Shoes Finish Removal/Restoration?!?

[dojpros]

Warning-bit of a ramble:

Historically, I have been a black or cordovan dress shoe guy almost exclusively with Allen Edmonds as my long time preferred brand.

I decided to buy a pair of medium brown shoes from proof of concept re the color off of ebay. Leather upper, man made the rest, Goodfellow (Target brand) at 25 ish shipped.

They were quite shiny in that spray on shine kind of way such that neither cream (TRG) nor paste (Lincoln) polish did much for them.

Reading about the advisability of occasionally stripping polish off of a shoe, I decided to do that with these as the cost of failure would be relatively low.
Further research indicated that simple rubbing alcohol would work so I used the 70% compound I had at the house. I made two passes with the alcohol

I then "reconditioned" the now "stripped" leather with 2 applications of Bicks # 4.

I then applied two coats of TRG Brown Polish all over and two coats of Lincoln Light Brown to the toe caps.

Take-a-ways
1. Rubbing alcohol works. Perhaps a 90+% solution would work better
2. I could have been more methodical in the stripping such that their are subtle differences in the amount of polish etc stripped over the surface area of both shoes
3. My polish/wax on hand certainly moved the present color of the shoe toward a more brown brown v a tan/red brown.

Any tips/tricks for the next time/next set of shoes are always appreciated.

Pics to follow directly:
1. Original look
2. Stripped
3. Conditioned
4. Restored

 

[blantyre]

They look great! I think that the slight unevenness gives them a hand finished look.

 

[huck1680]

Will look great with a blue suit. They now have character.

 

[ajkel64]

They look great, nice restoration.

 

[johnniegold]

Today’s task:

Stripping down a pair of 15-20 year old J&M Aldrich IIs with the Saphir Renomat that I received a few days ago.

The process was a time-intensive one but I completed it while watching the Giants game.

The shoes were stripped down using the Renomat and then let dry for 15 minutes then the leather was nourished with Renovateur.

After letting the conditioner get into the leather for a few minutes, they were brushed off and then rubbed with a cotton chamois.

Afterwards, an application of Saphir neutral creme was applied and again the shoes were brushed with a horse hair brush and rubbed with a cotton chamois. I will bull the toe and heel caps on another day.

I was very pleased with the results and it made me realize that although I have taken care of my footwear, for so many years, I have neglected this all-important step of stripping off the old wax which was preventing the leather from being properly conditioned.

BEFORE:


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I wore gloves and opened a window where I was working because the Renomat is pretty strong stuff.

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You can see on the cloth just how much wax/polish had built up on these shoes after many years.

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I gave the shoes 2 rounds of Renomat to ensure that all the old polish was stripped off. Also, the feel of the shoe changed from the hard, shell-like feel of all the layers of wax to a soft, supple feel of the leather.

Here is what they looked like stripped of all wax buildup:

View attachment 1194833

Afterwards, they were polished and buffed and the results were stunning. I used a neutral creme to keep the color that was underneath all that wax. I could have used a brown polish to add some pigment but I really like the way they looked. I can always add that another time.

Once the captoe and heel caps are bulled, these shoes will be ready to go. I still need to do some edge dressing and a sole guard application.

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AFTER:

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Next....

I’ve used both the alcohol solution and the Saphir Renomat and I would give the Renomat the nod (although I didn’t try a 90% alcohol solution. Probably closer to 70%).

But 2 applications Renomat does a pretty thorough job.

With that being said, you did a really nice job on your shoes and they look much better with the more subdued shine than the original finish.

Nicely done.