High Shine

[Arnot]

When I did my "spit" shining (22 years US Army), I didn't actually use spit. I started by putting a decent brush shine on the boot/shoe using Kiwi. When I started the spit shine I used cold water and a piece of old t-shirt or cotton diaper. The last thing I did was put a coat or two of neutral Kiwi on the boot/shoe. This worked exyremely well for me as I never pulled much guard after being inspected.

Another thing, a good spit shine can be maintained for quite a while with minimal maintainance as long as one stays out of the mud, etc. Sometimes I would be short on time so I would just buff my boots using the damp towel from my shower. The shine always came back up rather nicely.

[Woot22]

I used a similar method back in my Army days. I found water to be far better than saliva and cold water to work better than room temp. Also I started to put two drops of alcohol in the water as well. An old sergeant told me to and it seemed to work just a bit better then cold water alone. But just a drop or two of alcohol nothing more. Also I used the top of my Kiwi can to hold the water.

Having said all that I spent 8 years in the Army and had to shine my boots everyday before 0900 work call formation. And everyday my boots would get all messed up working on the birds. So after shining boots every weekday for 8 years I can assure you I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever shine a pair of shoes or boots again for the rest of my life.

[eagle43172]

I've used all the mentioned methods and also begun under a hot water tap, and burned in the polish with a cigarette lighter. For me the best method is shine with an initial brushing, then rub w/ cold water in the beginning, with the final pass using my breath. Then buff with a pair of nylons stuffed with a t shirt. (I base coat with Kiwi and final coat with Lincoln Wax).
Dave