Shoe Shining Disorder. What Have I Done!

[StillShaving]

I remember a few gentlemen inquiring about shoe shine boxes. If you are interested in building your own you might enjoy a series of instructional videos from Steve Ramsey. He started this project in order to help his friend Antonio Centeno of Real Men Real Style and has lots of shoes to shine . They decided on the style of box and then Steve built a prototype, so that a novice woodworker like could Antonio could follow along and build his own. Maybe you will be motivated to build one yourself.

I did not see a playlist and I did not try to link all the videos, but here is the video where he kicked off the project:

And the most recent video where he finished the project.

 

[johnniegold]

Rainy day activities....

Oh what the heck... let’s go for two.

 

[johnniegold]

Heck... one more.

 

[johnniegold]

During the pandemic, my sneakers have been getting more use then my shoes. Although Aldens stay in their shoe bags, other shoes gather dust and the leather is just begging for a little nourishment.

The Alden LHS got a nice deer bone smoothing and then the Renovateur and some polish. Color 8 all day long

NEXT:

These 20+ yr. old J&M from their (discontinued for quite some time now) Domani Colection, had a nice dusting covering them way in the back of my closet.

They were brushed off and were polished with a neutral Saphir 1925 creme. The soles also received the Sole Guard oil as they seemed somewhat dried out.

Maybe I’ll even wear these shoes one day.

That’s enough shoe-shining. I think I’ll go and roast some red peppers.

 

[johnniegold]

Just in case you thought I was kidding about the roasted peppers...

Put the oven on broil and place the rack at the top level. (Use non-stick foil. You’ll thank me later). Broil the peppers about 10 minutes per side or until the skin has charred

After you remove them from the oven, cover them with a towel and let it sit until they have cooled off. At least an hour, if not more.

While the peppers are cooling down....

Shine a pair of shoes (... hey, remember why you came here in the first place. )

Next:

Peel the skin off the peppers. The skin should peel right off.

Next:

I place folded towel underneath the cookie sheet in order to tilt it so all the juice from the peppers flows to one side. You weren’t gonna throw out all that flavor, were you?

NEXT:

I layer all the filets into a Tupperware, sprinkling sea salt on every other layer and pour all that juice into the Tupperware

NEXT:

Add some fresh garlic and a few splashed of balsamic vinegar.

MIX IT ALL UP....

And there ya go. Place it in the fridge and find a nice loaf of Italian bread and enjoy.

 

[johnniegold]

Back on track..

Really worked the vamp on these 20+ year old J&Ms. These shoes were part of the Crown Aristocraft line offered by J&M may be discontinued

These shoes have prompted me to order a bottle of the Saphir Renomat.

I noticed how much color would come up after applying the Renovateur and a Saphir neutral creme polish.

I think the leather on these shoes, based upon their look and feel, is corrected leather as described in this article.

Caring for Bookbinder/Corrected Grain Leather | vcleat

vcleat.com

I’m curious to see how these shoes will look after being (mildly) stripped down with the Renomat (which I have never used).

 

[johnniegold]

Follow-up: After reading the comments to the article attached in my previous post it became apparent that the acrylic-infused coated corrected leather is impervious to leather conditioners (glad I wasted all that conditioner on these shoes ) and that applying Renomat could actually ruin these shoes.

Oh well. I have several other shoes that could use a Renomat treatment after years of wax buildup so I will give it go on a different pair.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Haven't shined much shoes in the last 9 months or so. Being home most of the time, I mainly wear my Birkenstocks around the house, and when going out for shopping or so, I slip in my Sketchers...
The only pair of footwear that got regular cleaning and shining are my riding boots.....

 

[Doc4]

I now have shoes that smell of roast peppers, and chunks of deer bone in my bruschetta.

I may have misunderstood.

 

[NoScrubs]

WHAT HAVE I DONE!

[/URL]

You see, it all started when I watched this video about bulling shoes...

[/URL]

​

It seemed like a good thing to do and gave your shoes a great finish on the captoe. So I decided I would do some of my shoes. One night, I shined one pair. Another night, another pair.

The wife is starting to .

Another night, another pair. Mrs. Gold tells me that the smell of the shoe polish is giving her a headache.

Another night, another pair. I can't stop. More 's.

My arms are starting to get tired from shining shoes. I need some help. I need a valet. I need a....

Spoiler

SHINE BUTLER!

​

That's right a shine butler. So I go out to my nearest shoe repair joint and get a shine butler. I go into the deep recesses of the unfinished section of my basement and BAM!

2 screws into a 2x4 and my shoe shine stand is in business.

[/URL]


I begin a covert operation and start to bring all the shoe shine accoutrements down into the basement. Brushes, clothes, waxes, polishes, leather conditioners, t-shirts...

BUT WAIT!!! Sssssh. Quiet...

Mrs. Gold: Honey, what are you doing down there?

Johnniegold: Nothing honey. Just killing some spiders.

Mrs. Gold: Oh, well that's good then.

Johnniegold:


Now, to get situated...

[/URL]

[/URL]

And now the work begins...


Bulling a pair of Johnston & Murphy shoes from their now discontinued Estate Collection:

The shoe on left has already been bulled while the one on the right has not.

[/URL]

BEFORE BULLING...

[/URL]


AFTER BULLING...

[/URL]

FINISHED...

[/URL]

[/URL]

[/URL]

So there you have it. The Shine Butler. Honestly, it is a very relaxing process. Throw on some nice jazz records and it is a nice way to get something important done, like polishing a pair of shoes.


Mrs Gold: Are you still killing spiders down there?

Johnniegold: Be right up, honey.

She's so cute.

