Informal wax experiment

[qwertydude]

Having been in the navy I do know a thing or two about shining shoes. I recently bought a tin of Johnson's Paste Wax at Home Depot. I figured I could find some uses for it. Upon opening it the smell was powerful and very reminiscent of shoe polish. In fact the can itself says it's good for leather.

So as an experiment I wanted to see if I could shine my shoes with them. And just to see what else was possible I decided to try Collinite 915 on my shoes as well. These are the results side by side. From left to right; navy shoe polished shoe, Johnson's Paste Wax, Collinite 915.

On the left is my control. It's my actual navy issue standard dress shoe. Traditional shoe polish can be layered and polished to the point where the leather is completely covered and no longer visible. It takes a special technique of layering the polish and melting it in with the soft flame of a candle or Zippo lighter and then polishing with a wet cloth and buffing out with old school automotive polishing compound but no other person on base was able to replicate the shine and durability of my shined shoes. Other's have tried but their spit polish tended to crack and flake off and needed complete stripping and repolishing. Mine still has the same shine from 7 years ago since I got out with just regular touch up shoe polishing needed.

Above is a closer look at my shoe polish navy shoes. You can literally see the sharpness of the reflection and note there is no actual visible leather in the toes.

This is actually Johnson's Paste Wax. It definitely can be layered physically one layer on top of another. And built up to quite a thickness which can actually be measured. I tried building it up using the same method I used for my navy shoes. It behaves almost exactly like shoe polish. The layer I built up was comparable to shoe polish but the wax itself is more flexible and just tends to follow the fine countours of the leather preventing the wax from achieving a mirror finish. The benefit is layering it doesn't hide the leather like shoe polish does considering it's a clear polish.

Lastly was Collinite 915. I can say it's a disaster. It turned chalky in the pits of the leather, not as visible in the pics but it's definitely noticeable in real life. It definitely is a slick surface though. But I think I sorta proved to myself and confirmed that you really can't "layer" carnauba car waxes. At most second coats really just improve coverage kinda like Collinite says.

With shoe polish and Johnson's Paste wax you can if you're careful apply multiple thick coats and polish them to a nice bright finish. And it'll actually be a measurable layer of wax. Perhaps it's why it's so good at protecting metal from rusting as it does provide a measurable coating of wax, albeit it's a relatively soft one that can be scraped off. Probably the beeswax and paraffin waxes that allow it to build up, plus it's not as super slick. Which makes it good for flooring too.

Pure carnauba car paste waxes on the other hand like Collinite, I just couldn't get to layer. No matter how carefully I applied, melted and let dry, extra layers on top of the first coat simply wiped off the first one. That first layer seems to be a slick coating preventing more layers of wax from being applied on top of it.

And for all the non-believers out there, this is perhaps the most effective demonstration for wax layering. There's about no other surface that can take to building wax up into thick layers than fine shoe leather. If wax can be truly layered you should be able to measure it. You certainly can with shoe polish and Johnson's Paste Wax. Collinite not at all. Collinite did shine the shoe some and make it slick but it could not for all my shoe polishing and car polishing skill be layered to any measurable thickness.

 

[tom slick]

Now you need to try navy shoe polish and a lighter on your car!

 

[OneEyeJack]

Or try Lemon Pledge for a quick easy shine.

 

[RTexasF]

You must be recently discharged if you have your "Inspection Spit Shined Shoes" still with you. As an old squid I remember those days keeping a special pair in the closet for inspection only.

My current K-Mart sneakers require no polish.

 

[qwertydude]

I was discharged 7 years ago. I keep my navy dress shoes for extra dressy or tuxedo occasions. But I also keep a milder shine on my leather casuals.

They still have their original shine I put on them on the base I was assigned with a little maintenance every now and then. Those Bates are actually quite nice shoes and at $100 a pair for them I certainly am not going to throw them out.

And nope I never kept a separate pair in the closet for inspection. I had two pairs of dress shoes. They were both used for duty. They were just rotated in and out of the closet. It was just a simple matter of wiping them down with a wet rag and they'd look inspection ready if the finish ever got badly gouged I could simply fill them in with polish, a quick run over a Zippo flame and wet rag polish and they were ready for inspection. Once you polish them up right they stayed polished.

Every time I was on duty I'd always have chiefs stop and stare at my shoes because those old school chiefs could spot a real shoe shine vs the corfam stuff which I couldn't stand because they made my feet sweat to no end.

I'm actually glad I finally broke down and bought the Johnson's Paste Wax. I've always seen it on the shelf of various hardware stores since I was a little kid.

It's pretty much just like clear shoe polish. Basically the best for cleaning, shining, and waterproofing any glossy leather. Much easier to work with than mink oil and gives a better shine. The extra heavy solvents also do a decent job of dissolving caked on body grease like on the collars of my motorcycle leather jacket which I just gave a complete polish to. Looks brand new and doesn't excessively soften the leather like the leather lotions and spray on water based stuff.

Now I just gotta let that jacket air dry for a day or so to get the solvent smell out. But boy does it look and feel like brand new.

 

[RTexasF]

My duty as an enlisted Air Traffic Controller involved Dungarees and Boondockers so no such shine was required. Only inspections required such a look but my Boondockers looked inspection worthy daily. I was proud to serve and looked the part.

 

[Errtt]

Some waxes layer better than others. Some have cleaning to prevent layering.
I've also seen folks who wax a car (section) then wipe it off before it has chance to set (haze), and seen some go back an hour, or hours, and the next day to wipe off the waxed layer.

Some polish's (I believe like NuFinish) recommend going back over after 30 days (or a couple weeks - don't remember) not for the reason of building layers, but hopes to hit spots not covered previously (guess at this).

Johnson's - I remember the days we lit the can on fire and poured flaming drips on the floor to have a buffer spread it around. Then go back with another buffer with cut worn army blankets. Then spend all night buffing (with our socks on).
I spent many hours (years ago) spit shining with kiwi & cotton balls. No matter if we did it day or night, on/off duty, we always got paid for it (lol).

 

[Flight_ER_Doc]

I still polish my shoes with Lincoln Stain Wax, and a wet cotton ball. Still works, still looks great (except on my work shoes, which at least still look black).

 

[kballowe]

I believe that the Kiwi shoe polish is basically carnauba wax and mineral spirits, plus dye.

Simple formula, I suppose.

Well, that's what I saw on an episode of "How It's Made" lol

 

[Malo83]

Originally Posted By: Flight_ER_Doc
I still polish my shoes with Lincoln Stain Wax, and a wet cotton ball. Still works, still looks great (except on my work shoes, which at least still look black).

When I was still active in the NAVY I would spit shine my shoes with the 2 finger method, an old Tshirt, kiwi wax and spit off the tongue, came out as shiny as qwertydudes shoes

 

[hardcore302]

I always enjoyed shining my shoes better then the others. It's not as good as yours, but pretty good for the sloppy department I work for.

When you look sharp, people tend to treat you a little better.