Getting good shine on boots

[NewFireWife]

Any good tips for getting recruit academy worthy shine on station boots? Even with parade polish, they haven't been up to par. Would love suggestions.

[fire49]

Join the military

They teach you how to shine them good

[fire49]

Why are they saying they are not up to par???


I take mine to a professional

Spit on them

[NewFireWife]

There are professionals for that??

It's academy- so they're looking for reasons to be rough on the guys. But uniform inspection has been a bit rough because my husband and I polish those boots every night and they still say they're not good enough the next day. He bought every product in the store yesterday and I cleaned them, conditioned them, and then put on 3 layers of the shiny black wax. So here's hoping it's enough today.

But maybe I'm just missing something....? Some fire service trick? So spitting, huh? Is that in place of polish, or just before polish?

[NewFireWife]

Oh, and I guess the specific complaints, as far as we can tell, are that 1) the toes have little chips of leather missing because they have to do pushups in them, and 2) there are wrinkles in the leather where the toe meets the upper, kinda by the laces. But they are shiny wrinkles! Is there like a filler, Or something, we should be using on these areas?

[DCFDRescue2]

Here is a link to a good tutorial on getting your shoes shiny:

http://www.cadetstuff.org/how_to/200...tt_bulling.htm

I read through it briefly and it seems to be similar to the method I used while in the 82nd Airborne.

As for your situation:

I think that 3 coats of polish is not quite a good enough base for a good shine.

The scuff mark on the toes from pushups is an unavoidable fact of academy life.

The wrinkles near the laces are perfectly normal and if you try to do anything other than just shine that part of the boot with polish you're setting yourself up for some tremendous headaches later on.


I would just resign myself to the fact that whoever is running the class is just trying to be a hardass and shoes are an easy target when everything else is going well.

[NewFireWife]

Thank you! Thank you! That link was awesome! I had no idea you were supposed to spit in the wax. I had just been following the directions on the kiwi can. And he says to not use parade polish at all. So that's new too. As far as I could tell, you actually dab the polish filled rag on your tongue? Like lick it? So I guess that means that if the recruit's wife is pregnant, he'll be shining his own boots...lol! I pass on the article to him. Thank you!

[fire49]

Did you buy the shoes or were they furnished??


If you bought them, buy another pair, so you can shine one while he wears one

Yes shoe shining is a paid profession , you can check some of the shoe repair shops, some also do shining

The wrinkles are a little picky !!!

[NewFireWife]

They were furnished. But I do know where we could get another pair.

I think the wrinkles are picky too!

[fire49]

Guess you have never heard about """" Mother's spit""

http://www.dailydiatribes.com/?p=181

[fire49]

I think I would invest in another set of boots with two yo three more months of school to go
I know it seems like school cost alot, but once out it is all profit

Also shoes are tax deductible if you are able to file long form

[NFD-Firefighter]

so did you get em to shine? You could try using a different brand of polish

[NewFireWife]

He's at academy with my attempt from last night. So I'll be using these tips when he gets home tonight.

As far as mother's spit- I'm sure my spit would be magically wonderful. But I'm sure my OB wouldn't suggest adding kiwi wax to my nutritional intake. haha.

[DCFDRescue2]

Thank you! Thank you! That link was awesome! I had no idea you were supposed to spit in the wax. I had just been following the directions on the kiwi can. And he says to not use parade polish at all. So that's new too. As far as I could tell, you actually dab the polish filled rag on your tongue? Like lick it? So I guess that means that if the recruit's wife is pregnant, he'll be shining his own boots...lol! I pass on the article to him. Thank you!

I used to dab my rag with polish on it in cold water, I'm not down for licking a rag full of polish either!

Also, good for you for helping your husband out during his recruit school! While it is a super enjoyable and pride filled time for him, it's also stressful. Life after the academy is much easier.

[fire49]

If you wish to use the water, then fine, but for this demonstration, I will use my tongue. Dab the pad of your finger (with the duster with the polish on it) onto your tongue. Start applying the polish again in a circular motion. Whenever you feel the pressure or roughness coming back, apply more liquid to the cloth not to the boot itself. Spitting on the boot puts too much liquid on.


Have not heard about polishing your tongue, usually see spit applied to shoe itself

[fire49]

Youtube. Also has some videos under shoe shining


Just think you may have discovered a new job for yourself

Guess you have never seen """ an officer and gentleman""""

[snowball]

So nobody burns their polish in anymore?

[FWDbuff]

So nobody burns their polish in anymore?

I was going to ask the same thing. I used to put on a thick layer of polish, buff it in a little bit, and then hit the boots (lightly!) with a propane torch or hold them over the burner of a gas range. Heat up the wax, which helps it penetrate into the nooks and crannies, and then buff the schit out of them. Works every time.

And working on two Navy bases and an Army Base, I can't even begin to tell you how many smoke detector runs we went on between 1800-2100 for the exact above reason.

[CaptOldTimer]

Any good tips for getting recruit academy worthy shine on station boots? Even with parade polish, they haven't been up to par. Would love suggestions.

Station boots were never meant to be or have a high gloss shine to them.

Apply some boot polish to the uppers, buff them and go on about the business.

As far as a Military Spit shine, buy some low quarters that are already made than way and he or she can wear them with the FD Uniform. Otherwise, just forget trying to get a gloss shine on work boots!

[Northern Lights FF]

The only way to get boots that weren;t meant to be "highly shone", smooth and shiny is to heat a large soup spoon and using the smooth underside, rub in gentle circles...this takes out the wrinkles, bumps and texture of the leather.......

After that build up a good base of polish, then as others have said apply the polish using a small amount of water ( usually kept in the lid of the polish can) and working in continual small circles......it's a SLOW process but really the end results are worth it.

It sounds to me like this Academy should simply put the effort into having the recruits READING texts etc.........a very quick uniform inspection would be the more normal route....spending that much time and effort on polishing boots seems pretty contrary. Military, YES...Fire Academy...NEH, better things to learn.....

Good luck though