For Everyone in the military and future fans...

One "shortcut" that really works (and it's more of a trick than a shortcut) is Kiwi neutral shoe polish. Once you have stripped, dyed and brush shined a couple of times, use a diaper cloth wrapped around one or two fingers dipped in water to build up many thin layers of black...your basic spitshine. Once you have those thin black layers, and you've got things really glossy, you can used kiwi neutral to take you over the edge into a glossier, deeper shine than is possible with just black. Use it like you would when spitshining with the black polish. The neutral seems to be a little more scuff resistant and will even out small scuffs and scratches quite nicely.
Also, beware of the peril to which many a knife sharpener and spitshiner fall prey: going one stroke over the line and turning near perfection into complete ruin.
But, the great thing about a really good spit shine is, once it's built up, it really doesn't take much work to maintain.
Al
P.S. Future and other cheats lead to cracking and flaking. Also, edge dressing is great for your "bumpers" but don't use it on your leather.

Al

I never did get the damn boot polishing down myself, and every short cut I tried to take, ended in disaster. I soon had to accept that I couldn't be lazy about it anymore, and spent too many hours shining my boots. Still, there were some people who just have the "knack" for it, and those are the guys who make the most $$$ on the side!!!!

Once they became available I used Corfams during my time in the Navy and Air Force. I used glass wax to cover up scratches. If you are talking about combat boots or high top work shoes the best bet is as stated above - polish - elbow grease - time.

Good luck.

Richard

Richard

Future works great to fix scratches in Corframs, but the best thing for leather is to melt the polish, put it on, then buff it off with a damp rag. Future doesn't work to well on leather over time and like said, can whiten if it gets wet.

/Marine

Ok, so if this turns bad how do I strip down the future? With window cleaner?

Alot of the guys in Basic training tried the Future for polish and although it looked great the first few days, it eventually gave the boot a bluish sheen. The only way to fix it was to strip the boots (not fun to do when you already don't have much time in the training day).

If you sit and spend one half hour a day spit shining your boots, they will look better than the short cuts.

When I got a new pair of boots, I would spend about 2 hours on a weekend spit shining them the best I could, After that you just spend about 15 minutes after work everyday shining out the scuff marks. You only need to do a full job about every montth or so.

Lon

I served in the Air Force, (Security Police Specialist) and did the Future thing too. As I recall it sealed the heat in the boot and the sweat from the feet caused the boots to “salt”, (white crust along the welt and seams).

The method I used was to strip the boot, die the boot black, melt the polish and rub it on, use water and add a lot of elbow grease.

Yeah, thats always the oldest method to light the polish on fire, let it out and apply the goop. I'll just have to find out. So far still good, but I'm going to be walking in them alot tommorow, so I'll have to see if they crack or flake.

QUOTE: hmm, is there something future CAN'T be used for?

I've heard, only heard mind you, I've never tried it myself, that it even does a good job on FLOORS! Now who would have ever imagined that!

I had a roommate at a military academy that was a shoe shining fool. Every time I turned around he was shininig his shoes. He always put a little bit of lighter fluid on the polish, lit it, then snuffed it out (I didn't say he was smart!) It softened the polish and let it penetrate the leather better. His shoes always looked great, gotta give him that!

(And, yes, he once did try putting lighter fluid on the shoes and lighting it, and yes, they did go up in smoke, and yes we did laugh ourselves silly watching)

Don't know if Future will last, but if you want a good shine on shoe polish, buff them with an old pair of panty hose. Really works well.

Why don't you use your "Swanny Sander" to polish your shoes? That's assuming you have the new and improved velcro attachment method.

hmm, is there something future CAN'T be used for?

My brother said that some guys in his boot camp in the Marines used it. It puts a great shine on, but if the boots get wet, they'll turn white. That's the only info I have on it though. Wish I could be of more help.