Spit-shining Shoes
"Ah, yes, I remember it well…."
:)
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Explorer.
By Bill Bahr, U.S.M.A. '69, Best Of The
Line
First find a suitable work area, preferably a desk, and lay out some newspaper to avoid accidents.
Next, prepare your hands and fingernails. Rub your hands lightly with
hand lotion. Take a bar of soap and run the fingernails of your polishing hand
over the bar, so as to accumulate soap and prevent polish from later getting
under your nails. Some will prefer not to do this in the belief that the
hand lotion and/or soap will possibly affect the polishing cloth and interact
with the polish, thus reducing the shine. If this is the case, consider
using thin, latex-rubber gloves. Obviously, if you're not worried
about staining your hands, just omit this step.
Then grab a piece of soft cloth from a sheet, t-shirt, or washed diaper about
twelve inches by twelve inches (or larger). Fold the cloth in two. Pick up the
cloth, holding it from underneath by your first two or three fingers. With your
other hand, grab the cloth from underneath tight around your polishing fingers,
giving it a twist. Then, while rotating your hand, bring the tail of the cloth
over the top of your polishing hand and grab it between your thumb and the rest
of your fingers. You will thus be left with a nice smooth surface under fingers
1-3 with which to polish.
Dip the cloth into polish, then dab polish onto the toes of the shoes or boots. Some
folks let the first application dry for about five minutes or so (some do this
is in sun or under a little heat (radiator, hairdryer, or heatgun) so that the
polish is slightly soft). Then remove the polish with the cloth (DON'T use a
brush on the toes!). Then dab polish onto the shoes again. This time
continuously work it in, in a circular motion, adding more polish as necessary.
Every once in a while, dip the end of the cloth into water (you can put a little
into the lid of the polish can). This will hopefully encourage the polish to
stick to the leather instead of the cloth. On each successive application, use
less and less of both polish and force so as not to dissolve or rub away the layer(s) of polish you have built up. On the final pass, you may want to use
cotton balls dipped in a little water to give your shoes a mirror shine.
Obviously, you will need to repeat this process quite a few times to get results
you and your cadre will be happy with. Realistically, this may take several
hours per shoe/boot.
Note: My son Chris Bahr '07 uses a light coat of neutral polish for the final layer.
Others, for the final layer, occasionally breathe heavily onto the shoes/boots while
still others actually use spit (hence the name "spit-shine"). For other
spit-shine ideas, you can checkout www.cadetstuff.org (which includes pictures),
http://usmilitary.about.com,
www.bahrnoproducts.com, and other websites. I would
strongly advise against any "instant shine" efforts. Not only is it likely that
your military superiors will quickly detect them, but they may they actually
damage your shoes/boots.
Bill Bahr
U.S.M.A. '69, Best Of The Line…. : )
Copyright 2004-17
P.S. One day during a Beast Barracks Saturday AM Inspection at West Point,
I had the reluctant pleasure of having Colonel Alexander Haig (later General and
Secretary of State) inspect my rifle. He said it was the best he'd seen all day!
That was good, because my shoes at the time weren't all that great. Though
you can't easily see my much improved shoes in the following picture, taken
right after plebe year while visiting my dad with his military counterparts in
Korea, check out my belt buckle! :)
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