Shining your military shoes/boots

[RancidCamaro]

Well, I'm looking for the absolute best shine out of my military shoes/boots. So far I've been spit shining with parade gloss and that seems to get 'em pretty shiny, but I've heard other methods such as using rubbing alcohol in place of water, and also lighting the polish on fire to liquefy the polish before it's applied. Anyone have any experience with ways to get your shoes really, really shiny?

Also, back when I was on an armed drill team, we got our shoes incredibly shiny using our commander's "secret formula"... it had all kinds of weird ingredients in it that I can't recall for the life of me, but our shoes could've guided in a space shuttle with their shine... so I'm looking for methods to get a really awesome shine.

And no, MustangEater, I will not use Zaino on my shoes :D .

[shenanigans]

It woudl last longer... Clay dem bastards down, put a coat of Z5, then some gloss enhancing Z6, another coat fo Z5, more Z6, then a coat of Z2, and top it off with anther coat of Z6 and you woudl be in heaven...


;)


my understanding though is you had to light up shoe polish to get it to work at all...

I have only shined up shoes like once ever...

[C.O.Jones]

There's a boot cleaning method in many armed forces called the "hot spoon" method. It's commonly thought to be a myth because it's extremely difficult and is based on theory.

The excellent results of the hot Spoon method can be easily and simply obtained by using a hair dryer.

1: Wash your hands. Get them as grease-free and bone dry as you can.

2: Apply a layer of polish with your bare hands. This ensures that the polish ends up on the boot and not your hands. Also, you are more dexterous than a brush or cloth can be.

3: Blast the shoes/boots with a hairdryer. This melts the polish and allows it to run into all the pores of the leather. As well as making shoes look shiny, polish actually prolongs the leather.

4: Repeat 2 and 3 as many times as you can. Dedication will pay off.

5: Apply a little polish to a soft cloth and rub it in small circles on the leather. Apply a lot of pressure to compact the polish into a hard/shiny layer. Use lots of water so that the polish does not rub onto the cloth.

6: As the water evaporates off the cloth and boot, it will reach an optimum amount, whereupon the boot will very rapidly develop a deep and beautiful shine. At this point, stop and change to a light pressure, fast polishing method.

7: To finish, as stated in another tip here, use a nylon cloth. No one knows why but it really works.

As a footnote, avoid silicone based polish like the plague. It shortens the life of your boots.

http://www.ehow.com/tips_31.html

[sac2165]

I think Kiwi applied with a wet cottonball, and taken off with a clean wet cottonball gives you the best shine without spending hours.

[Dan M]

I was going to ask the same thing myself... keep it coming! ;)

[RancidCamaro]

Originally posted by sac2165:
I think Kiwi applied with a wet cottonball, and taken off with a clean wet cottonball gives you the best shine without spending hours.

That, for the most part, is the way I've been doing. But I want my shoes to bling like no tomorrow!

[3.4 slow to go]

Originally posted by RancidCamaro:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by sac2165:
I think Kiwi applied with a wet cottonball, and taken off with a clean wet cottonball gives you the best shine without spending hours.

That, for the most part, is the way I've been doing. But I want my shoes to bling like no tomorrow! </font>[/QUOTE]how long do you want them to bling?? you could always get chloraframs, but don't scuff them.

Mop & glo works pretty goodfora little bit, especially for open ranks, & then there is the instant shine for suoper fast bling on that brick &candy bar polished looking footwear.

[95fbirdkid]

Originally posted by C.O.Jones:
There's a boot cleaning method in many armed forces called the "hot spoon" method. It's commonly thought to be a myth because it's extremely difficult and is based on theory.

The excellent results of the hot Spoon method can be easily and simply obtained by using a hair dryer.

1: Wash your hands. Get them as grease-free and bone dry as you can.

2: Apply a layer of polish with your bare hands. This ensures that the polish ends up on the boot and not your hands. Also, you are more dexterous than a brush or cloth can be.

3: Blast the shoes/boots with a hairdryer. This melts the polish and allows it to run into all the pores of the leather. As well as making shoes look shiny, polish actually prolongs the leather.

4: Repeat 2 and 3 as many times as you can. Dedication will pay off.

5: Apply a little polish to a soft cloth and rub it in small circles on the leather. Apply a lot of pressure to compact the polish into a hard/shiny layer. Use lots of water so that the polish does not rub onto the cloth.

6: As the water evaporates off the cloth and boot, it will reach an optimum amount, whereupon the boot will very rapidly develop a deep and beautiful shine. At this point, stop and change to a light pressure, fast polishing method.

7: To finish, as stated in another tip here, use a nylon cloth. No one knows why but it really works.

As a footnote, avoid silicone based polish like the plague. It shortens the life of your boots.

http://www.ehow.com/tips_31.html

never heard of that method... i'll have to give it a shot

[3.4 slow to go]

yes,give it a shot & don'y ***** when your hands stay black, and you have all that crap under your nails. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Leather luster works good for boots, but I've never heard of anyone using it on shoes.

Speaking of shoe polish & fire.......

