Shoe Polishing - recommendations, process, tips, tricks??? - Page 3

Cleaning Fool · 12-01-07, 09:18

When I was at boot camp in Fort Knox, KY years ago, we would take our Kiwi, light it with a match and let it burn for a minute. It would then turn to a "liquid" state and then we would apply it to our boots. We used the same process to buff our floors, we would take our Johnson and Johnson paste floor wax, light it on fire, blow it out, and pour it on the floor and buff. The floors looked like mirrors and our boots did too. I still shine my shoes this way.

Accumulator · 12-01-07, 10:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cleaning Fool

When I was at boot camp in Fort Knox, KY years ago, we would take our Kiwi, light it with a match and let it burn for a minute..

Yeah, I've heard about doing that. I never did it, worried that it'd burn off the solvents and kill my polish (a tin lasts me a *LOT* longer than it would somebody in the service

and some of my older ones are getting a bit dried out as it is). I find that Kiwi is kinda like #16 in that you can "turn it liquid" with a bit of aggressive action with your applicator,m especially in a hot environment...nothing like you'd get from lighting it up though!

Wonder if Kiwi ever got reformulated over VOC regs

I'll need to buy some more soon and I'd hate to be surprised/disappointed.

Lowejackson · 12-01-07, 11:59

The burning stage does seem to be fairly popular but what are the advantages

bert31 · 12-01-07, 01:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cleaning Fool

When I was at boot camp in Fort Knox, KY years ago, we would take our Kiwi, light it with a match and let it burn for a minute. It would then turn to a "liquid" state and then we would apply it to our boots. We used the same process to buff our floors, we would take our Johnson and Johnson paste floor wax, light it on fire, blow it out, and pour it on the floor and buff. The floors looked like mirrors and our boots did too. I still shine my shoes this way.

With the way some of the Fort Knox soldiers I have known drank, I am surprised they never burned down a barracks down there. Those soldiers were always drinking.

bert31 · 12-01-07, 01:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Accumulator

I dunno...they sure *bead* water great with Kiwi but I don't subject my dress shoes to the elements enough to say if they're really protected or not. When I was teaching and had to wear them while walking around campus, I'd clean/repolish every time I wore them in the winter, but even then they never got all that bad so

These days, my footwear that gets subjected to nasty weather gets oiled/SnowSealed/etc.

So should we refer to you as Doctor Accumulator now?

Accumulator · 12-01-07, 04:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by bert31

So should we refer to you as Doctor Accumulator now?

Heh heh, nah, I don't have the alphabet soup after my name.