The Crispin Colloquy

Fantastic!! Nasser, Thank you for taking the time to share this.

Regards,
-Nat

Thanks Nasser, Ive been messing with some scraps practicing finishing so Ill have to try that.
What excactly are blooms???

Cody

you are welcome gentlemen, Cody, "blooms" The true meaning when used in the leather trade is "yellow powder found on leather after tanning" but in this case i am buying the old leather from a friend, There were some whitish-grey spots on few of the skins which i called/thought to be mould but my wise friend insisted they were blooms, so that's where the word came from.

Cheers
Nasser

I have had hiking boots that had been well sealed with snoseal wax develop an off-white bloom after some years of storage. The wax works its way out to the surface and seems to make kind of a crystalline growth there. You can tell the difference as blooms don't smell like mold. They have only a leather smell. Glad to hear of a none solvent way to fix it.

Rosemary,
Ive seen that before on my shoes that I put mink oil on. Im not sure the egg white would work as the snow proof is kinda oily right? I think the blooms Nasser is talking about are kind of water soluble. Am I right Nasser?.

Take what I say with a grain of salt though. Im a total beginner

Cody

Rosemary,

I don't know what's in the snoseal wax, I have not seen it in a long time but if it is oily,you may first want to remove as much of it as possible by mixture of water and little soap,use a sponge or cotton cloth and squeeze the extra liquid out of it,you just want to treat the surface of the leather, let it dry and than apply the egg white solution for lustre.

Nasser

Thought this might be of interest to people:

http://glenkarencare.com/gkcp/

"I finally got my first look at GlenKaren products. I'm more impressed than ever. The paste wax goes on so smooth and yet builds up so quickly. Glenjay had a pair of Lobbs that he spit-shined with the GlenKaren paste and they looked terrific. Lots of carnuba.

The cream waxes are a little stiffer than Saphir or Meltonian but they went on my alligator/calf balmorals easily and a minute or two later I was buffing it to a good shine. The GK creams use orange oil as a solvent and it evaporates three (?) times faster than turpentine, but is a better solvent and cleaner than turp.

The cleaner and conditioner took a little longer than the cream to penetrate the leather...as would be expected...but when it dried, it buffed up nicely. It also picked up dead/oxidized black polish from the shoe (cleaning) which I saw on my fingers. I used my fingers to apply all of the product...except the paste while spit shining...and it was nice to know that I wasn't absorbing petroleum distillates through my skin.

One nice thing, too, is that there's two to three times as much product in the little jars as with either Saphir or Meltonian. Yet the amounts needed (and recommended) are probably half of what you need for other products. And if you use your fingers you won't be applying more cream to the cloth than to the shoe. One of these demi-jars is gonna last a good long time.

I am quite enthusiastic about GlenKaren products and intend to include a jar with every shoe order.

Anyway...first impressions...but I just don't see a downside."--DWFII 21 Aug 2013 for StyleForum

I am wondering if anyone knows of the best or most superior product for finishing heel and sole edges. I am looking to get the most brilliant or highest shine with such a product and also something that won't chip or scratch off easily. I have heard of such products like 'Brytaline', 'Quick-Stain", 'Yankee-Wax'. What is the best product that is out there or at least the product people have had the most success with? Also, on my heels and edges I use shellac as a leather hardner, I apply the finishing product to the shoe after one or two applications of shellac. I would appreciate some comments and what product people have had the most success with!!

I have seen some brilliant finishes on sole and heel. I can glace' an outsole but have never gotten the kind of high shine on the heel and edges of the outsole that i would like...that, as I said, I have seen. That said I am pretty sure most of the top shoemakers in Europe don't really use anything special--just sanding or scraping, dye and a lot of wax and rubbing.

I myself would be interested in hearing other approaches.