdbh]

So, how do you shine patent leather shoes? Same as regular leather?

[The Wizard of BC]

Another old trick used by Uncle Sam's Misguided Children (or the US Marine Corps for those who just can't hack it) is to stick your shoes in the freezer for two hours just before you do the final polish.
This hardens the polish just enough to take a really smooth finish. You should be able to read the print of a newspaper in the side of your shoe when held 4" away.

And always use shoe horns.

Semper Fi