Old-timers/Military types/LEOs: putting the shine on

C

Coronach

New member
Hey there. I'm a LEO, and I'm currently engaged in a sort of good-natured competition with a real old-timer LEO assigned to my unit. Former Marine. Of course.

This guy is old-school...the uniform is to be neatly pressed, the badge must blaze like a star under full sunlight, boots must be shined in a manner suitable for use as a mirror. During a line inspection by a lieutenant I made the 'error' of receiving an "outSTANDING" from Lt as he passed me...an honour previously reserved for the Old-Timer alone out of the whole unit.

And so the fight is on. ;) Boots which previously had been spitshined and worn to work are now spitshined, carried carefully to to the station and donned just prior to roll-call. Badges are nitpicked over to a silly degree.

The point is this...I (obviously) can polish my gear okay. The trouble is that with this merry little war going on, I am spending a LOT more of my precious time rubbing and buffing, and I'm certain that I'm not going about it in the most efficient manner. Does anyone out there have any tips/tricks/advice etc about polishing badges and spitshining boots that they would like to share?

Spitshining is an area of military folklore that has a bewildering array of do's and don'ts, many of them seeming contradictory...it COULD rival the 'how long should I keep my magazines loaded and why' debate... ;)

Thanks in advance for any input.
 
I can't speak for badges, but floor wax (the liquid stuff, like Future) will put a Corfam shine on the nastiest boots.
 
Most of the modern badges come with a thin veneer of shiny material with some sort of sealant to keep it shiny. I wouldn't try to shine them very much, or you'll wear that sealant down, be into the shiny stuff and right through to the base metal underneath.
Boots are a never ending battle in the military. My last 1st Sgt. always had shiny boots and a pressed uniform, even after days in the field. He used to cover his boots with one of the brands of stuff on the market and bake the boots. Always shined after that.
 
Nothing beats an old fashion spit shine. If you do it right the first time the daily maintenence should be easy.

Kiwi Parade gloss seems to be the best. Reglaur Kiwi is great too. Put it on with a cloth diaper. Take your time the first coat. It's the most important. Stay away from floor wax etc. Unless you put it carefully on the toe only it will crack when you walk and that old leather neck will have you by the short hairs.

A tip for keeping the shine up while on duty is to carry a small piece of the diaper with you or a knee high nylon. They keep the shine up.

You better hope this guy retires soon because he will NOT quit. Marines tend to be hard headed.

Good luck and tell that Devil Dog to keep up the good work. I can tell he's had an impact on you by the way you describe him as a "Former Marine". I've had to correct many a civilian on that one.

Once a Marine always a Marine.

:rant / recruiting mode off:

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"Some people spend an entire liftime wondering if they made a difference. Marines don't have that problem."
Semper Fi
 
Coronach,
Being an old ex-airborne trooper, I've spent too many hours spit shining jump boots/brass and if I had it to do all over again I'm not sure that I would do that again. A friend of mine (1950's)had the right idea IMNSHO, he had a pair of custom made patent leather jump boots and he also had ALL of his brass, to include the buttons on his class A blouse, gold plated, and just before Saturday morning inspection he would put on his "special" blouse and jump boots and remove them as soon as inspection was over.
If I had to stand these inspections today I would gold plate my brass an buy Corfram (sp?) boots or shoes and use the time that otherwise would be spent on polishing for something useful like reloading, chasing girls or other things of importance. ;)

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."
 
Is the badge anodized or pure metal? If anodized, you want to take it easy - if pure metal (brass, etc) nevr-dull (wrong spelling I think) cant be beat. It's that stuff that comes in a can and is like treated cotton.

Boots - floor wax works, also lighting your boot polish on fire for a few seconds makes it softer for a nice shine. Definitely make sure the edges are nice and black as well, either using polish or edge dressing.

Wow, old memories.... :)

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"Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond."
-Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
 
Yes, Parade gloss will do a great job on the boots, just make sure you use real cotton balls. The imitation ones will not allow your boots to polish up the same. Also, on a weekend when you'll have the chance to try it and decide whether you like it, try Mop & Glow. I'm serious! I used the stuff when I was in the military, and was shocked at how shiny the stuff is on boots. It really lasts too (you can scuff your toes but it looks the same). I highly recommend it!
 
You could use brass-o on the badge, and make sure you don't touch it afterwards. Always looked good on the the belt buckles and keys they made us carry. You are right about the boots. could start a war on that one. Kiwi started to make this stuff that glazed when it dried, but you could tell it was fake stuff. It had a hard coat when you were done. Floor polish works, but I think you can tell when that is used too. (Many nights swabing the deck, and getting polish on the shoes. Such horrible memories.) It looks like a film instead of real polish.I guess it depends on how close they are looking, or if they care how it was shined.
 
If you're going to insist on leather shoes, one of the secrets is HEAT. Either in the oven at low temp or out in the sun. Get the polish on there nice and worked in first.

My advice, go with plastic (Corofram) shoes. Then the shining process just involves Windex.

Brass-o or never dull will, over time, take the finish off of anything.
 
A few of time-proven tips to achieve a truly superb spit shine for high-quality leather shoes:
a) Use Lincoln shoe polish; it's not easy to find, but it has a much higher paraffin content than any of the standard (common) brands.
b) Use HOT water on clean cotton balls to apply the wax; the heat melts the wax, which gets it into the pores, as opposed to applying it to the surface only.
c) Do not "over wax"; a little bit goes a long way.
d) Polish with cold water on a clean cotton ball in small circular patterns.
e) Steel toed safety shoes are a big help; the leather in the toe is stretched and there is a solid underpinning for circular polishing.
f) The real key is building up a base of multiple coats (dozens) of shined polish; once this is accomplished, it is easy and fast to reapply and achieve an outstanding spit shine.

