A COMPLETE, DETAILED, & UNCUT GUIDE TO A MIRROR SHINE: A GUARANTEED SHINE 

As a former Marine I was shocked at how fast it came up to a shine. I was told to have mirror shine but never told how, We had to find out on our own. I wish I had this video back in the 70s, LOL

I'm retired Army. This has a couple of unnecessary steps in my opinion. First, you don't need alcohol, gloves, or ice to get a glass shine. You just need a tshirt, wax, and water. Using the damp tshirt to apply your wax in layers and in circular motions is all you need. The key is a damp cloth and wax. If you want your whole shoe or boot to be very similar, do the same thing all over. A secret from a Vietnam veteran I met in basic training is a nylon stocking. Put it over your hand and buff it lightly. Trust me.

I'm a former Royal Marine, wish I could have seen this in 1962. We just used Kiwi and spit to get a mirror gloss finish. I still mirror shine my shoes. I now have Saphir wax polish and get a better shine in a shorter time. So thank you for the tips

Navy veteran here. This video should be required viewing for all new recruits. Just 50 years to late for me to benifit from its obvious success for the perfect shine. The time this would have saved me back then.

Where the hell was this vid when I was in the police academy 20 years ago? Wife just asked me what's so interesting about watching some guy on RU-vid polishing shoes. Some people just don't understand. 😂😂😂

Fascinating!! I have learned how to shine shoes, and I am 78 years old!!!

I am a highschool student with minimal funds but I love to dress nice, what I started doing was buying second hand suits and oxfords then altering them to fit my size, but I could never get the shoes to match the level of care in the suit, finally this video has allowed me to take those shoes to a whole new level

Thank you as a police officer for the past two years I still like to put a shine on my boots. Helps with looking professional on the job. So thank you.

So, you are the Bob Ross of shoes. Just to let you know.

In the Navy I learned to put a mirror shine on my shoes and boots (completely). At a new command we had an inspection and I pulled out my leathers and they didn't look great from storage but I felt lazy and they still looked darn good. At inspection it came down to me and this other guy and the inspector finally gave it to the other guy saying his shoes looked just a tad better than mine. My LPO pointed out mine were leather and the other guy had corframs. He couldn't believe it. So I got top on the inspection. Just my bragging rights story. 😁

Ex UK Military here, I did recruit and basic training in the early 90s, we did this with basic Kiwi polish and one of those yellow cotton dusters, it took a little longer but we had to keep going until we got rid of the orange peel texture of the leather on the toe caps and you had that glassy mirror finish. The rest of the shoe was also super shiny but not the same as the toes. People would develop thier own methods, messing about spreading it on thick and melting it with lighters etc, but these shortcuts would often end up cracking and flacking off as you walked/marched. I used to get that mirror finish with the kiwi polish and the yellow duster wrapped around a finger like you, but i'd finish them off with cotton balls and running the caps under the cold tap, no polish, just using the cotton ball and cold water. Some people would mess about later and try using black paint etc but you could always tell, and so could the drill staff... happy days... The smell of kiwi polish, starch and Brasso takes me right back to basic training, and the sulphery smell of cordite, and gun oil, and floor wax, sand bags, hessian, the back of landrover, green canvas 12x12 tents, wet cam nets.... the list goes on... its funny how smells trigger memories.

45 years ago when I started military career I experimented with all kinds of mirror shine methods using alcohol, setting fire to wax to melt it in, blow dryers, store bought mirror shine dressings, and all the rest. Ultimately I just settled on a piece of t-shirt wrapped around two fingers, Kiwi black boot polish, Kiwi lid half-filled with water, and some intense elbow grease. Pretty quickly got the hang of how much shoe polish is enough and not too little or too much, the same with the water. Once I got the shoes or boots mirror-shined the first time it was usually not hard to bring it back. My office low quarters took only a few minutes to top up, boots took a little longer.

