I bought some shoe polish kits with the tin of polish at the bottom and a large cap that holds the applicator and rag. I only used them a couple times but the polish is already dried out. Anyone have any suggestions for what to put in the polish to make it soft again so it's usable.
A Kiwi shoe polish material safety data sheet says it contains heavy naptha. I would try mixing with a little paint thinner or kerosene to restore the polish.
You can GENTLY heat the polish until it melts, after which it resets as useable polish. BEWARE the risk of fire because naphtha-based polish is highly inflammable.
"Ashton Crusher" wrote
Ponds cold cream. Thin layer then work it in lightly with a toothbrush. Won't damage the surface of the shoe leather. Old Navy trick, so next time you see a big burley sailor or marine getting a jar, just nod as now you know why.
There's lots of other stuff but that one works well and can double as a sunburn treatment if you had one of those long watches and the sun was hitting ya the whole time.
Or just light the shoe polish on fire. had a roommate in ROTC for a while and he always did this to soften up the polish so it'd go on his boots easier.
nate
"Frank" wrote
Not generally recommended (leather damage over time) but you remind me of other tricks. A bic lighter, warm the top a bit and even old wax will melt down at the top layer enough so can be used. That one is real common too.
I think its made from wax and oils, if you heat it to get it soft and add an oil like mineral oil or maybe even a cooking oil it should work. You need to seal it tight, I have polish around 20 yrs that is still soft. It would work now if you heat it, but the oils have evaporated that penetrate and keep leather from cracking so you now have mainly hard wax. Maybe you have boot water proofing oils in your shoe kit that would work as well to soften it up.
Good shoe polish has carnauba wax in it - I know furniture wax with carnauba has mineral spirits as a solvent. I would try m.s. on a small cloth and rub the surface to see if it softens. Stands to reason that a slow-evaporating solvent would be used.
I saw this ins a movie once and it worked really well. First position yourself in a fire safe location.
Now you use ordinary cigarette lighter fuel to wet the top of the wax cake. (Can should be sitting on a flat surface.)
let the fire burn for a few seconds and then place the lid on the can to snuff out the flame.
You will now have a hot very thin puddle of wax. Dip a cloth into the puddle and apply the wax to the shoe leather. More is not better, what you want to achieve is the thinnest coat possible.
While the shoe with a clean portion of the rag to remove excess wax. Now use a shoe brush to brush the wax to a luster. Once you have got the shoe as good as it gets with the brush, now you use the buffing cloth to shine to a mirror finish. Speeding up this process a bit is after the first few swipes with the buff cloth, sprinkle a few drops of water (squirt bottle set to mist works good here) and then finish the buffing.
Around the sole dress with the sole edge dressing and you are ready for inspection!
It also helps to remove as much dirt from the shoes as possible before polishing. Here a damp rag and an old tooth brush work wonders. The trick here is to work fast and wipe often to get the dirt off the leather without saturating the leather with water.
I can remember in the army, slapping a layer on the boot and then using a lighter to melt it into all the cracks and all over the boot.
Well, you don't always do it, but that's the solution for dried Kiwi.
Light it, let it get going pretty fair until the entire surface is lit, then *lay* the lid on top to snuff.
Let cool before use, good as new. -----
- gpsman
You mean that the flash point is less than 100 degrees F? Which is the def'n of flammable.
If you have to heat it over 100F to get it to burn, it's not flammable.
Saliva.
Just add enough naptha or mineral spirits to dampen the top, you can use it right away and keep adding if it gets dry. this works for kiwi.
My army-ROTC roommate in college always set his shoe polish on fire and then put it out with the tin lid before polishing his boots. Actually worked like a charm, and whenever I can be arsed to polish anything i do the same to this day.
nate
Seems like most anything would be more effort than it's worth for a $2 can of shoe polish.
It was a happy day when we graduated from boot camp and transferred to the training center. The PX sold Corframs and we were allowed to wear them.
I think the brand name is actually Corfam, but I could be wrong.
In the Navy one day, the Chief Gunner's Mate was wearing a pair standing in some hydraulic fluid in the gun mount. An officer looking in asked, "Won't that stuff damage your shoes?" (Surprising that he hadn't heard of Corfams.)
Chief just B.S.ed, "No, sir. In fact, hydraulic fluid is what I use to get them so shiny."
You guessed it--the officer ruined a pair of leather shoes following that "advice"
Just add a bit of clear mineral oil and work it in. Small bottles are sold in most drugstores.
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replying to dennisgauge, Irit Luria wrote: Yes, it is cheap stuff that you can just discard and replace. For those who enjoy tinkering with reviving old stuff, here's what I did: I put the can of dried out polish in a soup bowl of boiling water (the can floated) and placed a pot lid on it. The polish started to melt, so I replaced the boiling water a couple of times, placing the lid on it again each time, & the polish melted fully.
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