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What we used to put on our rugger or footer boots and that I thought was called 'dubbin'?
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Richard Littlejohn always gets to the heart of the matter in brilliant style:
tinyurl.com/5m5jxq
tinyurl.com/4r3qzb
tinyurl.com/6jpso7
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I was wondering what Richard Littlejohn had to say about dubbin, and then I realised ...
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And me. Polished my boots with a discarded copy of the Daily Mail ;-)
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Re the Leder Gris. It is, as has been suggested a form of dubbin. Dubbin has the benefit of of providing waterproofing by soaking into the leather and stitching. It does tend however, to remain fairly unpleasant to the touch and does little to enhance the appearance of the leather. A side effect of such sealing is that the quality of the upper material is negated. Any breathability formerly present in the construction or indeed the leather is stifled. If you simply want the boots to be waterproof it's fine but in my view that effect could have been achieved with a much cheaper upper material treated with the leder gris. I am no biker but the other downside I could envisage is that it will cause the leather to become very slippery when wet.
If the boots have already been pre-treated with this it can be quite difficult to remove. However, there are ways. If you have some petrol lighter fluid, dab some on to a dry lint free cloth. An old pocket hanky is ideal. Gently rub the leather in a slow circular motion with a sparing amount of lighter fluid on the cloth and it will lift the top dressing of the dubbin off. Allow the leather to recover in the dry state overnight in a dry but not too warm place.
Re-treat the leather with a quality wax based shoe polish. Kiwi is one of the best. Avoid the Parade Gloss though, it will shine brighter but is less stable. Apply the polish with a soft horsehair brush working it well into seams, stitching and joins. Allow to stand for a tea break amount of time. Buff off with different clean horsehair brush again paying particular attention to the detail areas previously mentioned. Have another cup of tea. Repeat the application of polish and subsequent buffing with a brush. Find a clean but previously washed yellow duster which has lost all its lint. Gently polish the leather with the duster. Finally take your buffing brush again and skim it rapidly over the leather in a sweeping motion.
Your boots will look fab. They will also be just as waterproof but they will allow your feet to breath and will not slip on the controls. Repeat as often as you can be bothered but always immediately after drying out. Leather is a natural material and dislikes being starved.
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Thank you Humph - Kiwi polish it is - tried and tested in this household, being ex-military on my father's side. He had us bulling our best shoes as kids.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply.
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There you are PU, something for the SWMBO to be getting on with.
Personally I never read the Daily Mail, I would've thought it was too left wing for you as well. ;>)
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Ah I did use the word "discarded" !
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Touche!
Never argue with a lawyer ;>)
Edited by bathtub tom on 23/10/2008 at 00:01
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He had us bulling our best shoes as kids.
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With hot teaspoons and lots of spit?
Always seemed a bit unhygienic to me that army technique. It worked of course, but what finally is the point of getting the garment intended to protect your feet from mud, stones and so on shinier than any other part of you?
I have come to the conclusion that like certain other aspects of military training and comportment, this perverse obsession is designed to make the recruit understand that nothing makes sense and the prudent attitude is to do exactly what you are told. Yours not to reason why.
It makes a good army, but in extreme cases it makes bad men.
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Whatever happened to "spit 'n polish"?
When I was very young my father and uncle were both volunteer firemen.
They used to take us kids down to the station on Saturday mornings and I can remember all the guys rubbing wax polish onto their boots with the handle of a spoon, spitting onto the wax and rubbing again. They'd let the wax dry for a while and then buff with a soft brush and duster. I've never seen shinier boots.
Kevin...
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If you want super shiny shoes, light the polish with a match and let it burn till you have half a teaspoon of liquid. Apply with a cloth and buff.
Presto Hey!
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...If you want super shiny shoes light the polish with a match...
And do the same if you want to burn your house down.
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Er, you either never got the hang of blowing out the candles on your birthday cake as a child, or you're polishing your shoes with hydrogen
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Really good way of upsetting household harmony if you blow hot melted shoe polish too hard in the kitchen !! I would be lucky to escape neutering if that got on the spam fritters and chips.
Cor - Spam fritters and Chips. Haven't been allowed that in 40 years.....Egg and chips too.....proper food........
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 23/10/2008 at 17:21
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>>Cor - Spam fritters and Chips.>>
Had those last night (as a change from bacon grill), but with Rostis (Hash Browns)..:-)
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At Eden Camp, near Pickering, they have a mock-up of a wartime canteen. When we went (a couple of years ago) they had Spam Fritters, and similar wholesome food. The stews all involved dumplings.
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I once experimented with the hot-spoon - melted polish method, unfortunately, i ended up with a lovely pair of shiney shoes but a "blued" finish on one of ex's best silver spoons (how was i supposed to know!). Funnily enough, that was the only spoon i ended up with when we got divorced 2 years later! talk about harbouring a grudge! ;-(
Billy
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