I really like that comment...”the Bob Ross of shoes”. Fits perfectly

Humans have such a large variety of likes, interests, hobbies and skills. I love watching masters at their craft, doing what they do best. 👍

As a former Drill Sgt and Infantry, we never use alcohol on leather, eventually it will break down the leather and it will start peeling over time. Saturate the baby diaper, squeeze to medium dry, no dipping. Top off with a natural shoe polish and there you have. A glass shine Ready for inspection 👍🏾

Hey I’m in JROTC and I’m a freshman/ NS1 and this is amazing my senior chief was very impressed and my commander was impressed, thanks you very much👍👍

I learned this in the Army many years ago. Good tutorial. For the ultimate finish, neutral wax applied with a cotton ball usually gave me the best results. The test was to hold a ruler to the toe cap (with the zero end closest to the footwear) and see if you could read the 12 inch marking on the opposite end in the reflection.

Army vet here, excellent video. Although I was required to shine my boots, I never did. Didn't know how. But, I could draw, and guys in the unit wanted artwork for their girls... they'd ask for a design, I'd hand them my boots. I have since learned to shine my own boots but, until this video, didn't know how to get that mirror shine. Thank you.

So being a marine doing spit shine, I always wondered why my shine would come out better while drinking....

As a former Marine, I'm thankful to have an old timer who showed me how to shine...... As much as people hated it, I took pride in mine.....

Very similar to how my dad taught me, sans the ice and alcohol. He was Vietnam era Navy, I was Desert Storm era Navy, and now my daughters are in NJROTC. Passing the tradition of a mirror finish spit-shine. Nice shoes, sir.

I’m in Rotc and when I did this for my uniform inspection my instructor thought I bought those shiny shoes whatever there called he didn’t believe me so he asked how I found this I said some random person on RU-vid had a very good explanation

This brings back so many good memories of my father teaching me how to shine his Sunday shoes. He was a very particular man in regards to his shoes and challenged me, his daughter, to match his skill level. The pride I felt when I passed his inspections still chokes me up a bit. Thank you for this video.

I don't think I will ever shine my shoes, let alone mirror shine. HOWEVER, I am deeply impressed by your passion for what you do, your love for it, your competence, and your humbleness when teaching. I will for sure use your method if ever decide to polish my shoes. Congratulations, I loved your video and your passion for something so simple, very inspiring.

Preston, you say that you're not the best shoe shiner in the world. Of the many that I've watched on RU-vid, though, you are definitely the best!

When I was Naval boot camp, I loved shining my boots in my down time. There is something very meditative about it.

In the RAF I used spit and a cloth initially but graduated to using cotton wool and a dripping tap. Clean cold water was more effective than spit.

Thank you so much for this video. My husband has just started police academy with what we thought were very shiny boots. He found out the truth pretty quickly! We had no idea you could achieve a “mirror finish” shine on leather duty boots. Your patient, methodical explanation of a process you’ve mastered to be shockingly simple in its presentation was just what we needed. We got fantastic results using this method with Kiwi’s parade gloss wax, and have Saphir ordered and on the way.

My uncle was a Lt Col in the Marines, and he showed me this exact way of shining shoes, and he told me that most people, if not all the people he meet, did not know how to shine shoes correctly. This method is not well known but is the most effect way for a shine. Don't spit shine, its not healthy for he leather. It will cause cracking.

I was in the Royal Air Force and we were taught this method in training. Never fails. Still use it. Great video. We didn’t have the mirror gloss in the UK though. Thank you for bringing back memories of fun hours of meditation.

I've been shining my shoes and boots since 1980 and still amazed watching other people shining theirs.

I recently came across this video, and I am impressed with your technique and the length of time that it took you to get that shine. I am a USAF SP veteran of 10 years. We had to get our boots shined for guardmounts. To get my boots completely waterproof, I used Snowseal before I used some of the polishing technique that you used. I did use Snowseal, heat, Kiwi, water, cotton t-shirt or cottonballs, and patience. You did a great shine in less time.

