Polishing brogues??

[Jack Daw]

Hi all,

I'm an old military guy, and I'm going to be polishing my brogues. HOWEVER:

There are so many holes, tabs and other places for polish to get stuck in and built up in!

So how the heck do I polish these things?? I'll have to remove the lacquer first with some rubbing alcohol, then go to it with an old t-shirt and Kiwi, and plenty of spit (cold water). I don't like the old dauber brush and shine brush setup, I've never been able to get a great polish with them.

But I'm not sure how to spit shine these things without getting the polish in all the holes and such. Let alone polish them to a high gloss like my other dress shoes.

Ideas??

T.

After years of tiringly digging polish out of my fingernails, I gave up the fight and have a shoe shine pro do them. I know - I'm getting lazy.

[DWFII]

DWFII, you may be able to help me. I've got a pair of new, unissued MoD brogues. They've still got a black coating on the heels and parts of the leather that's starting to flake off. There are also a couple of spots where they've been dinged and the bare brown leather is showing on the toes. Is there anything I need to do to the shoes before I embark upon the ole spit `n' polish routine? Should anything be stripped off? Thanks!

Without seeing them it is hard to tell. But the heels of course don't need a spit shine. Neither does any part of the shoe except the toe and possibly the around the back of the heel of the foot. Where-ever the leather is meant to flex, you want to keep the spit shine off of there.

If there is some sort of black coating...a lacquer or liquid polish...that seems to be flaking off that should very definitely be removed.

Bare leather cannot be repaired, it can only be covered. If the problem is on the toes, a protracted regime of spit shining will eventually fill those holes with wax and make it look like it was never damaged. Concentrate on those areas twice as long or longer when you spit shine your toes. But, again, go at it slow. You might try melting a little polish and filling any deep crevasses, but don't try spit shining over the top of that until it is at least a day old and cold.

Remember...spit shines depend on the slow build up of thin layers of wax, each one brought to a mirror shine before the next thin layer is applied. This gives depth.

good luck.

[Giuseppe]

Thank you!