If you are in the Army or any other branch of the military, you should know the importance of your appearance. You will eventually have an in-ranks inspection, and you will be judged by how well your uniform looks and by the quality of the shine on your boots.
I was in the Army National Guard for eight years. In addition to wearing a nicely pressed uniform, the condition of the boots always caught the commander’s eye. The better the shine, the better the impression. Even if you are not in the military, your civilian shoes must be well maintained if you are in a profession where well-maintained suits and shoes are a necessity.
To get a good shine on my military boots, I used the spit shine method. This always produced a high-gloss shine to my boots, similar to the shine found on patent leather shoes.
The basic supplies you will need are:
Kiwi Shoe Polish-Black. If you are using this method on civilian shoes find the polish that closely matches your shoe color.
Soft Bristled Shoe Brush
Shoe Polish Dauber-you can find this is a shoe shine kit or you can use a rag
Clean Rag-or an old T-shirt will do
Water in a bowl or cup-unless if you really want to use spit
Remove the boot laces-clean them if needed
Using your shoe brush, wipe off any dirt from the boot. Use a small amount of water to get rid of dirt that is hard to remove.
Take the shoe polish dauber and scoop black shoe polish onto it.
Run the polish evenly over the boot. Make sure you cover the boot evenly with the polish. Do not forget to do the boot’s tongue. However, do not put shoe polish on the sole of the boot, unless you want to leave black footprints wherever you walk.
With you shoe brush, buff the boot until the polish has an even shine. Take the clean rag and rebuff again.
Apply water to the top of the boot.
Scoop more polish with the dauber.
Mix the polish with the water and rub over the boot. Add more water if necessary and continue rubbing until you get the shine you desire.
Note: When you first apply the spit shine method, plan to spend an hour per boot. I know this sounds like a long time, but it will be worth the effort. The good news is to maintain the shine, you only have to apply ten minutes of spit shine per day. My trick was to keep one pair of combat boots for inspections and the other pair for field work.
Final Note: Never use a floor buffer on a pair of combat boots. While this produces a high deep-gloss shine on floors, it is not designed for any type of boots or shoes. I actually know somebody who tried this. The leather was stripped from his boots.