The rubbing alcohol might be the missing ingredient for me... I have been just using straight ice water. Thanks for the tip!!

I am impressed, I was taught the military way of spit, polish and heat, when serving, using Kiwi and Parade Gloss . I just may try your method, as I love a shiny pair of Black Oxfords, with mirror finish toe caps. A parade finish,old habits die hard,I guess, even after 30 years.

Quick, easy to understand, relaxing and concise enough to not lose our attention. Greatest tutorial I've ever seen. Thank you!

YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER!!!! ❤️❤️ I used to cry thinking about needing to polish my boots but this video made it so easy! Your demonstration and commentary is amazing and very well done! Now, I’ll have the shiniest boots for Remembrance Day this year as cenetaph guard! God bless to you and your company 🙏🏼🙏🏼

I expected you to mention that there are times when the best thing to use *is* time. When you just can't get it any glossier, let the shoes sit overnight, and go back to them the next day. It's the thing to do if you're being presented to the Queen!! Thanks, Preston! You make it look easy. You also make a lot of sense!!

WOW! When I was in a military academy that was like a 8 to 10 hours shine for my whole shoe. I wish I knew I didn't need so much wax. I also had no access to rubbing alcohol.

Royal Artillery vet here. Something I could never get right, but eventually managed. The fun we had watching the SMIG throwing and kicking boots that were not to standard up and down the asphalt!

I have been a viewer for a long time and today tried my first mirror shine. This video really gave me understanding and assurance of what I am looking for. Thank you so much for helping me put my best foot forward.

I was a Queens guardsman for almost ten years our drill boots are like black mirrored glass when we do our boots correctly. Our method is to pack the boots with sand then rub all over with Scott's bright pad to key up the leather. Then we melt 100% bees wax and brush it onto the boots using a brush and blowtorch. Then its a cleanup of the lumpy drips of bee's wax to even the wax out all over the boots. We then get a tin of kiwi Polish and rub it into the entire boot. Let it dry then using clean new brushes just brush it off so its all even. I used a selvyt cloth and just bulled the boots using a little water and dab of the Polish then using small circular motion bull until you see the polish disappear repeat over and over until you get the desired deep mirror finish. No need for an ice cube or the alcohol just fresh Polish and a lot of time later and the entire boot was good for our duties. If we got small light scratches a ball of cotton wool and a trickle under the cold tap usually did the trick. As a guardsman we were expected to have a mirrored shine all over the boots so it was a lot of hard work and effort.

Been really into shining my loafers recently. I got a pair of Thursday Lincoln loafers and I don't go for the mirror shine, but I will do 2 coats of wax on top of a cream polish to really bring out a nice all around shine. Thanks to your channel I now enjoy doing more than the bare minimum to keep my shoes in good health.

Ex-Army/Navy retiree here. Excellent vid. Some pointers. 1. Double the cloth layers to create a bit of a pad. Using just a single layer of fabric can strip as much polish as it lays down. Use a light touch. 2. Ultimately, all you need is polish and water. The rag and alcohol are actually optional. I've seen mirror shines laid down with nothing but fingers. 3. I'd recommended taking photos using a reflected light to see your progress -- at say, 20, 50, 100, and 200 layers. 50 layers looks good, but 200+ layers is DEEP mirror. 4. Shine the *whole* shoe, including toe, vamp, tongue (yes, tongue), heelcap. Equals attention-to-detail. Watch old Fred Astaire movies, his entire shoes were shined to the 9s. 5. Spit shining is a skill akin to a fireside craft. Practice your skill while watching movies, etc. You'll be amazed at how fast it comes with practice. To maintain, touch-up weekly. 6. Don't forget the welts. (Start by cleaning the welts; end with buffing the welts. This is the only place you'll actually use that shoe brush. Get the longest bristles you can find.) I need to try that Saphir polish. That's if I ever decide to polish another pair of shoes... 🤣

This brought up some bad memories of sitting up half the night to make sure my cammies were pressed and my boots shined! God bless the Marine Corps

Bro, you ARE the best shoe shiner out there!!! My compliments 🥋🍻🍻🍻

As someone who’s in the navy, this is helpful for inspections! I was never really taught how to shine but I’m definitely gonna try this out now!

