What are your boot shining "SECRETS"???

[mirage2887]

Hey fellas, I haven't been on here in a while due to being busy studying my butt off here at FLETC at the BPA Academy.

I'm pretty good at making mirrors with my boots but I wanted to see what everyone else's techniques are.

I use cotton balls dabed in a little water, apply evenly everywhere then I take a lighter to the toe an heel. Then its all elbow grease from there.

[jarhead714]

All you need is regular black Kiwi, not parade gloss. Use the insided of an old undershirt, white, greeen, brown, color doesn' matter. Put two fingers (2 only) inside and wrap up using only one layer of the shirt. Put a little water in the lid of the polish and get to it using small, circular motions. Use mimimal water. After you get a decent coat on there switch from water to your breath and use less polish. Change the position of your fingers often. A lighter is only necessary on colder days or if the polish is harder or older. If you want to get crazy you can use floor polishing wax in the same manner afterwards or even Mop & Glow but it's not real good for the wax or the leather and you'll have to eventually strip the whole thing and do it again.

[TASK, LLC]

I have had good results from Angelus shoe polish.

jarhead714 has a good technique which is basically the same that I use.

[ncortez11]

One thing to keep in mind, is the type of boot and leather quality. Bates for example, are almost impossible to shine. Some leather brand boots are super easy while others are not.

[prc104]

Instead of a lighter, I use a heat gun to get an even "melt" all over. Don't overdue it with the heat gun.

Do your shining, then finish shine with an old piece of panty hose. It steps up the shine to the next level. Keep some with you to touch up during the day.

Then of course, if your boots are shinier than everyone else's you'll get yelled at anyway.

[micro911]

I used to use good ol' Marines spit shine with cotton balls. It takes too much time, though. So, now I just use brush and polish.

[LeadSlinger585]

I've had good results using saddle soap and rubbing it on dry.

[BamBam-31]

Use jumbo cotton balls from Target. Some of the guys from my Academy like Lincoln, but I like regular old Kiwi. I also use lots of water and finish with water vapor from my breath. Change cotton balls often, clean off dust and dirt from your boots prior to polishing, and don't get dust or dirt in your polish. Dump the polish and get a new tin if it gets too old, new polish works better. Heat guns work great for smoothing it out and getting into the creased areas. I also use a little tire dressing on the edge of the soles for graded inspection days.

[Ubermcoupe]

kiwi polish + cotton + a little bit of water + time.

I follow the “spit shine” method and go a couple layers. The last layer I let sit overnight and buff off in the AM before I take them out.

The best tip I found to shining shoes is to keep them shined.

I’ve heard of the pantyhose trick but have yet to try it.

[trob]

I use cotton balls, a cup of warm water, regular kiwi for 5 coats as a base, then finish with kiwi parade gloss. When I went to the academy, I had people from other departments recognize me solely because of my boot shine. They said stuff like "were you at our dept about a month ago? when you left, no one had any idea what you looked like, all we could talk about was your boots"

For the base coats, I use a heat gun in between layers and wait 5+ minutes for it to harden before starting a new layer. For the finishing layer, apply a coat of the parade glosss over the whole boot, when its ready to start polishing, use a ton of water on the cotton ball. Let the weight of the cotton ball and water do the work, don't push down, just push the cotton ball around. Let it glide over. Make sure you are seeing a long "snail trail". That tells you you have the right amount of water and pressure.

After you get the base coats done, all it takes is 15 minutes and one layer of parade gloss to get them "work ready"

[mirage2887]

Woow lots of techniques to try out. Thanks guys

[Thomas1190]

Kiwi polish, old T-shirt, spit (I feel works better than water imo) and for the final polish a woman's panty hose. Lol Once its all done put the boot or shoe between your knees, one hand on each end of the panty hose and polish away. I always kept a leg of panty hose in my back pocket for an on the spot, quick shining before inspection etc.

[Hoopty]

A 6 inch buffer, terry cloth pads, spray bottle. Rub polish on with t-shirt, wet terry cloth buffer (lightly damp). Use buffer going back and forth until boots or shoes shine! (Higher speed buffers are better).

[SVT-40]

The "panti-hose" trick works great. It can also be used to buff out a scuff if you get one during the day while at the academy. Just keep a small folded up section inside your sock in case you get a scuff.

[urbancommando]

Hairdryer works too