When I was at tech school at Lowry (Denver for all you scratching your heads), we use to just open the polish can, light it up for about 30secs, put the lid back on to kill teh flame & then use cotton balls to spread teh polish on our boots. One day this dude decides to do this in his room & tries to BLOW OUT the fire. Well, thepolish splatters all over his wall unit, the floor, the wall, & bed. The next day we were not allowed to use that method ever again.


Question: How do you(I) shine your boots & shoes?
I have a shoe shine kit.$5 kiwi job. use applicator brush w/polish. let it dry on shoes. Get rough brush & shine it some. look for low spots & reapply if neccessary. Get fine brush & have at it. THen break out the cotton bals & water. Tight swirl action gets the job done.

TOuch upincludes quick brushing, the rag shine on the toes, or just rubbing toes on teh calf of the opposite leg,like your scratching it.

[ February 16, 2005, 06:21 PM: Message edited by: 3.4 slow to go ]

[95fbirdkid]

so mabey i'll try the blow dryer part and not the bare hand part

[L32Projekt]

LOL, aside from the "Hotly Spoon your Roommate" method, I've tried it all. Kiwi with icewater, cottonballs and a brush. Fast and shiny. 3.4slow, I can be on Lowry in under 15 minutes if I take my time and leave now... :D

[majeskyb]

Originally posted by C.O.Jones:
There's a boot cleaning method in many armed forces called the "hot spoon" method. It's commonly thought to be a myth because it's extremely difficult and is based on theory.

The excellent results of the hot Spoon method can be easily and simply obtained by using a hair dryer.

1: Wash your hands. Get them as grease-free and bone dry as you can.

2: Apply a layer of polish with your bare hands. This ensures that the polish ends up on the boot and not your hands. Also, you are more dexterous than a brush or cloth can be.

3: Blast the shoes/boots with a hairdryer. This melts the polish and allows it to run into all the pores of the leather. As well as making shoes look shiny, polish actually prolongs the leather.

4: Repeat 2 and 3 as many times as you can. Dedication will pay off.

5: Apply a little polish to a soft cloth and rub it in small circles on the leather. Apply a lot of pressure to compact the polish into a hard/shiny layer. Use lots of water so that the polish does not rub onto the cloth.

6: As the water evaporates off the cloth and boot, it will reach an optimum amount, whereupon the boot will very rapidly develop a deep and beautiful shine. At this point, stop and change to a light pressure, fast polishing method.

7: To finish, as stated in another tip here, use a nylon cloth. No one knows why but it really works.

As a footnote, avoid silicone based polish like the plague. It shortens the life of your boots.

http://www.ehow.com/tips_31.html

I used to do my boots that way, when I was in tech school. Takes forever, but they do look great. Also, I absolutely hate Kiwi. I don't know if you notice, but the moment you start walking in your shoes/boots, it flakes off. Get yourself a can of Lincoln wax http://www.shoeshinekit.com/listwaxshpo.html and use that. It works so much better, and holds to your shoes a whole lot more than any Kiwi that I've ever used. A tip that I saw somebody else say was get a pair of nylon stockings/hose. Stretch it real tight, and buff your shoe with it like you would the polishing cloth. It'll squeak, but gets a much smoother finish than the cloth would.
For the finishing touch, don't forget about applying heal and toe dressing to get them looking nice and black.
One last thing that some other people tried in tech school, but I didn't. So I can't vouch for it. They applied a layer or two of neutral polish over the black polish almost like a wax to add shine and protect the important stuff underneath. Man, I so need to polish my boots. I've been crawling around on and under floors all week long. Do I ever miss my sweade desert boots...

I forgot- rubbing alcohol takes polish off the boots. So it pretty much works the same way as polishing compound works on our car's paint. It looks great, but you just lost your topmost layer of polish. Just stick with your hose and you'll have a great shine

[ February 17, 2005, 10:43 AM: Message edited by: majeskyb ]

[malice10985]

USMC doesn't have to shine boots anymore. We use fuzzy suede boots now that require no maintenence.
[img]graemlins/popcorn.gif[/img]

[Dojo2000]

Nobody likes an over-achiever, especially in the military.

Once, on a ROTC FTX, this idiot we called "Rambo" tried to shine his boots after lights out. We had done a muddy pre-Ranger obstacle course out on Ft. Bragg that day, so all of our boots were messed up. He wanted to show us all up at morning inspection.

Just get a good, solid base of polish on there. If you're not actually doing anything to scuff/mark them up just use a touch-up sponge to brighten them back up for inspection. Every once in a while polish them back. Heating up the polish is the easiest thing to do without getting too tedious.

[RancidCamaro]

3.4, we can't wear chloroframs til next year :(

Majesky, I've never heard of Lincoln wax. Is it really THAT much better than Kiwi? Is it like:

Lincoln = Zaino?
Kiwi = Turtle Wax?

Malice, you are a lucky fuzzy-shoed bastard!

C.O. Jones, I'm going to buy a hair dryer this weekend and see how that works!

Dojo - You should see the ROTC wieners here. None of them have jobs and most of them have easy majors, so their shoes are like black mirrors. Sons of *****es.

I did not expect this level of response! Thanks for the replies everyone, and keep them coming! [img]smile.gif[/img]