I’ve been in the navy for a little over 8 years and I never knew it was this easy. I’d spend hours doing what I thought was correct to not even get near this 😢 Great video, and I’ll definitely be using this technique for all my uniform shoes and boots.

Ex army and police here - we just put a little water in the lid of our wax tin with a soft cloth, and that was all we needed. Very satisfying to watch :)

Quality work and technique. Awesome of you to share this out - thank you for helping us all look nicer. I always feel proud walking around with some properly shined shoes. Going to take your instructions, practice, and get good to go with this!

15:00 one thing that I REALLY like about this stage is the smooth feeling you have on your fingers as you keep on buffing. It is very satisfying.

This is very helpful, thank you for posting this! Now that my son is a freshman in the ROTC program, we needed a really good tutorial on how to shine his uniform shoes. This is great!!

Just did my first attempt on a cheap pair of shoes I picked up a while ago. Substituted methylated spirits for the isopropyl alcohol and it worked fine. Not an uber shine straight away but this pair has deep pores so It'll take a couple of goes but even with just the first 10minute starter the improvement was a marked improvement. Definitely happy with the Saphir product. I'd used Kiwi or Nugget as a kid for shoe shining but this product and method is so much easier. Appreciate you posting this very much.

Man I did my first mirror shine this week and it took my like 2hours or even more, this technique seems crazy fast I'm definitely gonna try it soon ! thanks !

Just placed an order for several Saphir products to polish my EMS boots. Even though they get used hard I still like a clean polished boot as I feel that says a lot about the kind of provider you are. I'll definitely be using this as a guide to get that mirror shine! Also - nice dive watch! I own the same one just with custom hands and dial!

Always interesting to see how people personalise their techniques. I'm an Australian Navy veteran of 16 years, still serving; I have been mirror polishing my boots my whole career but have always used Kiwi, cotton wool balls and it seems I use an excessive amount of water after watching your videos (luckily I've never had an issue with a dry looking spot) I never could manage a decent shine with a cloth for some reason. After watching a few of your videos I was convinced to give Saphir a go, I ordered black polish and mirror gloss today so I'm keen to give them a go for myself. Thanks for the great videos on your channel

As a former Brit and Canadian soldier, I have done this hundreds of times. I’ve always used Kiwi, because that was what was available. Some of that stuff in this video would have come in handy! Plus we also used saliva as the enzymes help to break down the wax. You can’t eat or drink anything (except water) anything within about an hour before, though.

The 4 dislikes are from those lazy people who have neither patience nor eye for beauty. Good video.

This was of my first attempts at a shine like this, I just wanna say this was a amazing help and i was able to fallow easily and it was simple thank you so much

Thank you for uploading this! I was just about giving up on being about to get a mirror shine on my shoes following other tutorials I'd seen but slower pace of this meant that I finally managed to do it!! It's not perfect yet but I'm looking forward to getting better at it 😊

If you textually do a spit shine, you must consider that saliva contains enzymes. Up to a point, enzymes will digest the shining paste in a lasting process after you are finished with your shoe care. Now, I must declare that this tutorial was by far the most efficient I've ever watched. I really enjoyed this passage: "It's got to be fun." That is also true for whatever you do to improve your personality. I thank you a whole lot. Bert.

Yes, you are the best shoe shiner in the world.

Thank you! I just finished using this technique on my shoes; I wasn't able to achieve this level of high shine until I used this method. I am forever grateful!!!

I’m so happy that you are there. I’m 61 and I really never knew the proper way of taking care of leather. Thank-you.

