Bulling Leather?

[Giuseppe]

I've got an old military sporran that was originally brown, but has been bulled to a deep, shiny black. The sporran is in good shape, but I'd like to touch up the finish and prevent the leather from drying out.

There's not much info on bulling online. Does anybody here have experience bulling leather? If so, what would you recommend? I don't want to screw up the hours of work that have already been put into this finish. Thanks!

[Chef]

What you needed to look up was bulling boots.

I learned from my grandfather. what you see before I found online some time ago but it is close to what he taught me. I have started out at the point after beeswax is applied to the boots. You can pick up where ever you feel you need to. I can't judge where you should start without seeing the sporran. As I said the instructions are for boots but it will work the same on the sporran.

...
When the tidying up is done then you can start applying polish. Brush polish them 20 times each and shine them every time you do it. You can then apply thick coats of polish with your finger, ensure that the polish you apply is smoothe and flat, leave it to dry for a short period of time and then flash it with your burner to you can see the shine in it, keep doing this to you are satisfied that you have enough on. (Be careful you dont get fish eyes, small hollow dimples in the boot) Let the boot cool or drop it into a bucket of water if you are in a rush.

If you tap the boot it should sound hollow and should be completly solid.

Nows the time for elbow grease, get a sylvet and ensure it is soaking, tap the polish (New Tin) and start bulling the boot, you do not need to go in circles and if truth be known it is more time consuming. Place the boot on a hard surface about waste height and place 3 or 4 fingers inside your sylvet and start to give it some welly. By the time you have finished you should be dripping wet with sweat, rem you dont need to go in circles at this stage, do not worry about small light scratches as they will fill in later, keep applying small thin layers of polish as required with your sylvet and bull.

When you are happy with your product then start to water bull, place the boot into the sink and turn on the cold tap to it is gently running onto the boot, get cotton wool and start bulling in circles applying very minimul ammounts of polish, the trick is keeping th polish cool and the cotton wool soaked in water (By the time you are finished your hands should be all wrinkly) when you have finished bulling, your cotton wool should not be completly black. Again keep applying thin layers as required to get the end product. My note: you can use a bowl of water for this, just keep the cotton wet.

I use 5 layers of black 1 layer of dark tan and the occasional layer of parade gloss. When your boots are bulled to the standard required then take them out of the sink and shake all the water droplets off them or blow it off.

After you have done all this all you have to do is keep on top of them when required.

With practise all the above accept for breaking the boots in can be done the day before you need to wear them and will pass the most important of inspections

Words of advise:

Be patient...
Work hard...
Be prepared to become wound up and get some hot wax on your hand. ( It hurts)....
Most of all be careful you dont shrink your boot to much or burn the stitching.
And finally GOOD LUCK any problems then PM me.

PS

Don't use spit it is full of food bits, beer and nasties etc etc and will react with the polish.

Source(s):
British Drill Instructor, done all my own boots and others.

[Nervous Jock]

I've got an old military sporran that was originally brown, but has been bulled to a deep, shiny black. The sporran is in good shape, but I'd like to touch up the finish and prevent the leather from drying out.

There's not much info on bulling online. Does anybody here have experience bulling leather? If so, what would you recommend? I don't want to screw up the hours of work that have already been put into this finish. Thanks!

I'll provide you with a link to a site with info on this but I don't have the detail here at work.

As an aside it is time consuming and hard work you might want to think about an alternative unless you are prepared to do it every time your sporran takes a knock. you could use a product like morello which you will find on Ebay

[Yaish]

Never heard it called "bulling". Sounds like advice from across the pond. From what I have been able to find online, it just sounds like standard issue G.I. spit shine. Figure out how it got the name.

Did quite a bit of it in the Marine Corps. The key is a soft cotton rag and lots and lots of time.
I found old T-shirts to work best, and you'll need much less water than everyone says.

[Nervous Jock]

Enjoy

http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/...c/t=15357.html

[ccga3359]

For sporrans only Gents, not boots. Unless you are sick of the 'question'.

[Clockwork John]

For sporrans only Gents, not boots. Unless you are sick of the 'question'.

That gives new meaning to "My boots are so shiny I can see myself in them."

[Chef]

Never heard it called "bulling". Sounds like advice from across the pond. From what I have been able to find online, it just sounds like standard issue G.I. spit shine. Figure out how it got the name.

No offence to the corp, but even the best Marine spit shine probably wouldn't pass muster as parade boots. Parade boots, when bulled properly starting with heat and beeswax are so shiny they look like high gloss plastic. In truth they almost look fake. They almost always have a double or triple sole so the boots won't bend (to prevent creases in the leather).

Parade boots are not everyday boots by any means; except maybe for Palace guards. However the process is such a pain in the neck that many soldier's buy their boots already bulled, and they gladly spend $200-300 on them. There are ex-guardsmaen that make a living bulling boots and I don't mean a $5 shine.

[Yaish]

No, the Corps stresses practicality, so if the soles won't bend that would be what we call a 'brick' and would serve no purpose. You can always knock the shine down on a boot and wear it in combat if need be.

[Chef]

No, the Corps stresses practicality, so if the soles won't bend that would be what we call a 'brick' and would serve no purpose. You can always knock the shine down on a boot and wear it in combat if need be.

Exactly, same deal on my Corcorans in the Army. The British parade boots are specifically NOT the same boots used for combat, purely for show.