It's amazing how much you remember, after doing something for twenty years.
 
While attending Hospital Corps School at NTC Great Lakes, I kept two pairs of patent leather shoes. The first was for everyday wear. The second, I took to the train station for an outrageously gorgeous shine!

I have no idea how they did it, but it did involve setting my shoes on fire. Pretty neat, and I could never duplicate the results once I got transfered to Balboa.
 
A little trivia note about patent leather.
We used to polish patent leather with a biscuit.....yeah, a buscuit. It seems there is just enough shortning in a biscuit to place a VERY light coat of oil on the leather.
You would break open the buscuit and rub the patent leather with the soft inner part of the buscuit then buff gently with a soft cloth. But man......that was decades ago, where does the time go? :rolleyes:

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."
 
ojibweindian: what class where you in there at Great Mistakes? I was in 92035A.

There really are no shortcuts to getting an outstanding shine, once the boots are already prepped. It's just work. Baking your boots or burning the wax can help you establish the shine, but once it's there, a nightly 15 minutes of work is what's needed.

After the first year, I really didn't shine my boots much, except for periodic inspections. Mainly I just kept them black, per regs, and brushed to a light shine.
 
A worthy post - good to know that there are still some young Turks who take pride in setting the standard!

Badge (assuming yours is uncoated) -

Ensure that the surface is absolutely clean; do not attempt to polish over dirt. Use a residue-free cleaning agent, such as acetone or 3M automotive adhesive remover. Use a Dremel tool with jeweler's rouge and/or Simichrome polish. (The idea here is to gradually blur the engraving, achieving a 'melted' effect over time. Badges that appear freshly minted are for rooks.) Remove the leftover polish or rouge with a cloth and/or soft toothbrush. Once that melted effect is achieved, the final step is to apply a coat or two of automotive paste wax. All cloths used in the cleaning/polishing/waxing should be 100% cotton. The idea is to treat the badge like jewelry or the bodywork of a fine automobile.

I thought all the LEOs these days went the subdued route. You made my day, Coronach.
 
DannyO. A friend of mine who was a pilot in the Marines told me that there are no "former Marines" only "Marines formerly on active duty."
 
Coronach,
Horribly expensive but saves a lot of time.

Set up complete seperate inspection uniform.

Buy a van, if you don't already have one.

Train wife/GF/house mouse or whatever to maintain inspection outfit in 4.0 condition.

Drive van to inspection area and change on site.

May have to go through a few wives/etc before you get one with the right skills.

Make sure van is comfortable, you may end up sleeping in it.

Sam
 
Coat the shoes thick with Kiwi and light it with a match (or lighter :) ).
The wax will liquify and the heat will let it absorb into the pores of the leather to let you get that spitshine look faster.
 
The plastic shoes are called Corfam. The best ones are made by Bates. Most uncomfortable things in the world. They don't breathe,
 
Sweet Saviour...18 replies! Wow. I figured there were enough soldiers and LEOs around here that this would be a great place to ask. Huuuh. Guess I was right.

Okay, let me toss out a few suggestions right away. ;)

1. Corfam shoes. There is a prevalent logic on our department that if you wear corfam, you're a tool. I dunno where it comes from, but I can guess. The only people you see wearing corfam are the HQ types. Besides, I imagine that my opponent in this little contest would regard it as cheating. So do I. ;)

Also, one good scuff, and you're screwed.

2. Having a complete uniform setup tucked away for inspection. Did that day one. One longsleeve, one short sleeve, one pair of trousers and a pair of shoes that my Academy Instructor could use to help him shave they're so shined. Did I mention he's a former Marine too? They torment me...

But the point here is not to have a really pretty uniform tucked away for special events. Anyone can do that. The point of this is that what we actually wear this stuff to work.

I've had two 'I'm so proud' uniform moments. one was the aforementioned line inspection. The other one was the time I was helping some old hand change a flat. He was old-school military...probably WWII or Korea. He just had the look. In the middle of putting the spare on he kept glancing at my boots, and finally asked "When were you in the Corps, sir?" When I told him I wasn't, he just grunted and shrugged. ;)

Now, as to the badge and metal stuff...

Everything on my uniform is coated and requires a minimum of upkeep...except the badge. Here is my badge routine, which is pretty effective (and bears a stunning resemblance to Slowpoke_Rodrigo's)

1. Get the gunk off of it.

2. Simichrome the snot out of it.

3. Allow to sit for a few minutes.

4. light buff with cloth (gets 90% of the now-grey Simichrome off the badge)

5. Toothbrush. Scrub scrub scrub.

6. more light buffing with cloth (more grey gone)

7. Dremel tool with rotary bristle brush.

8. Detail work...take Q-tip, break in two. Place in Dremel tool. Get all the crud out of all the nooks and crannies. Keep doing this, replacing Q-tips until the whole badge looks like it glows. Probably takes 5 Qtips (or 10 halves, if you follow me)

9. Final buff with soft cloth.

Slowpoke...can you add anything to that? And hints or suggestions? And btw, I'm not the only one 'round here who keeps up appearances, or the best at it by far...and we do have PLENTY of fat-n-nasty slobs, too.

However, my spitshining routine is far less scientific and less effective. Can anyone give a good step-by-step of how they spitshine? :) I'm grinning, btw, because most of the suggestions I've heard I've tried, or at least considered...I still have yet to get that magical combination to make them glow like this old Devil Dog's. And I know I'll never WIN this contest...but I do hope to at least make him work for it. :D

Thanks all!
Mike


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"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
 
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