This was a very pleasant video to watch indeed! I am a 17 year old boy from Australia. I aspire to become a police officer when I am older. For the past six years I have been what is called a Police Ranger. The past two years I have been polishing my boots. I did it because I wanted my uniform to look good. Not because I liked it. The past month, something changed inside me. I got this huge passion for my boots. I wanted them not to be polished. I wanted them to have a mirror shine. The thing is. I did not know how. This is by far the best video I have been able to find. I have looked everywhere. Even looked at Queen’s guards making videos. However most people just did not outline how to do it quite as you did sir. Well done. And from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. When I start my seventh year of being a Police Ranger next year. I will no longer have polished boots. But have boots with a mirror shine. God bless you. (Also I know having a mirror shine is still polished. It’s just a really good job of it. I was more so trying to be poetic, I guess. To not have them just at a polish, but down to a mirror shine).

We spent hours in the barracks polishing our boots. Lincoln boot polish was the best.

Fifty plus years and the Navy too..polishing my shoes and “now” a much better way ! Beats spit and a Zippo! Thanks lad.

Twenty five years in the "Tin bellies" mirror shine was a religious devotion,not only your kit but horse Tack as well.Wish i'd seen this as a young "trooper. Many thanks.

Wow! Tried it and despite my Kiwi wax being over 5 yrs old and without the IPA, just cold water, I got the most impressive shine I’ve ever seen on these shoes. Btw I used a microfibre cloth to get a better shine than the cotton cloth. Off to Amazon now to buy some Saphir polish and IPA. Can’t wait to give that a go. 😁 Thanks again for sharing 🙏

I like this background music. Much better than the other one. Personal taste

Time flies when youre having fun.. Preston: “this took me about 2 minutes” Me checks the time: “9minutes”

Just on time to watching this video. I just got in the uniformed service here in our country and shining combat shoes and black formal shoes is a must especially on inspections. Thank you sir you are the best shoe shiner in the world. 👌

I just finished my very first mirror shine dollowing this video. My Shoes looks 1,000% better! Thanks!!!

As a former young soldier of the 80's & 90's that was often in trouble I got well acquainted lots of methods to 'bull' boots even if they are really battered including using a hot spoon and candle, but a quick low skill way is to use a good amount of cotton wool instead of a cloth dipped in little bit of water with a small amount of shaving cream in it with kiwi polish - the shaving cream cooks the layers off quicker - and I had the best 'bulled' boots in the battalion - which were often in high demand to be loaned out and were always returned with a couple extra layers - dont use spit it takes too long -

It’s my first time doing this… my boots are over 15 years old and have been on 4 continents. Thank you for your video! I truly appreciate it!-Holly

I'm gonna cry out of how thankful I am I have to go to an important breakfast tomorrow to make connections for a possible military career and I could normally get a "mirror" shine with some kiwi but this is next level. My shoes are reflective in a way I never knew they could be. AHHH Thank you so much!!!

Him: If you’re watching this video, it’s probably because you’re having trouble achieving a mirror shine. Me: ...Yes. That’s EXACTLY why I’m here.

As a cadet I am required to have pristine mirror shine parade boots and despite hours of attempting to reach this goal I have never been able to. This has really inspired me and I think I might actually be able to now! Time to go shine! Thank you!

I just found out that using cotton balls after buffing up the polish gives a great shine. After following Preston's method and using a cotton ball, it gave me a great shine even when using a cheaper product than Shapir, like Kiwi (I'm on a tight budget so I can't afford Saphir at the moment). It's really up to you guys if you wish to try out this additional step. I'm still thankful to Preston for doing this video. It helped a ton! Keep up the great work, Preston!

