Remove black polish from brown shoes

[Wesley]

Whats the best way to remove blobs of black liquid shoe polish which have dripped onto brown leather shoes?

[geoff]

In message , Wesley writes

Angle grinder

[newshound]

I don't think the liquid shoe polish penetrates leather to any great extent; I would start with white spirit, then try whatever organic solvents you have to hand: acetone (nail varnish remover), MEK (cellulose thinners), meths, IPA (rubbing alcohol).

[PeterC]

That was 2009; last year was pressure washer (might be better in this case). What are we going for this year, BTW?

[Peter Watson]

WD40 of course!

[fred]

DO NOT use cellulose thinners. It will likely strip all colour from the leather. (Did for me)

Paul Mc Cann

[Tabby]

I presume teh OP doesn't have a stock of solvents, or would have tried them. I'd try paraffin first, or white spirit.

NT

[Andy Dingley]

Don't use solvents!

Solvents will dissolve the stain and make it mobile, thus encouraging it to spread and soak in.

A better approach is to scrape mechanically, so that you remove the black wax without spreading it in further. Work gently, and try not to work it further into the leather.

If you then switch to a solvent approach, you need to work inwards with the spot to avoid spreading it, and to have a clean, dry paper towel (or cotton bud) to absorb the dirty solvent, rather than the solvent carrying the stain into the leather.

[Tim Downie]

One of these maybe?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Hot melt glue.

[Steve Firth]

Air compressors + many, many tools.

My toolshed currently runneth over. Air tools are just so cheap compared to electrical ones.

[ARWadsworth]

Sonic screwdriver?

[Steve Firth]

Cool, it seems to do everything. But the cheap Chinese clone that I bought at W H Smugs is clearly broken, it just makes a noise and flashes a blue light.

[PeterC]

What?

[newshound]

This assumes it is a stain! I agree that "shoe dyes" are stains, but the black liquids seem to me to be more like a paint, i.e. an inert pigment in some sort of resin dissolved in solvent. I judge that from the way they don't seem very effective at changing the colour of scuffed areas, other than by masking.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Dr Who?

[John Williamson]

That's your answer. The new version has a green light, which is needed to work with the new, upgraded, TARDIS. The blue ones are no longer compatible.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember PeterC saying something like:

Hoist.

[ARWadsworth]

Well bugger me. They actually do make ones that work as a normal screwdriver.

And it has a green light!

[ARWadsworth]

Well bugger me. They actually do make ones that work as a normal screwdriver.

And it has a green light!