Boot Polish

[nobull1]

I wear a pair of steel toed work shoes just about any place I go. They can get pretty beat up and scuffed after a short period of time. For the last few years I have been using brand X(don't remember the name, and threw out the bottle). This was a sponge applicator that applied colour(dark brown) as well as a wax shine. This product worked excellent and lasted a long time. It made the shoes look like new. Now they tell me that they have sense stopped production and there are a couple of replacements that people are using. One is EMU, which really doesn't have much colour and very little shine. Overall not a good product in my mind. The other is Tana which has a lot more colour and shines relatively good. The problem with this is, it doesn't seem to last as long as previous brand x. I really don't want to have to polish and coat them as a 2 step process. This is a lot of work and they get marked easily. I would like to see if anyone has a product they use that has lots of colour, shine and lasts. This isn't rocket science, somebody must make a long lasting product.

 

[Egon]

I just Burnish my boot toes with a little steel wool when it's fancy up time!

 

[billbill1]

Egon, I do the same with the same results!!!

 

[DieselPower]

Having served in the Army I can't stand a dull pair of boots. I just polish my boots every night with either Kiwi or Lincoln shoe polish and a shoe brush. They stay nice and black and even keep a nice shine.

 

[RobertN]

I treat my boots with "Obenauf's". It is a preservative, not a polish. With regular treatment though, my boots look very good, although they have a flat finish, not a polish finish.

This stuff was developed by a firefighter to resist all the nasty stuff that comes with fire retardents, ash, and numerous other icky stuff encountered on a fireground. I started using it after reports from other fire fighting buddies.

It would even help Egon's boot

 

[Dozernut]

I clean mine good then apply mink oil or saddle soap, this conditions the leather and water proofs. Then a good coat of Kiwi Parade Gloss buffed with a brush. Close to spit shine but not quite, did that enough in the past.

 

[caver]

You might ask my suprivisor. He seems to know a lot about
boot polishing<snicker>

sorry, couldn't resist

 

[Podunkadunk]

I was Navy, I use Kiwi. It's what I used in basic and throughout my time in the service. Works like a charm, just requires a little "elbow grease". Of course, they make the "cheater" shine in a bottle now that I think you are talking about.

 

[Egon]

Nobull; the esiest way to a solution is two pairs of working boots. One you wear for real dirty work, the other is for looking like your a working man.

 

[nobull1]

Egon

Actually I have three pairs . The problem is, even the dirtiest I still like to keep looking good.

The Kiwi liquid(bottle) might be something to try. I haven't seen that around, but neither have I looked too hard. The product that I had before, was just 30 seconds and the shoes looked like new, it was great and lasted. I don't want to put a whole lot of effort into a old pair of shoes, but 30 seconds every other day is .

Brian

 

[N80]

Kiwi in the can, not the bottle. Elbow grease. And having graduated from the Citadel:

The Citadel - The Military College of South Carolina

I can tell you all sorts of little polishing tips and rituals...but some of them border on the bizarre....like using a little bit of lighter fluid to ignite the toe for just a second and then polishing briskly with a clean t-shirt. It either makes them unbelievably shiny...or ruins them.

During inspections, the inspecting officer would hold two fingers out, about waist high and expected to be able to see them distinctly refelcted in the toe of your shoes.

But who am I to be giving shiny shoe advice. I was constantly in trouble for dingy brass and 'groady' shoes.

 

[Bird]

Yep, I used the Kiwi in the can (paste) on my uniform shoes for quite a few years, but I sure did like it when I changed to shoes of a synthetic material and only had to wipe them off with a damp cloth.

 

[N80]

We were allowed to wear the plastic shoes to class and drill etc, but not to inspections (I know, I know, its a strange place) so we had inspection shoes and class shoes.