So many Veterans in the comment section. Thank you for your service. 🙏

Opinion? I used to spend hours shining Corcoran Black "Jump Boots" when I was in the army. My (long) technique included using witch hazel instead of water, Brushed on then brushed off a layer of black Kiwi, Then cloth shine in a couple of layers of Parade Gloss, a light layer of blue polish, then finish it off with neutral kiwi. I needed to open my can of neutral and leave it open for a few days to dry out and let a lot of the oils basically evaporate. Wish I knew your technique. And I also wish I knew about better polishes back then too. My boots always looked like glass. it was just never as easy as you make it look.

Saw many concoctions when in the Marines even mop & glo. This video got me researching name brand shoe polishes & I came up with the following recipe that adds a few improvements in my opinion. This recipe I tried today & my cordovans look like glass. Start with an amount overall that you want. Heres my recipe: I wanted 376 grams overall (around 13 oz.) when all done. Just write down the percentages so you have the recipe 1st then do your own math for however much you want. Pure bees wax - 14.4% by weight (54 grams in my case)(I used a kitchen scale with grams for precise measures. Carnauba wax 3% by wt (11.25 grams) Castor oil 25% (94 grams) Turpentine (pure gum spirits) - 43.6% (164 grams) Stearic acid 7% (26 grams) D-Limonene 1% (4grams) For black shoe polish add activated carbon pulverized to a fine fine dust (mortar & pestle/ food processor/coffee bean grinder whatever) so carbon 7% (26.25 grams) I made neutral polish so ommited this today. Procedure double boiler both waxes together till melted. Remove from burner but leave metal bowl in pot of hot water as other ingredients will otherwise chill wax down hindering a smooth mix. Add everything but turpentine & mix till smooth. Add turpentine last slowly carefully away from heat as it is flammable. Mix till smooth. Done! Pour into sm screw top tins (I got 2 oz & 3oz screw top tins dirt cheap on amazon a whole bunch. I used a kitchen tool called a fondant funnel which dispenses liquid into sm containers very neatly but a measuring cup would wk too. Pour mix from bowl into measuring cup or sm pitcher. Dispense into tins just shy of top. Let the polish set for 24 hrs before use. It will sometimes crack as it cools not a problem. Unique little Christmas gift thats handmade. I shined about 12 pairs of dress shoes today & they look fantastic. I got so interested in your video it inspired the recipe. Send me a mailing address & I will send you a can - works as a conditioner as well as a polish. I will be following up on the toes & heels with your method. Thx! Had fun with this. I actually read a thesis I found on the subject while researching MANY different recipes. Notes on ingredients: beeswax pellets easily dispensed easily melted. (got all ingredients online inexpensively btw.) Carnauba wax is a much harder wax yielding a higher shine, Castor oil softens the mix, Turpentine is the solvent for everything, stearic acid comes in a bag in white flakes & has many uses but here it lowers the pH to match that of the leather which is very low after tanning, D- Limonene (pure orange oil- food grade) is also a solvent but additionally it prevents rot contributes to lowering pH & conditions leather. My 1st batch I did without the activated carbon but will use in next batch. With commercial shoe polish being kinda harsh on leather in comparison & running $4-5/can I thought Id make it just to see the result. I also plan to use half of these ingredients for making my own wood polish for wk.

20 years ago I was in a military school in Galveston Texas and we used to Shine our boots, we were all competitive and that made it so interesting. This brings back memories because we all want it to have the mirror shine The way that are sergeant had it.

Airforce vet here. We used the spit polish way with parade gloss. Taught by our Defence Instructor over and over . First on our GP boots until we could prove we could do it. Then we progressed to our Parade Dress shoes. I still to this day polish the same way

My nephew has his passing out parade on Friday so it will come useful for him getting that extra glass look, thanks Preston.

Oh My! did this bring back memories of life in the Army barracks on a week night putting a "Spit-Shine" on my Oxfords and two pairs of combat airborne jump boots with the exact same technic you've so wonderfully shown here in your video.. Bravo young fellow, bravo.. they look simply amazing. I'd not heard of Saphire waxes before. I will have to look for some for myself.

