shoe polish?

P

para-frame

Joined
Feb 15, 2005
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204
I was wondering what kind of shoe polish would you buy/use on your boots?
personaly, I like lincoln shoe wax. any more ideas?
 
Back in the day when I used to shine my shoes I always used regular kiwi paste wax. Never tried any other brands, and Kiwi's "premium" Parade Gloss wax would never spit shine to the same high gloss as their regular does, looked at a can of P.G. the other day and found out it contained silicone, which was probably the problem.
 
Kiwi.
Apply lightly , rub in , let dry and polish lightly with a ladies nylon for a hard polish.
Alt method , apply liberally in small areas , melt this with a lighter , rub in and then polish with ladies nylon.
 
Well as an ex Guardsman I can tell you that we only used Kiwi (not the parade gloss that sucks)
 
Kiwi all the way! If you wanna get extra spiffy, I've seen people spit shine their boots with cotton balls. However I've gotten my boots just as good with a soft cloth (just as long as I built up the wax before the final polish).

BTW, is it just me or does anyone else LOVE the smell of Kiwi shoe polish?
 
Lincoln and Kiwi work well, apply liberally, then take the buffing wheel you bought at the hardware store put it in your drill (corded, not cordless) and the next morning very lightly buff the boots.... Marine Corpse mirrored enough to shave in shine. you may want to sprinkle just a touch of aftershave onto the boots before buffing. if boots get scuffed just touch up with the buffer. this allowed me to only do a good cleaning/polishing of the boots once a month.:)
 
I use Kiwi on shoes. I just bought something called 'Mink Oil' for a pair of golf shoes I have been given. I have never heard of it before. It is supposed to make them supple and give them some waterproofing? Anyone used it, have any tips?
 
yes, don't put it on boots that you want to polish, it's great for leather conditioning, but shoe polish won't want to stick properly to an oiled boot
 
I used Kiwi for years - it gave my boots that old school cracked and Zippoed look. I started using Lincoln the last two years - it worked well in the heat and seemed more porous. It wouldn't build up as much - it did look better on duty boots. So, Kiwi for the parade field, Lincoln in the wire. Parade Gloss? In the trash.
 
How much protection in terms of water and dirt repealing does a shoe polish (eg Kiwi Paste Polish) provides? Say compare to Scotchguard or Sno-seal etc?

Thanks.
 
It helps little. One day in the field will generally strip the wax from the toes - by the end of two weeks they will be ratched out past the dye into the leather. Leather treatments soak in and last much longer. They address the porousity of leather - which in arid countries you don't want to restrict. That is why I preferred Lincoln wax. It didn't block the breathing quality as much as Kiwi.

Of course, after 20 years of development, the Army finally adopted a "brown suede" boot for the field, and the use of boot blacking is becoming moot.
 
if you guys haven't heard or traded Leather Luster you should!! Comes with a striper and you have to apply the final product on a hot day. After that you can just use Pledge furniture spray to polish them. ymmv -Todd
 
PS: "Spit shine" is an expression, not a technique. Use tap water, not saliva.

In Britain, this method is called "bulling", as in, "Are those boots bulled?"

maximus otter
 
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