Shoe polishing help

I just bought an Allen Edmonds horsehair and applicator brush to polish my Rockport dress shoes with since AE shoes are hard to fit. I have used Wiki parade gloss shoe polish and I've found that it leaves a dull almost cloudy sheen on the leather. I have heard Meltonian is very good. What do you all recommend ?

Now that I have the tools and polish how do I polish my shoes the right way? Does anyone have a step by step guide? Do I need saddle soap? Or shoe polish from AE?

Best
Jerry

I think the first thing might be to explain what you did last time and what you used. From your description, it sounds like you didn't remove the residual cream/polish after applying it.

I first made sure the shoe was clean by wiping it down with a clean pair of Hanes 3xl underwear then when I was satisfied the shoe was clean. Then, I removed both shoes shoelaces inserts and shoe trees. Next, I took another clean pair of 3xl Hanes underwear separate from the first and light wet it with two drops of water and opened the can of black parade gloss from kiwi and placed the underwear around my right index finger and in a circular motion ran my right index finger around in a circle clockwise to get polish on the underwear. Then I applied the polish in small circular motions on each shoe doing one at a time. Next I let each shoe dry for more than 10 min. Next, I use another clean underwear rag to wipe the polish away and produce a shine.

I use a horsehair brush and a soft clean damp cotton cloth to remove the dirt. I then put a small dab of polish on a small part of the cloth that I wet. I put a very thin layer of polish or wax - I use Allen Edmonds or Kiwi - using tight circular motions and working it into the leather. I then buff the shoes with a horsehair brush and buff them again witn a damp cotton cloth using tight circular motions and braod passes. I will usually repeat the process.

It's been a while (25 years) since I wore any Rockport dress shoes, but IIRC they were a "soft" (for lack of a better term) leather as opposed to a lot of dress shoes. I could never get the gloss shine on them that I could get on other "hard" leather shoes. It may just be the nature of the beast.

Cannata said:

I use a horsehair brush and a soft clean damp cotton cloth to remove the dirt. I then put a small dab of polish on a small part of the cloth that I wet. I put a very thin layer of polish or wax - I use Allen Edmonds or Kiwi - using tight circular motions and working it into the leather. I then buff the shoes with a horsehair brush and buff them again witn a damp cotton cloth using tight circular motions and braod passes. I will usually repeat the process.

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This is the way to do it right. My dad taught me this skill as a kid getting my first dress shoes. It is a Sunday evening ritual I enjoy and I even have a shoebox he made for me. One tip, for the last buffing after the horsehair brush, you can use an old panty hose or a cheap one from the dollar store (explain to SWMBO why you're getting one and it's not to wear or for fetish purposes) or a chamois like felt cloth for the last passes. It brings out the shine.

I spent many more hours than I care to remember polishing my shoes as a cadet at West Point. The key to a good mirror polish is you must build up a base of the wax first. For that, I prefer to give the shoes a good brush shine first.

Wipe the shoes down, as you did, then using your applicator brush, put a light coat of kiwi (I actually don't like using the parade gloss for the base coats as it has a much higher level of wax) on the shoes and let it set for a bit. Then using very swift strokes with the horsehair, buff the wax. You'll want to do this for a couple of coats. Then, make sure you wear the shoes to walk around a bit. If you just start shining from dull to a high gloss, you'll actually end up having the polish flake off when you walk and the shoes flex...

With a good base, then start to "spit shine" the shoes. I found that old, olive brown Army t-shirts were the best for shining. I used to double over the t-shirt and wrap it tightly around my first two fingers (pointer and index) get just a dampness to it and load a bit of polish from the tin, then start working in small, tight circles with very light pressure. At this stage, the key is very thin layers of polish. I would usually visually divide up the shoe into quadrants to work on (e.g., the toe cap, then the side going back to the saddle, then the rest of the side, then the heel, etc.). With a thin layer of polish you continue buffing the shoe in tight small circles. I found that occasionally reversing direction of circles was good. As you work, you occasionally have to redampen the t-shirt. but this is done with just a couple of very small drops of water on the shoe or even, as you get more and more mirror, just a heavy breath onto the shoe to "steam" it. As you buff, you'll see the shine come out.

Using this method I used to be able to get shoes so that you could, literally, read a newspaper in the reflection off of them... Good luck!

Thank you so very much for such a great post. That is what I was in search of. Do I need anything else like a conditioner or saddle soap or cleaner to use before I polish? Do I need a polishing cloth?



Jerry

If you are starting with good shoes, you should not need to use a conditioner or saddle soap. The latter, especially, is only needed if you're stripping the shoes down first, which I do NOT recommend. Just wipe them down well so there is nothing on the outside. Are these new shoes?

You don't need a polishing cloth. Of course, what do any of us need here, but that never stops us. A good soft cloth is all I recommend unless you just want to spend money. I always got the best results from old t-shirts. I know some people used to swear by an old piece of panty hose as a final buffer (almost like using a micro mesh on straight razor scales) to bring out a shine...

They are indeed new shoes. Only worn twice.

Don't strip them, then!

Oh no I wouldn't dream of doing that ! I plan on following your advice. I can't thank you enough for your help and everyone here at B&B. What can I use to buff it for shine?

What about an electric buffing machine? Or polisher I'm not sure what they are called.


Any recommendations for what to put my shoes? Right now I store them in a shoe box with shoe trees.

+1 about putting down something deep and black to start with and then using the parade gloss afterwards to build up the wax and the shine, that and light pressure soft cotton and spit polishing can indeed give you a mirror shine where you can see your reflection 6' away

You just use the soft cloth and/or panty hose to buff with. If you use the pantyhose, you can stretch it and VERY lightly buff back and forth on the shoes.

Also, I forgot to mention earlier, use a shoe tree while you shine!