**The Official Shoe Care Thread: Tutorials, Photos, etc.**

[troika]

My, much loved, Carlos Santos, hand patinated, shoes have developed a problem.The 'pointy' edge of one of the (half) insoles has slightly come away from the inside of the base of the shoe. I used Super Glue to stick it back down. After doing this, I held it in place for a few minutes, before inserting its shoe tree. All was fine until - the next day, halfway round the town, I realised it had come loose again. I wonder if this happened because the point of the insole is where the shoe bends.

Given that I almost terminally stuck my fingers together, I assume that Super Glue really is sticky stuff. Could a cobbler fix this with some other product or am I destined to live with my imperfect shoe? Yours, slightly miffed, Munky.

Leather is porous so super glue won't work on it at all, you should use shoe goo. For the record this is a super common issue with all shoes that have a half insole

 

[Munky]

Leather is porous so super glue won't work on it at all, you should use shoe goo. For the record this is a super common issue with all shoes that have a half insole

Thank you very much for this, Troika. I really appreciate it. Best wishes, M.

 

[EnglishShoes]

Munky, I believe superglue can become very brittle when dry so doesn't take kindly to flexing. I used some Evo-stik impact glue for some basic shoe repairs which seemed to work OK.

Perhaps more importantly, I hope you regained the separation of your digits!

 

[Blake Stitched Blues]

@Munky I've had this issue with the sockliner coming undone on a pair of Sanders. I used some Klebfest shoe repair glue and they haven't budged since. £3 on eBay.

 

[Munky]

Thank you for your suggestions, guys! I think, though, that I will take them to a good cobbler that we have in town. Yes, I just about have my thumb and finger separated, though it was a close run thing. Thanks again, Munky.

 

[seer]

Hello, I suspect that this has been discussed but I can't find it. Is there any advise on what I could use on aged bark leather (Viberg) without darkening too much? Thanks.

 

[mddimi]

I've just bought Saphir medaille d'or dark brown over eBay. Earlier I've bought light brown in a local store. It seems to me that the dark brown is fake. It has a different lid, print on the jar is of lower quality, on the light brown it is a raised print, you can feel it when you go over with your finger while on the dark brown it is a regular print and less precise. When you open the plastic lid on the light brown there is another white paper-like lid, in the dark brown this is absent and the lid is metal. The most distinguishable difference is the smell. Dark brown smells nothing like the light brown. I don't know how to describe the smell of the light brown for which I believe to be an original but the dark brown smells like Absinthe or better yet like Ouzo (Greek drink) which is interesting because I've ordered it from Greece. What do you think? If nothing else can someone attest how does original dark brown smell?

 

[EnglishShoes]

Most of my jars have the plastic lid but my latest jar (Mid brown) has the metal lid like yours. I think they have just changed the packaging and the newer version is the one with the metal lid.

Can anyone else confirm?

 

[Chowkin]

Most of my jars have the plastic lid but my latest jar (Mid brown) has the metal lid like yours. I think they have just changed the packaging and the newer version is the one with the metal lid.

Can anyone else confirm?

Same experience here

 

[Christian GV.]

They have different smell because of their colour compounds. I find that all cremes from Saphir smell differently. I have both the metal and plastic lid versions, I can confirm as well.

Hope this was helpful.

 

[josef1]

As for me, I've only had the metal lids and I ordered years ago through Meermin Mallorca, and more recently from an official distributor here in my country. It could probably be a change in packaging, or packaging supplier differences around the world.

I wish I received the plastic ones though, the metal ones can slightly deform and not close properly Happened with my Renovateur haha

 

[Munky]

It would be a complicated scam if one of the products was 'fake'. The cost of reproducing the cream, the bottle and the labels would cut into profits in a big way. Like the others, above, I imagine that the brown pot of cream is genuine.

 

[SartorialStudent]

So.... I kinda screwed up...
I´m quite new to shoeshining and yesterday I was supposed to polish my black cap toes for my sisters graduation which is tomorrow. They already had a bit of a shine but I also saw that there were som cracking on the cap, so I decided to try and melt the polish with a lighter since I read that it might help(not on this forum though). Tadaaa, the cracking disappeared but it was impossible to get a good shine, tried for an hour or so and nothing happened. So today I did the full monty with renovateur, pommadier cream and then some pate de luxe. Not working at all, see pic. Don't have the time, or the equipment, to strip the whole shoe. Any advice on what to do? Would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Nat Jag]

So.... I kinda screwed up...
I´m quite new to shoeshining and yesterday I was supposed to polish my black cap toes for my sisters graduation which is tomorrow. They already had a bit of a shine but I also saw that there were som cracking on the cap, so I decided to try and melt the polish with a lighter since I read that it might help(not on this forum though). Tadaaa, the cracking disappeared but it was impossible to get a good shine, tried for an hour or so and nothing happened. So today I did the full monty with renovateur, pommadier cream and then some pate de luxe. Not working at all, see pic. Don't have the time, or the equipment, to strip the whole shoe. Any advice on what to do? Would be greatly appreciated! View attachment 985909

That just looks like a brand new shoe with no wax, which does take time to build up again. I have recently melted the wax in the tin, just enough to apply the initial layers with my hands. You can get it on thicker that way. You will need to let it dry a little before puffing then reapply your final layers with a cloth.

 

[SartorialStudent]

That just looks like a brand new shoe with no wax, which does take time to build up again. I have recently melted the wax in the tin, just enough to apply the initial layers with my hands. You can get it on thicker that way. You will need to let it dry a little before puffing then reapply your final layers with a cloth.

Thank you for the answer!
Yeah it kinda does, but I assure you that there's loads and loads of products on the cap. I also notice that when I try to polish it almost never "dries" or stops streaking, which I learnt that it has to do to add additional layers. Sorry for being unclear, english is not my native tongue.