The Butler's Guide to Running the Home & Other Graces by Stanley Ager & Fiona St. Aubyn

Author:Stanley Ager & Fiona St. Aubyn [Ager, Stanley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780385344715
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2012-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

POLISHING SHOES

It takes under four minutes to polish a pair of shoes—one minute to put on the polish, one minute to work it in, one minute to polish and half a minute or so to rub with the chamois.

EQUIPMENT: To polish shoes you need two brushes, a soft rag for applying polish and a genuine oil-dressed animal skin (not simulated) chamois leather. The first brush (which I refer to as the putter-onner) works the polish into the shoe; this prevents the buildup of excess polish which would cling to the bristles of your second brush, the polishing brush. The polishing brush brings up a shine. The chamois leather adds a much deeper shine and removes any remaining polish that could rub onto trouser cuffs or stockings.

POLISH: Shoe cream is usually sold in jars; wax polish is solid and comes in cans. Both are colored to match different shades of leather. Shoe cream preserves leather and keeps it supple, and wax polish creates a protective film and is water-resistant, so you should use cream and wax polish alternately. Kiwi wax and Meltonian cream are both excellent polishes. Saddle soap cleans leather but does not leave a shine like shoe cream or wax polish. Wax polish should be used to cover scratches.

Remove marks caused by accumulated polish with a transparent wax such as Kiwi Light Tan. Rub it very hard into the spot with a corner of a duster wrapped round your forefinger. If, after you have removed the spot, the color of the leather is lighter, rub the area again with a wax polish that is a shade darker than your shoe. A second cleaning will also add to the shine.

BRUSHES: In the old days we used three brushes on shoes—one hard, one less hard and the other a soft bristle. The first type, the dirt brush, is available today and so is the second which we used for putting on polish. But this type of brush is now also sold as a polishing brush, whereas I always polished with a long fine bristle brush. I have had mine for over fifty years and it is still in mint condition.

Nowadays you can apply polish with either a small circular brush that has a long handle or with a second “polishing” brush. Both are adequate, but if you use a polishing brush as a putter-onner, you should mark it as such to avoid confusion. In time, the bristles will become shorter and harder with wear, while the bristles of the polisher will stay the same length, since polishing is done with a lighter stroke.

CLEANING THE BRUSHES: Neither the polishing brush nor the putter-onner should ever be washed or allowed to become wet, which would make the bristles turn soft and mushy. They should need only occasional cleaning because there should never be too much polish on them in the first place. I clean brushes by brushing them on brown paper. I wrap a double layer of brown paper (dull side up) round the edge of a table.

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