Polishing leather footwear - my boots need some serious tlc...any tip?

[treacletart]

I'm a slattern and I hardly ever polish my shoes. I bought some nice black leather boots in October and they look dreadful already - I've only polished them 3 times and they didn't really look much better for polishing anyway. Gave up on Kiwi "quick intense shine" stuff - total waste of time and money, I'm back to good old fashioned tins and brushes. But is there anything I can do to help the process? - guess I'm looking for some sort of overnight treatment or magic home remedy...

When I was a child my dad used old fashioned polish and brushes (Kiwi or Cherry were the brands irrc)

He would put a layer of polish on, rub in roughly with a brush and then get a lighter to burn the polish on (only for about 5 seconds). Add a little bit more polish and finish off with a soft cloth until shiny!

Smother with 'real' polish and leave on over night, then brush up. Works on my Ds's.

Oh, and make sure there is plenty of fresh air when you are doing it - I an still remember the rather unpleasant smell/fumes of shoe polish

I'm thinking about perhaps melting some polish in the microwave to give it a head start feeding the leather... waddyareckon??

Dunno, I don't put any non food items in the microwave

Lakeland do a fab polish. It comes in a biggish tub with a little sponge. Rub it on, leave to dry and your soes will be very shiny. I loathe cleaning shoes but it's easy with this. And if I could rememnert its name, that would be just great!

I'll check it out.. In the meantime I've been googling and I'm going to try smearing them liberally with polish and then using a hairdryer on them to help melt the polish in... will report back

NO! don't do that! it's petrolium based I believe, so may be dangerous!

In the microwave I mean!

hi..if you microwave or heat the polish it will not sink in you will just change its properties and will end up 2bulling2 boots as it is commonly known in the forces, just polish them each night for a week, did you not feed them before you wore them? i have had the same boots for 4 years and they have only just began to show signs of giving up on me! even if you use pledge or some sort of household polish it will do the same thing.

Leave over night with polish on. Then add more polish, get a saucer with a few drops of water. Soft cloth. Dip cloth in a little water and a little polish and use a finger in small circles until shiny. Could you give this chore to someone. We have decided it's DH's job until Ds grows a little.

Use that "Parade" polish in a little round tin. Put it on with the brush, leave it a bit then brush it in, then polish shoes with a soft cloth. The shine is amazing.
Ds has to have shiny shoes for Boys Brigade and if it makes his school shoes look good then it can do anything!

Well I sort of followed this advice. Lots of polish, hairdryer, then polish with damp soft cloth in little circles for ages and they look so much better. Just need to do it more regularly....

Oh yes I fogot the old hairdryer trick. I haven't had to bull my shoes for years. Must get back into the habit asit looks very smart. Sadly the body under the uniform now doesn't look as neat as it once was

Ooh! just remembered that RENAPUR is excellent for anything leather! Will bring any old shoes back to life in a simple wipe and makes them waterproof too!