How to Give Your Leather Shoes and Boots a Military Spit Shine (without the spit)

When you dress for success, few things speak more than your footwear. If you go into a job interview or on a first date wearing a scuffed and dull pair shoes it will reflect poorly on your personal grooming habits. So spiff up those shoes and make them shine military style!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Applicator Brush
• Edge dressing
• Hair dryer
• Kiwi Parade Gloss or Lincoln Stain Wax
• Mineral spirits
• Old toothbrush
• Old towels or other rags
• Saddle Soap
• Scrub brush
• Soft white 100% cotton cloth
• Wax Shoe Polish

1. Wash your hands to remove any dirt or natural oils from your skin.

2. If they are fairly new or not very dirty, use saddle soap to clean the footwear. For muddy or extremely dirty boots use a scrub brush and water. Thoroughly dry the pair.

3. Use mineral spirits on a clean rag to strip any old polish layers off.

4. Apply a layer of polish to the footwear using your bare hands or an applicator brush. Don't forget the tongue and the edge of the heel and sole. Use an old toothbrush to put polish along the seam where the upper leather and sole is joined.

5. Use a hair dryer on the hottest setting and slowly move hot air over the footwear to melt the polish into the leather.

6. Repeat the shoe polish application and hair dryer steps for a total of 4 layers of polish.

7. To complete the spit shine, wet the square of cloth and wring it out. It should be wet but not dripping. Wrap the wet cloth around your first two fingers and hold the rest in the palm of your hand. Make sure you hold the cloth tightly so the part at your finger tips will be taut. Place a small amount of the Kiwi Parade Gloss or Lincoln Stain Wax on the cloth over your finger tips. Lightly apply in small, slow circular strokes. Cover the entire leather surface of the footwear. It will take a while but eventually the footwear will have a glossy shine.

8. Use another piece of cloth and remove all traces of polish from the soles. Optionally you can apply edge dressing to the side of the sole.

Tips & Warnings

• If the footwear is new, its best to break them in before beginning these steps
• A clean old t-shirt works great as long as it is 100% cotton and should be cut into a handkerchief sized square.
• Make sure your shoes are made from quality leather that can be polished
• Don't attempt these steps with suede leather or other rough side out leathers
• Make sure you are buying mineral spirits and not paint thinner for stripping old polish layers off

[williamfjordan]

on 11/2/2009 melting the polish with the hair dryer is a key step to a great shine! Thank you for your comments.

[edwardvance]

on 11/2/2009 Now this is a great how to article on shining shoes. I love the part about using a hair dryer to melt the polish into the leather. 5*

[HonestShawn]

on 2/23/2009 Good article. 5*s

[deepthinkin]

on 2/23/2009 I like your article title! And your instructions are perfect. Thanks for posting!

[ampersand]

on 2/20/2009 Great article; thanks!