Btw, Henry, if you send me your shoe collection, I promise I will treat them with the utmost care. My shoe shines usually have a turnaround time of 2-3 years.

Military "spit" shine without the water. Basic Training 101.

 

[The Knize]

Follow-up: After reading the comments to the article attached in my previous post it became apparent that the acrylic-infused coated corrected leather is impervious to leather conditioners (glad I wasted all that conditioner on these shoes ) and that applying Renomat could actually ruin these shoes.

Oh well. I have several other shoes that could use a Renomat treatment after years of wax buildup so I will give it go on a different pair.

Yeah, I wondered about that. I read the article and should have said something.

I still am not clear about "bookbinder" finishes. One of my mentors dressed really well and expensively in an old school kind of way. He really knew what he was doing when it came to clothes. His family had had many for real tailors in it going back. He generally wore McAfee brand shoes, going so far as to travel to Manhattan to buy them, when they were being specially imported before Church bought the brand. This was a long time ago. (I think he actually tended to wear he same single strap monk style the internet tells me Alan McAfee wore.) No telling just how much he paid for them, but a lot.

As I recall, he favored a bookbinder finish and paid extra to get that finish. And he used to get his shoes "professionally" shined frequently. They did look amazing. Incredibly shiny without looking like patent leather or or anything artificial at all.

I myself still own a pair of Church wingtips in a bookbinder finish that I got on sale at the now long closed Washington, DC Church shoe store. I think their price bore a premium because of that finish. Nice shoes, but I do not think Church came close to maintaining the quality of McAfee. The finish on these shoes is not looking the best, although not cracked or anything, and I have never known what if anything could be done about it.

Most on-line discussion of bookbinder finishes is critical and seems to say it was a cheap way to go. I t has been a long time, but I do not think my memory is faulty that some brands got a premium price for that finish.

J&M Aristocrats!! That takes me back, too. I owned at least one pair of that brand and model. I think that was the top of the J&M line. I have no idea whether J&M still has a line called that. If J&M does, I assume it is not up to what it once was. J&M is a sad story drop in quality-wise to me.

 

[johnniegold]

I had purchased two pairs of the Crown Aristocrafts with this type of leather when they were offered in the early 2000’s.

One pair is the one that is pictured above. The other was a captoe in Walnut. As stated in the attached article, these shoes while maintaining a high-gloss finish but short of that patent leather look (or feel) they did crease horribly. The walnut pair, I gave away because I couldn’t look a them anymore and let’s face it, if you don’t enjoy wearing the shoe, it ends up in the closet-abyss. I kept the burgundy pair because I felt the creasing wasn’t as bad (and they looked nice with a navy-blue suit).

Admittedly, these didn’t get the call very often but I didn’t believe that warranted them being discarded. So they continue (albeit infrequently) in the rotation.

@Rudy Vey - Shining shoes has become more of a pandemic hobby rather than out of necessity. These days at the office, I usually wear sneakers or more casual shoes (or boots).

@Doc4 drizzle a little Sole Guard over that bruschetta.

 

[johnniegold]

A pair of burgundy J&M Ski-Moc II pennies gets the business today.

These are circa late-nineties. J&M did a nice beefroll. I think they still offer this shoe.

 

[malocchio]

Anyone know of a European shoe shop that sells shoes like these , with white threads?.... Only Stacy-Adams makes them in the U.S. ,

but sadly they are pure garbage today ..

 

[The Knize]

I kept the burgundy pair because I felt the creasing wasn’t as bad (and they looked nice with a navy-blue suit).

I think that burgundy pair in the photo look great. I love the color. Definitely would look nice with a blue suit. Or, for my taste, with a gray suit, or an olive suit. I do not think the creasing is excessive. It and the color variation add character. The toe caps are completely uncreased it looks like, which is a good look. They just look right to me. Classy derby shoes.

I do not think I like walnut in that high a gloss. And I do not think I would like the same degree of color variation in walnut. Maybe because I perceive walnut as a more modern color and I do not expect walnut shoes to have the same degree of patina.

I agree completely agree about not keeping shoes one does not enjoy wearing. I do not wear those Church shoes that often. But I like them when I do. Those beefroll penny loafers are in nice shape. Great color!

 

[johnniegold]

@The Knize

This article makes mention of Church’s use of bookbinder leather and provides some interesting points about this leather.

Polished Leather Shoes

If you are considering purchasing your first pair of Goodyear welt shoes then you should probably know about polished leather. It is used extensively in the footwear industry and by many higher-end shoemakers, including Church’s, Loake, Allan Edmond, Gucci and Prada. Yet it is a controversial...

trimly.com.au

 

[The Knize]

@The Knize

This article makes mention of Church’s use of bookbinder leather and provides some interesting points about this leather.

Polished Leather Shoes

If you are considering purchasing your first pair of Goodyear welt shoes then you should probably know about polished leather. It is used extensively in the footwear industry and by many higher-end shoemakers, including Church’s, Loake, Allan Edmond, Gucci and Prada. Yet it is a controversial...

trimly.com.au

Good article. The author and at least one of the comments seem to really like Church's "polished" leather, and say it can be conditioned and polished. The burgundy Church wingtips in the photo the author says are 15 yo and are in great shape look a lot like mine, which are much older. Different soles it looks like. The plot thickens.

 

[johnniegold]

Went back to these to bull the captoe and the heel caps. Now they go back into their shoe bags and are at the ready (... whenever that may be ).

 

[dojpros]

Ecco knock around boots.
Tarago Creme Polish

 

[dojpros]

Florsheim Crocs
Conditioned w Bicks #4
Polished with Saphir Neutral