Lighter Fuel and Shoe Shine

[colkemp]

I was just watching a movie about the Old Guard and it showed them shineing their shoes with lighter fuel. This seems a tad bit odd to be, but has anybody ever used it and how do you properly use it?

[Eclipse]

Presumably they were using it to strip the boots first, which is generally unnecessary.
It's also dangerous from both a fire and an inhalant perspective.

Standard Kiwi and elbow grease are all you need, or just get tac boots that don't need to be shined, keep them clean and blacked (Doc Bailey's is
good for this), and move on with your life.

[HGjunkie]

Definitely a bad idea to use lighter fluid due to the fact it ruins the leather. It may look good, but the shoes will not last long.

I use kiwi on my dress shoes and tac boots and have never had problems.

[ol'fido]

I have heard of using gasoline, rubbing alcohol, and lighter fluid to strip the factory polish layer off until you get to almost raw leather and then building a base of Kiwi polish up. I have also heard of using lighters to melt polish into the boots to fill in all the pores. I have seen guys use straight vodka and kiwi to shine boots. These are all kind of like cures for hiccups. They may have worked for someone, somewhere, once but are not usually a good idea.

If you don't need a shine right away, the best way to get rid of the factory layer is to just to wear them until the finish is dull and slightly faded.

BTW, my personal cure for hiccups is to chug a soda and belch. Usually, short circuits the spasm causing your hiccups.

[AngelWings]

 Kiwi, water, some more kiwi, a little lighter action, some more water, some more kiwi so on and so fourth is all you need. Lighter fluid is a gas that can be used to strip polish to start the shine process over again. It is kind of like rubbing alcohol, in the sense of what it looks like when  it strips the shine off your boot. Shiney, shiney, GONE

[Eclipse]

If I may be so bold to use the same pic in multiple threads...

[AngelWings]

If I may be so bold to use the same pic in multiple threads...

I doubt there is a fire hazard, unless when you polish the boots sparks or you have breath of literal fire, which would be really creepy.

[davidsinn]

If you are putting so much polish on that you need to strip it you are doing it wrong and have no idea what the polish is for. Boots and shoes are not supposed to be mirrors. Polish is only supposed to replace the natural oils in the leather and to blacken the leather a bit. I'm about to retire four year old boots and you can still see the grain in the leather yet they are in good shape and "polished"not shined. I'll post pics when i get home on Monday or on Tuesday.

[AngelWings]

If you are putting so much polish on that you need to strip it you are doing it wrong and have no idea what the polish is for. Boots and shoes are not supposed to be mirrors. Polish is only supposed to replace the natural oils in the leather and to blacken the leather a bit. I'm about to retire four year old boots and you can still see the grain in the leather yet they are in good shape and "polished"not shined. I'll post pics when i get home on Monday or on Tuesday.

Well, my boots are mirrors. The idea of polish is also to water proof the boot. The idea of shining is to show that it is waterproof. IMO, shined boots look great. All of the ACC demo team mechanics wear very shiney boots that make them look sharper than the regular joe.

[O-Rex]

Any petroleum product on your boots = BAD

To strip: Green Scrubby Pad, Saddle Soap & elbow grease.

To prep: Fiebing's Leather Dye (use "USMC Black," plain black has a reddish tinge to it.)

To polish: Black Kiwi, cold water, something cotton and LOTS of elbow grease.

[Eclipse]

Boots and shoes are not supposed to be mirrors.

There's a few people around me who have flat-finished tac boots that actually "shine".

Kinda misses the point, though you have to (sorta) give them credit for bending the laws of physics and common sense just to look "shiny".

[Hawk200]

Well, my boots are mirrors. The idea of polish is also to water proof the boot. The idea of shining is to show that it is waterproof. IMO, shined boots look great. All of the ACC demo team mechanics wear very shiney boots that make them look sharper than the regular joe.

Shining is not intended to "waterproof" the boot in the way you're thinking. It's simply to preserve the leather. The shine isn't even why it was done originally. It was simply noticed that when the wax was buffed, it looked nice. 

