Shoe Maintenance - Sometimes, It Takes A Few Days...

Two separate incidents, both involving liquids and one involving far too much mud, meant that it was time for two pairs of my shoes to experience a deep cleaning.

My oxblood wingtips looked the worse of the two after I decided to test the swamp-shoe moniker quite thoroughly, but I was actually more concerned about lasting damage to my double monks.

Fortunately, both now look to be free of any long-term damage! Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any 'before' pictures...

The first step was removing the caked-on mud from the wingtips. Next came using a magic eraser and a stiff brush on the soles. Then came the Saphir Reno-Mat for a thorough cleaning on both pairs. After a day of drying, I decided the double monks needed a second round - so they're a day behind in the process. Then, a thorough coating of Saphir Dubbin conditioner and another day to dry out. This was followed by a good brushing and wipe-down with a cotton chamois to remove any excess conditioner, a generous application of Saphir Renovateur, and yet another day to dry - followed, again, by a good brushing and wipe-down with a cotton chamois.

This is where the double-monks currently sit. They will get the same follow-up treatment as the wingtips, hopefully tomorrow - just using slightly different colors.

😁

With the wingtips ready for a full shine, that process began.

It started with two light coats of Saphir Pommadier Cream polish in Hermes Red over the entire shoe, each followed by 5-10 minutes of drying time and a good brushing with a horse-hair brush. Next, a very light coat of Angelus Shoe Wax polish in Oxblood over the entire shoe, again followed by 5-10 minutes of drying time and a good brushing with a horse-hair brush.

Now, it was time to focus on the toes - so I prepared for a mirror polish...

Step one is assembling the necessities:

A 20%/80% mixture of isopropyl alcohol and distilled water, respectively.
A large, single piece of ice (I use a large, clear, cube of ice from one of my whiskey molds).
A small bowl to hold the ice and a couple of tablespoons of the alcohol-water mixture.
A fresh, clean, cotton buffing cloth.
A heat gun.
The polishes: Angelus Oxblood, Saphir Mirror Gloss, & Angelus Black.
A good show, movie, or set of videos queued up on the Fire TV Stick.

I normally would start with one nice, thick layer of wax on the toes and rely on the heat gun to do the heavy lifting. However, you can't do that on shoes with broguing - especially a medallion - on the toes. So, it's nothing but light coats for this application...

Here was my process for the wingtips:

4 very light coats of Angelus Oxblood, each followed by a quick buffing.
About 60-seconds or so on each toe of light heat from the heat gun, followed by a thorough buffing.
4 more very light coats of Angelus Oxblood, again, each followed by a quick buffing.
Another 60-seconds or so on each toe of light heat from the heat gun, followed by a thorough buffing.
5-minutes of drying time, followed by a visual inspection. The foundation was ready to build a mirror shine. (If it wasn't ready, I'd do a couple more light coats followed by heat and buffing - repeating until it was ready.)
I adjusted the buffing cloth to be able to use a clean area.
I then applied a very light coat of Saphir Mirror Gloss, touched the ice for a 5-count with the buffing cloth, gave the toe a good buffing (30 seconds or so), added a drop of liquid, gave it another good buffing, added one more drop of liquid, then gave it a final good buffing - and repeated for the other shoe. We'll call this a "mirror layer"...
I then applied a mirror layer using the Angelus Oxblood.
I repeated mirror layers, alternating between the Saphir Mirror Gloss and the Angelus Oxblood, two or three more times. (It's a bit of a feel thing.)
I then added the Angelus Black into the rotation - Saphir Mirror Gloss, then Angelus Oxblood, then Angelus Black - for another 3-4 sets of mirror layers.
I let the shoes rest for 10-15 minutes, then gave them a visual inspection to determine whether I needed more rotations or whether I was ready for the final polish. I find it's best to perform this analysis with fresh eyes.
I decided that one of the shoes needed another rotation or two, as the black polish hadn't darkened the toe quite as much as on the other shoe. (I would recommend one rotation, a five-minute wait, and re-analysis rather than multiple rotations when trying to match the tone of a shine from one shoe to the other.)
It turned out that one extra rotation on that shoe was all that was needed, so I moved on to the final polish...
The final polish layers are similar to the mirror layers - except that I only use the Angelus Oxblood polish, I use a minuscule amount of polish, and I double up on the buffing (polish, touch ice, buff, drop of liquid, buff, touch ice, buff, another drop of liquid, buff).
This is very much a feel thing, and I don't count the layers - it's more about the time. I typically spend 5-10 minutes applying final polish layers, followed by about 5-10 minutes to let the shoes rest. Again, resting your eyes makes a big difference in determining whether or not to continue. I repeat this until I'm satisfied with the result.
For these shoes, I probably only did about three sessions of final polishing - so a half an hour or so of clock time.

I know it sounds rather tedious and probably quite boring when it's all listed out like that, but that's why the Fire TV Stick content is listed as a necessity.

😁

Given how often I rotate my shoes, a deep-clean process like this is generally going to happen less than once a year for most of my dress shoes - so it's not as daunting as it might seem.

Anyway, that's my process. Hope you like the results!

(I do.)

😁

17 comments