There are many suggestions for the best way to get a good parade shine on cadet boots. Here is a suggestion for getting a spit-shine on cadet boots.
Materials:
- Tin of black polish. Kiwi Brand black polish or Kiwi Parade Polish works well
- A polishing cloth or cotton balls (Kiwi brand flannel polishing cloth works well). Especially for the initial coats, old t-shirts also work well.
- Container filled with cold water
Directions:
- Wash your hands first. Your skin contains natural oils in addition to whatever dirt you may have picked up.
- Clean the boots thoroughly. Don’t forget the dust in the tongue of the boot.
- Hold out the kiwi cloth in your left hand and take your index finger on your right and wrap a section of the cloth around your finger.
- Then dip the cloth around your finger in the water until the cloth is moist. Moistening the cloth helps to encourage the polish to stick to the leather and not the cloth.
- Then lightly dab the cloth in the tin of polish, but you don’t want to end up with a big gob of polish. Several layers with little amounts of polish work better. After the first heavy coat of polish you must use small amounts of polish to build up the shine. If you use too much polish, it will dissolve the base you have already built up.
- Then rub the polish on the cloth onto the boot in small circular motions, not pressing too hard. Lighter is better.
- After the polish seems to have been rubbed into the leather, pick up the boot and bring it to your face and breath onto the leather and continue rubbing the cloudy portion of the leather to further work the polish into the leather. Some people also use a hair dryer on low to help warm the wax at this point.
Repeat this process of wetting the rag, applying polish and breathing onto the boot and continuing rubbing several hundred times on each part of the boot and you’ll end up with black leather mirrors.
Maintaining the shine is a much easier process. Provided that you have no major scuffs, all you really need to do is add another layer or two
of spit shine polish with your damp cotton cloth.
If you have a large scratch, you can dip your finger in mineral spirits and melt the polish in the scratched area, then rebuild the layers. Sometimes, it may be easier to strip the polish off a somewhat larger area (typically the toe cap), and then redo the entire process on that area.
Boot Cleaning
If the boots already have old layers of polish on them that you want to remove, strip the old polish off using mineral spirits on a clean rag. You will find mineral spirits in the paint thinner section of your hardware store. If you are buying something labeled “paint thinner”, read the label to make sure it is indeed mineral spirits. Provided it is mineral spirits, the cheap stuff works just as well as the major brand names.
Some Useful Videos From YouTube
Sometimes, it helps to see someone else do it. Here are a few useful cadet videos.
if you use spit to shine the boots wont it deteriorate the finish on the leather or something like that?
You really just need a damp cloth. You just use spit if you are desperate.
If you do use spit, the polish is supposed to protect your leather.