I agree that isopropyl alcohol is fine to remove finish. I use it to remove the plastic topcoat on Alden shell cordovan. Takes a little elbow grease as well, but worth the effort. As you know, you can achieve this burnish simply using shoe cream on a pair of walnut shoes. Seems like that’s what AE did since the finish is so temporary. I’ve done this many times and I usually end up removing it because it looks too dramatic for me, but if you like this look it’s easy to reproduce on your own. Safir “marron” will get you there, and “cognac” is a lighter version that also works for lighter highlights.
@@chalkboardshoes haven't actually removed it yet, i misspoke, but plan on using Angelus 802 spot remover, picked it up at the local shop. Smells awful and you need ventilation when using it. But it worked great on some used shell cordovan burgundy AE Leeds I picked up on ebay. Old owner had used a lot of black polish to add his flavor to them. It definitely stripped them down and I had to use Saphir renovateur followed by their cream polish to restore all the color. They came out great though. He also had spilled black polish on the inside, and I had to use alcohol for that and glued in a Saphir leather/cork insole. I'm not sure what I want to get out of my walnut strands. They are pretty decent. AE over buffed the cap detail and squished it too much but otherwise look OK. The dark chili McAllister wingtips are not very red, but I do like them. And those seem to perfectly made except the coloring isn't ideal. With their factory seconds F2 I've had mixed results
@@chalkboardshoes it is probably acetone yes. Smells like it. Works great, but definitely wear a mask when using it. I was told to apply and wipe off, not to scrub hard. I gave them a couple hours to dry completely before going to the renovateur and cream polish.
Your strands look like my dark chili's. Lol. They make good shoes, but they're color blind over there. They should be using a device to grade the color.
@@chalkboardshoes 😆 🤣 I guess I won't worry about the color too much and I'll use polish to get them to the place I want. Recently picked up some f2 Park Ave in Bordeaux and they have some coloring issues but nothing that can be fixed with polish. Construction seems to be perfect, that's all I care about. They look like the dark chili looks online. Definitely have some red in there. Very nice.
