Perfect shoes!
Good point on leaving shoe trees in. Gives a good thing to push against when rubbing in polish.
How do YOU hold your shoes while polishing?
- Thread starter Badger Bill
- Start date
Perfect shoes!
Good point on leaving shoe trees in. Gives a good thing to push against when rubbing in polish.
Shine Butlers are the only way to go....You can find NOS Butlers online frequently...
Hand in shoe, polish with dominant hand.
Yep. With a towel/rag on my thigh as mentioned also.
Laces out, tongue polished as well for a brush shine or spit shine a section at a time. *Spit not actually required, but you learn to moderate the amount of liquid going onto the section easier with spit. Finishing up that section may just take the humidity from your breath on it. If water is being used, softer is better than hard
Even today, if I’m going to polish my shoes, they get the high gross, deep shine treatment from a spit shine.
+1!! And LOTH gives them right back along with some of her shoes!!
You must be doing something wrong mate!
Same, but on workbench, not lap.
I also have spit shining since I was teenager. The unit I was in while in the Army prided itself on spit shined boots. Brush shined boots were frowned upon and discouraged, unless in the field.
My process is a little different than those stated above. First off, I find spit more effective than water. It seems slicker to me. I wrap a doubled up t-shirt rag around my left index and middle fingers, and secure the rag by wrapping it around my hand and holding the end with my thumb. I then spit on the polish, and begin swirling my two rag wrapped fingers round and round the tin of polish, allowing it to saturate the contact of area of the rag while building up heat and a nice layer of polish on the rag. I then move to the shoe and, working in small areas I use the same, albeit smaller, circular motion to transfer the polish to the shoe and work the polish into the leather. You can spit on the shoe during the process of working the polish in but I will usually instead go back to the tin for more polish two or three times in each area, if not more. Doing this you will begin to produce quite a nice shine, even before buffing. I will usually go around the entire shoe with a layer or two of polish (right hand in shoe, by the way; left hand staying in more or less in the same place while the right hand rotates the shoe to expose the desired area to the rag.) When I am satisfied that I have worked the polish into the leather sufficiently and have built up a nice layer for buffing, I will continue polishing with the circular motion until the shine starts to break through. Then I will spit on the shoe and continue to polish until the entire surface of the shoe has a uniform appearance, with maybe only the faintest of swirl marks. Then I will take a clean t-shirt rag and lightly buff. Cloth diapers are superior to t-shirts for this entire process, but I happen to have more t-shirts laying around.
This shine will ordinarily last me an entire work week, with the occasional touch up and if I am careful. Doing this week after week, I find that shoes will repel water, become easier to clean and quicker to take a shine.
Sometimes when I buy a new tin of Kiwi I can't resist opening it and using it before the old tin is used up. If neglected long enough it will begin to dry out and break up into pieces. When I have collected a few of these I will combine them into one tin, set the wax on fire and let melt into one puck, if you will. It will soon begin to smoke horribly and can get out of hand quickly so care must be taken.
When I finished my Army basic training, I moved on to my Military Occupational Specialty training and later some other specialized training. During this time we would wear one pair of our issued boots daily and the other pair was preserved as "inspection " boots. (We couldn't do this during Basic because our boots were marked and we were required to rotate them out ever day so they would get broken in properly. ) I've seen guys load their boots up with Kiwi and set them on fire. I guess the principle was the same. Soften the polish and work it into the leather. Just a faster way, like shaving with an electric razor.
My apologies for going on so long. I'm required to wear highly shined shoes daily, and I guess I got carried away with addressing a subject on this forum that I know a little something about for a change.
My process is a little different than those stated above. First off, I find spit more effective than water. It seems slicker to me. I wrap a doubled up t-shirt rag around my left index and middle fingers, and secure the rag by wrapping it around my hand and holding the end with my thumb. I then spit on the polish, and begin swirling my two rag wrapped fingers round and round the tin of polish, allowing it to saturate the contact of area of the rag while building up heat and a nice layer of polish on the rag. I then move to the shoe and, working in small areas I use the same, albeit smaller, circular motion to transfer the polish to the shoe and work the polish into the leather. You can spit on the shoe during the process of working the polish in but I will usually instead go back to the tin for more polish two or three times in each area, if not more. Doing this you will begin to produce quite a nice shine, even before buffing. I will usually go around the entire shoe with a layer or two of polish (right hand in shoe, by the way; left hand staying in more or less in the same place while the right hand rotates the shoe to expose the desired area to the rag.) When I am satisfied that I have worked the polish into the leather sufficiently and have built up a nice layer for buffing, I will continue polishing with the circular motion until the shine starts to break through. Then I will spit on the shoe and continue to polish until the entire surface of the shoe has a uniform appearance, with maybe only the faintest of swirl marks. Then I will take a clean t-shirt rag and lightly buff. Cloth diapers are superior to t-shirts for this entire process, but I happen to have more t-shirts laying around.
