Boot polishing

[Hell_Hound]

So November 11 is coming up, and once again I'm working up my parade boots.

I use Kiwi Parade Gloss, with a shammy cloth and water, small circles, and a quick dry buff the morning of the parade. This gives me "adequate" results, but I see boots out there that look like black glass, and it makes me think there must be some tricks of the trade I'm unaware of.

I've tried floor wax. It looked amazing for half an hour, but the following day it had gone cloudy.

I've heard of burn-polishing, but have never tried it. Sounds like asking for trouble.

Any suggestions?

[pccitgo99]

I was watching a documentary on the British Horse Cavalry recently. What they did was apply beeswax and hold the boot over a candle to melt it in. They did this over and over. They said the process took about a day from memory. Those black boots were knee length and shone like a mirror. I used to do similar with my Air Force shoes using Kiwi polish. It is a time consuming process. Melt the polish. Buff with a rag. Repeat ad infinitum. It does work though.

[VegasGeorge]

Well, I don't know if this will help, but when I was in service the gung ho types that worried about such things as boot polish were all buying plastic shoes! :D

[Rene]

I have boot polishing wax with beeswax mixed with it. It gives good results. I used it in the service. It was great. It just took few seconds to put that stuff on, while others spent 30-60 minutes to polish their boots with that army wax (which is better for lightning up a campfire than polishing boots ;) ).

[chrisotto]

You mean bee wax is the way to create that shine?

We just use fat - shoe fat. I just slab some of that on my boots to make them black, but never have shine on it.

[Dreadnaught]

Be creative! Go on sickcall that day.

[Cpl_Punishment]

Any suggestions?

Patent leather. :D

[Skip]

I learned from a SF Master Sgt nearly 30 years ago. He did it this way: (by the way, its much easier to show someone how to do this than it is to tell it :) )

Materials:
- Kiwi polish (the kind in the flat tin)
- A cotton diaper (a clean one! ;))
- Something to hold a little water

1) First put a good, thick base coat on (for new boots, you may need to put on several base coats). Let it dry overnight then brush it smooth.

2) Take the diaper and wet it good, then squeeze out as much water as possible. Drape the diaper over your index & middle fingers (the finger tips will be a couple of inches from the edge of the diaper). Twist the cloth behind your fingers and then wrap the other end around your wrist and tuck it under itself (to hold it on so you don't have to fumble with it).

3) Using your fingers wrapped in the diaper, touch the diaper to the polish (you don't want to get too much on it) then LIGHTLY rub an area of the boot in small circles. When you feel the cloth begin to drag on the boot, touch it to the polish again. Keep the cloth BARELY DAMP as you work. If you get it too wet, the leather will eventually get too wet also and all of a sudden you'll lose your shine and have to let it dry before starting over.

The biggest mistakes usually made are either rubbing too hard, keeping the diaper too wet, or letting the diaper dry out. Depending on the condition of the boots, it can take as much as an hour or two to get a good shine. Touching up an existing shine is quite a bit quicker.

IN ADDITION: A good way to touch up the shine during the day is to keep a section of pantyhose (:D) in your pocket (a section big enough to fold into a small pad that's easy to hold) and use it to rub scuffs. The friction will melt the polish enough to do a decent job of hiding the scuff and it's quick and easy to do.

[Werewolf]

All it takes to get a mirror finish is plain ole black shoe polish, a lighter, ice water and an old tee shirt.

Smear the part of the shoe you want to glisten with polish.

Light the lighter and hold the polish smeared area over it from about 6 inches away and move shoe slowly towards the flame. When the polish starts to melt you are close enough. Get it all melted.

Immediately dip the old tee shirt (wrapped around your index and middle fingers) in the ice water. Rub the melted wax vigorously until it begins to shine. Rinse and repeat until you get the level of mirrored finiish you desire. (I can put a mirror shine on the toe of a combat boot in about 10 minutes using this method). The more times you do this the longer the finish will last. eventually you won't even need to use polish anymore. Just the teeshirt and water or spit to bring back the gloss with an occasional touch up with a bit of polish.

[JTO]

Boy, this is alot of work.

[9erRed]

As a note there's also a new Kiwi polish out called "Parade Gloss" it's got more wax in it and mirror's up much faster. Kiwi flat can's with Red lid's, Large size avail. Sold at any good Canex. The Base coat is the key to any high gloss boots, I used to put the thick base on and let it dry for a day, make sure it's smooth and start the next day with the Parade Gloss, with the tin top 1/2 full of clean water. Yes, small circles and it takes about 1/2 an hour per boot. - toe's and heals are the key area's - When your working the small circles U will feel the soft cloth start to drag a bit-time for more polish. Don't apply with very much pressure, your polishing not cleaning. Ps: don't stand in any line up's , unless U want the toes walked on. This is for your Parade boots (ankle boots), not your combat boots (field boots) Combat boots are black and flat, not polished so no glare. 9erRed... out

[OddBall]

...while others spent 30-60 minutes to polish their boots with that army wax...

:o 30-60 minutes!?!?! And I thought I was slow with the 5 minutes I usually spent doing it...

[chrisotto]

And you guys do this EVERY day?

I take an hour to clean my service rifle, and if I took an hour to clean my boots...

Just water to get rid of the mud and on top of that some shoe-fat. Presto.

[Hell_Hound]

Nice T-72 in your sig, Oddball.

It almost looks like it was generated using some kind of 3-D rendering software. :hallucine:

[OddBall]

Nice T-72 in your sig, Oddball.

It almost looks like it was generated using some kind of 3-D rendering software. :hallucine:

Thanks HH. I got it from Mediabuilder (http://www.mediabuilder.com/ds_photo_clips_tanks_page_aa.html) website. They don't allow remote linking, so one must have webspace of his own, or borrow someone else's.