Shoe polish removal ??

[Carl]

Is there anything you can use to remove shoe/boot polish from leather ?
I have a pair of 1943 escape boots that have that much polish on them they look awful.

 

[Smithy]

If the leather is in good nick saddle soap will do it Carl.

 

[Pilot]

Had the same problem with some boots...
Tried a lot including warm soapy water...
But the only thing that worked...=
Aceton bath in a stainless steel closed drum...24 Hours....Quite risky...did it in the open...and stopped smoking in the area... but it worked best...Did not affect the boots leather at all. They came out clean as newly issued....Sure not ideal...but the best I could find.

 

[robrinay]

If saddle soap doesn’t work go up one level with a soft lint free cloth damped with white spirit and turn the cloth regularly to spread the wax on the cloth, but don’t rub too hard or the dye will be extracted leaving you with that 1960’s ‘antique’ finish. Acetone is a bit too harsh a solvent for this job.

 

[Pilot]

If saddle soap doesn’t work go up one level with a soft lint free cloth damped with white spirit and turn the cloth regularly to spread the wax on the cloth, but don’t rub too hard or the dye will be extracted leaving you with that 1960’s ‘antique’ finish. Acetone is a bit too harsh a solvent for this job.

Tried the same... no effect... went harsh after that.

 

[robrinay]

If you want to go really harsh try Brasso. I deliberately used it to get the 60’s antique look in the 60’s. It saved me lots of money on a new pair. I also saved by making a leather trucker jacket by sticking leather scraps to a Levi capital E denim jacket aaarrgh!

 

[Pilot]

Before and after with acetonView attachment 29850View attachment 29851

 

[Carl]

Thanks all for the help ! .
I'll try the softly softly approach first!

 

[crism1]

I use Renovator by Saphir. The small glass bottle with the white liquid

 

[Carl]

I use Renovator by Saphir. The small glass bottle with the white liquid

Any link to it ??

 

[robrinay]

Renomat leather cleaner by Saphir? You can get in on Amazon but it’s cheaper here

Renomat

Saphir Renomat 100ml. For stain-removing and in-depth cleaning of the pores of smooth leather, removing dirt marks and deposits of products based on resin and silicone. Renomat can be used to remove all the old shoe polish from your shoes so you can start anew. Essential before using Saphir shoe...

www.distinctly-different.com

 

[Dany McDonald]

Renomat, very interesting I will try this for sure.

''Strip your shoes from old and/or synthetic shoe polish. This cleaner contains just enough solvents to remove shoe polish without affecting the dye in the leather''

I like the ''enough solvent'' part as the problem is that acetone will remove anything right down to the core of the leather... I know I've done this a lot and seen dark brown shoes go pale tan...

An old trick is to very gently heat the leather with a heat gun and gently scrape (plastic is good) the accumulated layers of wax and dirt before wiping with acetone or solvent.

Hope this helps.

D

 

[jack31916]

Before and after with acetonView attachment 29850View attachment 29851

Schöne Gebirgsjäger Schuhe.. and yes Aceton does the trick without affecting the leather much/.

 

[Pilot]

Schöne Gebirgsjäger Schuhe.. and yes Aceton does the trick without affecting the leather much/.

Danke!./ Thanks!. maybe the German gear is sturdier than the others....Tim ( Smithy ) already mentioned something like that in another post.... My Mountain Troops shoes are almost as when issued and can even be worn nowadays ( wont go to party with them anyway).

 

[crism1]

Any link to it ??

I'm sorry if I didn't reply immediately, I was out!

Renomat leather cleaner by Saphir? You can get in on Amazon but it’s cheaper here

Renomat

Saphir Renomat 100ml. For stain-removing and in-depth cleaning of the pores of smooth leather, removing dirt marks and deposits of products based on resin and silicone. Renomat can be used to remove all the old shoe polish from your shoes so you can start anew. Essential before using Saphir shoe...

www.distinctly-different.com

This is the stuff I was referring to. When I started to experiment with shoe polishing I was a newb and I literally crammed my boots with wax - I didn't know had to polish the captoe only. The wax kept coming out of the creases and it looked ugly af. The cobbler here in Milan told me to use Renomat to strip off the excessive waxes. I gotta be honest, a bit of the colour went on the towel I used but, to my surprise, the boot didn't have any faded spots. I should add that those were not the most expensive shoes on the market, probably a better quality leather would stand the stuff even better.

I used it a number of times on other shoes to remove all the waxes as a yearly "renovating" treatment and none of them lost or show faded coloured spots. Make sure to condition the leather after applying this stuff since it dries natural oils too.

PS Here in Italy you can find Renomat pretty much in every mid-tier cobbler

 

[crism1]

An old trick is to very gently heat the leather with a heat gun and gently scrape (plastic is good) the accumulated layers of wax and dirt before wiping with acetone or solvent.

I tried this but the wax bloated the pores so much that kept coming back out of the creases, even after a high number of tries. I obsessively tried the whole evening to remove all the stuff but to no avail. That was the main reason why I jumped on the Renomat. If you use it sparingly there should be absolutely no problem at all.

 

[Smithy]

Danke!./ Thanks!. maybe the German gear is sturdier than the others....Tim ( Smithy ) already mentioned something like that in another post.... My Mountain Troops shoes are almost as when issued and can even be worn nowadays ( wont go to party with them anyway).

German early and mid war kit was often superior to Allied stuff both in design and manufacture. Later war stuff could be a bit hit and miss in quality control but a lot of it was often superior from a design standpoint compared with Allied kit - not everything but a lot of German kit had the edge in technological thinking and design.

 

[Carl]

Maybe if I get some pics of the boots in question, then you might see what I mean ?
Dont want to go ruining them just get them into some sort of order .

 

[Smithy]

If it was me try saddle soap first Carl. It's widely available (especially in the UK) and it's great for cleaning thick hardwearing leather like boots and (unsurprisingly) horse tack. I'd be really amazed if some saddle soap and elbow grease didn't clean them up good and proper.

 

[Dany McDonald]

I tried this but the wax bloated the pores so much that kept coming back out of the creases, even after a high number of tries. I obsessively tried the whole evening to remove all the stuff but to no avail. That was the main reason why I jumped on the Renomat. If you use it sparingly there should be absolutely no problem at all.

Yes of course if too much heat is applied, the wax turns hot liquid and the leather will soak it in it's pores. The trick is to apply heat (just enough to soften the wax) on one area at a time and go quick with the scraper, it's a question of practice. I do this to remove the excess wax/dirt followed by gently wiping with acetone. Acetone applied on thick layered wax will smudge and give so-so results too.

I know that shoemakers use to put shoes in a hot box to melt and remove all the wax, then re-condition or re-dye the leather and re-wax.

Like with anything else, when restoring an object/garment, you have to test, evaluate and then decide whats best. I will definitely give Renomat a try, it's could be a viable alternative to clear acetone .

Dany