18:37 "Always put your best foot forward. The small details matter most." As soon as you said that, I knew I had to subscribe. What an amazing value and so beautifully stated.

As someone going into the Marine Corps this video genuinely helps immensely

The most awesome part about this is how truly passionate you are. I am so happy for you

Went to your home page to see if you had a tut on glassing-out an entire high top pair of boots: specifically, a pair of Corcoran Jump Boots. For those of us who were once paratroopers, our wings and our glass black Corcorans were the icons we cherished most. Achieving that mirror shine over the entire boot, including all flexible areas, was the zenith of pride. But it was a huge and exhausting process that would brooke no casual treatment of any surface area. They all had to be glass. For my part, I had barely achieved success when I had to exchange my beautiful Corcorans for jungle boots. I was never again to ply my spit shinning skills. So, I would love to see how a professional achieves those same results, and how best to harden that shine to resist the rigors of the daily drudge. There are millions of us vets who would greatly appreciate a chance to see a pro at work. 1st Bdg, 101st Abn Div '65 - '68

I bought a pair of Johnson and Murphy burgundy Oxfords at Goodwill for $9.99. I then bought the same wax and cream that you used. I cannot believe it. I got a good mirror shine on my first try! The shoes were not worn much so that's nice. I will only wear the shoes on certain occasions. The shoes by the way were a perfect fit. Though I know they are only entry level shoes, they sure look nice.

I have been shining boots and shoes since the age of 13 I'm now 73 and shine my shoes in the same way. I get my mirror shine just using Kiwi Black Shoe Polish. With a new pair of black shoes I first polish the welt around the shoe then put my bare fingers into the polish and then rub the polish into the leather. The heat of my hand somehow burns the polish into the leather. I follow this with a single finger wrapped into a cloth. With more polish I apply the polish in small circle's all over the shoe. Because Kiwi has a high content of wax I dip my finger into cold water and continue with the circle's. Finger pressure is important at this stage. I start out with hard pressure and gradually use lighter and lighter pressure until most of the circles fade. I then take a cotton wool ball and soak it under a light running cold tap, with the shoe under the water. It is important to keep the cotton wool ball full with the water while doing lighter circles over the shoe. To finish I move the shoe gradually away from the flow of water. Small droplets of water are left on parts of the shoe and to remove these I squeeze out the water from the cotton wool and carefully dab each droplet. It is important not to rub the cotton wool over the shoe as this will leave scratches in the shine. This method that I learned way back then has given me a shine far superior to that in your video. All I have ever used is Kiwi shoe polish both Black and Brown and a bit of skill and time. But good try.

Preston makes this look easy. Sign of a true artisan.

"It's over? Where did the time go?" I was so absorbed and really enjoyed the video. Learned a lot too. Thank you.

I would spend days on my boots as a cadet and never got them like that! What a breakthrough.

Wow! If only I'd known this back in 1981 when I was having to spit-polish my shoes for my RAAF pilots course. This is brilliant

I take my hat off ! Never could do as takes a lot of patience . I’ll try and see if works for me.

Thank you, From struggling police academy cadets.

Fantastic video. Thank you! My father was in the Horse Guards and taught me his method when I was young. He used a series of brushes finishing up with a pad of old nylons. My riding friends were horrified that I polished the inside of my boots but if done properly it doesn’t come off on the horse and the boots last a lot longer. I’m going to try this method on the outside stiff areas as it seems quick and easy

As the budget allows, I am completely upgrading my shoe care products to Saphir only. I now have black dye, cream, parade gloss is coming next week and the neutral just arrived. Next is brown(ish), then tan(ish), cordovan, then blue.

Interesting vid. I'm an ex Welsh guardsman we used a jewelers cloth for this and kiwi, The key really is multiple layers of polish. We used to bee wax our boots to create a hard surface and apply crap loads of layers to create Black diamonds. Just a note our platoon sarns would beast us up and down a sand hill in our highly polished boots as a punishment :(