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The Ultimate "HARDCORE" Shoe Appreciation Thread (Bespoke only)

patrickBOOTH

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By finish I mean kind of "crust finish" with layers of polish. Like if you have areas that are bulled Lexol destroys that right away. It just takes off a ton of polish. Also, just areas that aren't bulled per se, but have a bit of a spit shine to them and are very shiny. I feel like it takes a bit of time to get that back.
 

isshinryu101

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Now I understand what you mean. Personally, I am not a fan of polish layers as a finish, although I understand that many makers use it (Berluti does, I know). Although it is much more time consuming for the maker, and also more work, I am a much bigger fan of finish through layers of dye. I had no idea of the difference until I sent a pair of shoes for a Ron Rider "antiquing". He used well over a dozen layers of dye, and I'm sure the process took a couple of days, but the result was unbelievable... and extremely durable.
 

patrickBOOTH

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Yeah, he uses dye & polish. He is a big supporter of using cream polishes to color leather.
 

isshinryu101

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Yeah, he uses dye & polish. He is a big supporter of using cream polishes to color leather.


You may want to re-read the thread. The antique finish is achieved mainly through layer after layer of dye. At the very end, cream polish (as well as wax) is used to highlight the permanent (and durable) finish achieved with the dyes.

http://www.styleforum.net/forum/thread/45530/shoe-antiquing

http://www.styleforum.net/forum/thread/45530/shoe-antiquing/15#post_728502

http://www.styleforum.net/forum/thread/45530/shoe-antiquing/30#post_736540
 

meister

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HORNS

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I'm not personally sold on the Saphir products being vastly superior. The difference between "all natural" and "man made" ingredients is often more about marketing than anything else. Even "man made" ingredients are, themselves, comprised of "all natural" parts.

I prefer to use them and form opinions based on that. In terms of conditioners, the litmus test for me has been to take a pair of 60+ year old NOS (which are usually dry as a bone) and condition the leather "back to life". The process usually takes weeks or even months of conditioning (a method learned from our own Meister). When used for this purpose, I've seen absolutely no difference in the results using Lexol & Saphir Renovateur
.


I've got to say that of all the statements about conditioners, I find this one, coming from you, to be the most authoritative - all those old shoes you've posted look like they've been in a 100% nitrogen environment over the decades.
 

meister

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Interesting about DWF's comments on Meltonian. Meltonian is the major shoe creme seller in Australia apart from Kiwi and a bit of Angelus. Cobblers speak highly of Meltonian renovating creme for putting colour back into shoes.
 

Pieceofsand

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How often do you guys bespoke? Seemingly pricy.
 

luk-cha

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Interesting about DWF's comments on Meltonian. Meltonian is the major shoe creme seller in Australia apart from Kiwi and a bit of Angelus. Cobblers speak highly of Meltonian renovating creme for putting colour back into shoes.


the only brand i have used and hated is kiwi, after using a few times it left my hand sore and very dry so i wold hate to see what it does to me shoes

i have only used meltonian cream it is ok but i prefer saphir - a little seems to go a long way with it
 

VRaivio

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shoefan

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This just off the last.

IMG_0451.jpg


IMG_0448.jpg


I am pretty pleased with this pair, though as always many areas for improvement.
 

Michael Ay329

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Adding steel eyelets would be my suggestion....shoe looks fantastic....great Adelaide design
 

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