Repairing a Spit Shine

[titanII]

I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions as to how to repair a cracked mirror spit shine. My the shine on one of my boots cracked yesterday from the leather bending. I know I could just take off the entire shine and re-do it, which is what I've done in the past. But that takes up more time than I'd like for a small area of shine-less boot. Suggestions are appreciated.

[SarDragon]

Use a dry t-shirt, and rub off the polish at and around the crack. Shine that part in your normal manner until it looks uniform.

I'm presuming this is on a leather shoe that got stepped on, or something similar. If there's a crack in the surface of a poromeric (Corfam) shoe, it's pretty much toast.

[niferous]

I'm wondering if you are talking about patent leather/corofram shoes as well.  If you are as was said before you are just out of luck.  Pledge can help scuffs but if the material cracks the shoes are just done.  That's the reason I don't even wear those and instead opt for the actual leather uniform shoes.  You do have to shine them but I have a pair that I wore four days a week for four years and now when I need to wear my uniform and they are about ten years old and still work fine.  They have been re-soled but that's about it. 

Now if you are talking about actual leather shoes you can do a few things depending on what kind of cracking you have.  If it's just from normal wear you need to buff the shoe a lot and then just shine as normal.  If you fill up the cracks with Kiwi you'll be right back where you are now.  If it's because something fell on your shoe or something like that you can light a candle and hold that part of the shoe about 1-2 inches away from the flame.  Once the polish is heated up you need to again buff that area of the shoe and then as the above poster said you need to get some more Kiwi on there and shine as normal with warm water.  Don't use a lighter to heat up the leather as it will leave a little haze due to the fuel the lighter uses. 

[titanII]

Ok, thanks. And no, they're not patent leather.

[SarDragon]

In spite of what you read in this thread, and elsewhere, melting polish, particularly with a flame, is NOT good. It evaporates parts of the polish essential for getting a good shine.

Rub off the damaged/excess polish, and start over.

Using warm water does nothing extra, since it cools to the temperature of your finger almost immediately.

If you do a search on my name, and polish, on here, and CAP Talk, you'll find a number of threads related to shining shoes.

[niferous]

I guess I should have said don't melt the polish, which is why I suggested holding it away from the flame and not right on it.  You just want to work it better into the cracked area and warming the polish can help getting the area back to normal a little faster.  Unless you get the area smooth just polishing over it will just result in shiny cracks. 

As far as the temp of the water I have to stand by my original statement.  I use a candle warmer to keep my hot water HOT not just warm.  I'm polishing in all of one second after I dip my finger in the polish so I doubt the water had time to go from 100 or so degrees to room temperature in less than five seconds.  That is unless the laws of physics are suspended in my living room  .  Also I should note that in another thread I posted a good youtube vid on polishing boots for those who are more of a visual learner just today.  The technique I use takes just a little water.  You don't need much. 

However EVERYone has a different technique but I can say that mine does work, as I'm sure the other poster's here does too.  So take my advice as just another possible way to attack those cracks in that blingy black leather.     No right or wrong here, just different techniques to produce the same result.  I'm sure you'll develop your own through trial and error.

[SarDragon]

No right or wrong here, just different techniques to produce the same result.  I'm sure you'll develop your own through trial and error.

I have, starting when I was a cadet. I got my Mitchell in 1967. 

Check out some of my other posts - search for SarDragon and polish.

[niferous]

No right or wrong here, just different techniques to produce the same result.  I'm sure you'll develop your own through trial and error.

I have, starting when I was a cadet. I got my Mitchell in 1967. 

Check out some of my other posts - search for SarDragon and polish.

I meant the OP would. I was sure someone with your experience would already have their's down to a science. 

[flyboy53]

I guess I should have said don't melt the polish, which is why I suggested holding it away from the flame and not right on it.  You just want to work it better into the cracked area and warming the polish can help getting the area back to normal a little faster.  Unless you get the area smooth just polishing over it will just result in shiny cracks. 

As far as the temp of the water I have to stand by my original statement.  I use a candle warmer to keep my hot water HOT not just warm.  I'm polishing in all of one second after I dip my finger in the polish so I doubt the water had time to go from 100 or so degrees to room temperature in less than five seconds.  That is unless the laws of physics are suspended in my living room  .  Also I should note that in another thread I posted a good youtube vid on polishing boots for those who are more of a visual learner just today.  The technique I use takes just a little water.  You don't need much. 

However EVERYone has a different technique but I can say that mine does work, as I'm sure the other poster's here does too.  So take my advice as just another possible way to attack those cracks in that blingy black leather.     No right or wrong here, just different techniques to produce the same result.  I'm sure you'll develop your own through trial and error.

Sorry but I agree with SarDragon. Melting is a safety hazard. In all my time in the Air Force, I never melted polish. Melting it only breaks down the compounds necessary to allow the polish to do its thing. Besides. I stopped counting every layer necessary to bring an issue shoe or boot to a spit shine. Melted polish only gives you a thinner layer if anything.

If you're serious about melting something, go to your shoe repair guy and get one of the crayons that is specifically used that way for just such a purpose. Let the professional instruct you on how that's done.

Something else that I would tell you is that the leather under the shoe may be pretty dry. I'd recommend scrubbing it with saddle soap and then re-building the layer of polish until it shines. That's how I was taught by my TI and, interestingly enough, I still have the same pair of oxfords, sans new soles, that were issued to me in 1977 at Lackland. That TI, by the way, was a former Marine air gunner turned aerial port type. To illustrate his teaching point, he still wore the same combat boots he was issued in the Corps that also survived a tour in the field in Vietnam. Those boots were once devoid of polish and they gleamed.

[niferous]

Haven't I said like three times now that I was not saying to melt the boots? 

I give up.

[PHall]

Haven't I said like three times now that I was not saying to melt the boots? 

I give up.

Just heating the polish separates the dyes from the polish. It's plain, basic chemistry.
That's what SarDragon has been trying to tell you.