This shine will ordinarily last me an entire work week, with the occasional touch up and if I am careful. Doing this week after week, I find that shoes will repel water, become easier to clean and quicker to take a shine.
Sometimes when I buy a new tin of Kiwi I can't resist opening it and using it before the old tin is used up. If neglected long enough it will begin to dry out and break up into pieces. When I have collected a few of these I will combine them into one tin, set the wax on fire and let melt into one puck, if you will. It will soon begin to smoke horribly and can get out of hand quickly so care must be taken.
When I finished my Army basic training, I moved on to my Military Occupational Specialty training and later some other specialized training. During this time we would wear one pair of our issued boots daily and the other pair was preserved as "inspection " boots. (We couldn't do this during Basic because our boots were marked and we were required to rotate them out ever day so they would get broken in properly. ) I've seen guys load their boots up with Kiwi and set them on fire. I guess the principle was the same. Soften the polish and work it into the leather. Just a faster way, like shaving with an electric razor.
My apologies for going on so long. I'm required to wear highly shined shoes daily, and I guess I got carried away with addressing a subject on this forum that I know a little something about for a change.
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If you have a long enough polish rag, you can do the 2 finger thing, twist the tail for tension, and then wrap it around your wrist and tucked on itself. No thumb fatigue to worry about.
Back when, we didn’t use Kiwi, but Lincoln Wax. It’s a better product. Now I use Safir, which is the best I’ve seen for a high gloss, spit shined finish.
To double down on what Norton said, if you spend the time to build a really solid shine, they can be almost no maintenance. I parked a pair of boots in covers for 10 yrs before I broke them back out. A quick brush off buff was all they needed when I put them back on.
Back when, we didn’t use Kiwi, but Lincoln Wax. It’s a better product. Now I use Safir, which is the best I’ve seen for a high gloss, spit shined finish.
To double down on what Norton said, if you spend the time to build a really solid shine, they can be almost no maintenance. I parked a pair of boots in covers for 10 yrs before I broke them back out. A quick brush off buff was all they needed when I put them back on.
- Thread starter
- #30
Loving all the info - thanks guys. I found a shoe butler for sale at a big flea market this weekend... I can't wait to give it a try! Just need to find a sturdy place to install it... don't want to be chunking out any drywall if you know what I mean....
That's good to know KW, I'll look for those products.
Saphir is the best I have used. I have not seen it in a bricks and mortar store, only online. You are going to want the Medaille D'or 1925, not the regular, version.
Lincoln is good, too, and I have found it in various places.
Lincoln is good, too, and I have found it in various places.
Thank for that information. I have just ordered a tin of both along with some shoe trees. I'm looking forward to trying them.
My dad who was a security guard at Pearl Harbor used to have his kids, me, polish his shoes for him. I used a hand in the shoe technique and polished with other dominant hand!
I've always put them on my hand.
I looked for years for a shine butler, as I remember that my grandfather had one on the wall in his basement. I finally found a vintage NOS one at an antique mall for $20. Will never do it another way now.
- Thread starter
- #37
Oh no.... I think i over paid...... :-(
All good... wasn't too bad. I'm looking forward to using mine!!!!
- Thread starter
- #38
You know what..... this was a mistake. Because now that I have the shoe butler, I am suddenly finding myself in need of several tins from Saphir. :-D
I've seen the shine butlers and they're great, BUT, I wear western boots with 13" shafts. Has anyone seen a contraption like these for western boots?
Gosh, only do a half-@@@ job of shining shoes a couple times a year now. I don disposable rubber gloves. However, sure remember happy boot camp days at Fort Knox.