Just give it a shine, it doesn't need to be fancy. Besides, just because you have shiny boots doesn't mean you're better at everything else. I've known many a person that were poster children, and they were completely worthless when it came to other things. Being shiny and pressed is not the be-all, end-all of what you are.

[PHall]

Just give it a shine, it doesn't need to be fancy. Besides, just because you have shiny boots doesn't mean you're better at everything else. I've known many a person that were poster children, and they were completely worthless when it came to other things. Being shiny and pressed is not the be-all, end-all of what you are.

Unless you're a AETC Instructor.....

[Persona non grata]

This works better than most stuff(kiwi) .

[Grumpy]

I have heard of using gasoline, rubbing alcohol, and lighter fluid to strip the factory polish layer off until you get to almost raw leather and then building a base of Kiwi polish up. I have also heard of using lighters to melt polish into the boots to fill in all the pores. I have seen guys use straight vodka and kiwi to shine boots. These are all kind of like cures for hiccups. They may have worked for someone, somewhere, once but are not usually a good idea.

If you don't need a shine right away, the best way to get rid of the factory layer is to just to wear them until the finish is dull and slightly faded.

BTW, my personal cure for hiccups is to chug a soda and belch. Usually, short circuits the spasm causing your hiccups.

Yee Gad, what a waste of a perfectly good adult beverage!

[PHall]

This works better than most stuff(kiwi) .

Which polish to use is just like who method to use, everybody has their own opinion.

[Persona non grata]

It works , since I moved to the NE from FL, I have a hard time finding kiwi in the produce dept.

[Hawk200]

Just give it a shine, it doesn't need to be fancy. Besides, just because you have shiny boots doesn't mean you're better at everything else. I've known many a person that were poster children, and they were completely worthless when it came to other things. Being shiny and pressed is not the be-all, end-all of what you are.

Unless you're a AETC Instructor.....

My best friend was an AETC instructor. He didn't shine anything to a mirror finish. He put on enough to give a good shine, but mirror finish wasn't something he ever strived for, and most of his fellow instructors didn't bother either.

If it had to be super shiny, it was his Coraframs; worn with blues, and especially with Honor Guard uniforms. But mirror shine boots were nothing he ever did. He was received numerous awards while an Instructor as well, so it's not like he was a dirtbag just trying to get by.

[Major Lord]

Most shoe polish is pretty flammable already, since they have synthetic and organic flammable solvents ( Naptha, turpentine,etc.) to keep the wax as a near-liquid paste. ( I also noted that UPS considers Kiwi to be in one their Hazmat categories!)  I think in the old days, shoe polish was much more like saddle wax ( Carnuba, bee's Wax, etc.) and might have benefited from adding solvents that gassed off to make them a little easier to apply without as much elbow grease; the most expensive kind of polish! If you have smooth leather boots ( the kind meant to be polished) I would not think that lighter fluid would help much, since although it would thin the mixture, it would leave organic greasy residue ( The only organic greasy residue you should have on your boots should come from the enemy) I have used lighter fluid in my youth on surfboard wax to help layer a thick coat, but thick coating on boots just leads to cracks.

Major Lord

[Grumpy]

Most shoe polish is pretty flammable already, since they have synthetic and organic flammable solvents ( Naptha, turpentine,etc.) to keep the wax as a near-liquid paste. ( I also noted that UPS considers Kiwi to be in one their Hazmat categories!) I think in the old days, shoe polish was much more like saddle wax ( Carnuba, bee's Wax, etc.) and might have benefited from adding solvents that gassed off to make them a little easier to apply without as much elbow grease; the most expensive kind of polish! If you have smooth leather boots ( the kind meant to be polished) I would not think that lighter fluid would help much, since although it would thin the mixture, it would leave organic greasy residue ( The only organic greasy residue you should have on your boots should come from the enemy) I have used lighter fluid in my youth on surfboard wax to help layer a thick coat, but thick coating on boots just leads to cracks.

Major Lord

What do you mean by, Old Days?