Polishing shoes: Techniques?

Join the Army. (I'm only half kidding -- there are more shoe-shining strategies in the military than you can count!)

What works for me: Liberal application of polish, rub out with a wet cloth in small circular motions, buff with a soft dry cloth. That's about it for me, good luck.
 
shoes, or boots?
i had to polish my parade boots until i could see my reflection in it
majority of us used kiwi boot polish, i melted mine and applied in liberal coats, polishing off with a wet microfiber cloth
works very well, but the smell can get to you

buff in circular motions, 1 direction only
don't change from clockwise to anticlockwise, that ruins the whole thing
 
Best way, fast way or both? I've done both with a mayonnaise-like cream that does wonders. Shucks, forgot the name. But it comes in a glass maalox-like bottle with a blue label on it. Hope I can find it again. Anyway, the trick was wipe the cream on, wipe it off and it shines instantly! Know what? I put on the cream on a pair of shoes that I rarely use, up to now, it still shines, although it is quite dusty...
 
just put the time and effort into it. theres no real fast way around it if you want a decent shine.

if they have never been shined before, clean the boots with and abrasive brush, then work a heavy base coat of polish into the leather. leather is porous, so you'll want to fill in all the cracks and pores with a good coat of polish before you start buffing.

after your base coat is down, with LIGHT amounts of polish and light pressure, rub in small circles for a thin, dry, transparent coat. use some water or spit or whatever when you feel drag between the cloth and the boot. buffing will take a long time.
 
Shoes, but I thought it was the same thing as boots. I've heard that the cream also conditions? What's a preferred brand?
 
i apply regular polish w/a soft sponge and let sit for a few minutes, wipe w/a soft clean cloth, then apply neutral polish with hands, rubbing in well, buff w/a GOOD brush, and thats it, really works well for me.
 
Well as an ex Guards man in the British Army I guess I am pretty qulaified to answer this.

First you have to 'Layer up' the shoe or boot. Use Kiwi and only Kiwi and dont get the Parade Gloss. Liberally smear the polish all over the boot with a couple of finger until its about 2mm thick and leave it to dry (Takes about 6 to 8 hours) Lightly buff the boots with a brush. Layer up again, and again and again.

Now, take off the cap of the polish and put a little water in it and sit it next to you. Find a quality cloth, this will be pretty tightly woven cotton, do NOT use a yellow dusting cloth. The best I can think of thats not a speciality item like the Silvete is an old bed sheet.

Put the cloth over two fingers and make circular motions.

When the boot has its final layer, rather than polish off with a brush just use the cloth and water (Dont spit on it as the chemicals in you spit damage the polish) then add a TINY dab of polish to the cloth and just keep going over the boot until it gets a foggy mirror like image. You are now half way there. Now its just a matter of building up layers until it does shine like laquered black gloss.

A cheats way is to layer up the boot with about 1 can of Kiwi per boot. Then lightly run a Blow Torch or Heat Gun over it. It will force the polish into the leather and do all the layering up work in one go. Be very careful though not to sear the leather ann note that they will be much stiffer if you use this method, but eventually get comfortable again.

As a safety measure you can fill the boot with wet sand to avoid shrinkage.
 
I think Temper's technique is spot on, but there is nothing wrong with Parade Gloss, you just have to be careful not to scuff it, as it's not as hard a coat as other shoe polish.

Once you have the base coat established, a light coat of polish, buffed with a pad made from nylon pantyhose will bring up the spit shine easily.

Keep a window open when you are polishing boots, the fumes can give you the grandpa of a headache, and if you use flames(?) to heat the boots, be aware of the fire hazard- polish is VERY flammable.

(Technique courtesy of the Army, the last of the spit shiners)

Good luck, hope the Sarge likes the results.
 
Be careful looking up "spit shine" on google - you will see some stuff that you would NOT have expected to see. Trust me!

I have found that using the <1> Heavy layer first <2> small layers after that <3> circular strokes with soft cloth eventually will give you a shine that is GREAT and also that seems to last longer.

I have also found a product by Kiwi called "Parade Gloss" (I think) that has a better shine value to it.

Good luck
David
 
The problem with Kiwi's Parade Gloss is that it's too soft to go on in thick layers, so it doesn't fill up holes and large scuffs. Maybe one could use it as a top coating on top of traditional polish.

I'm currently using Parade Gloss just for the ease of use, but I'm going to go back to regular polish once it wears out. The polish just rubs off too easily.
 
I must confess that I have joined the new generation by using liquid wax-based polish. It adds a shine to shoes any time of the day and night.

And it is pretty quick, too.
 
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