Do you need to have beeswax to get a mirror Finish on your parade shoes?
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No. Just time and effort. All beeswax does is make the leather smooth to bull on, it doesn’t actually affect the shine.
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Shine comes from a smooth surface*
A smooth surface comes from thin layers
thin layers comes from time and effort
*consider the reflection differences between a bedroom and bathroom window…
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Ive used beeswax and think you can get a better finish. However beeswaxing unless you k ow what you are doing can turn into an expensive, painful, messy, shoe destroying experiment
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What he said ^^ I ruined my last pair of shoes by not doing it right. There’s videos on youtube which will show you how to do it properly.
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But remember, just polish is generally good enough for a pair of decent shoes. Trying to smooth out a pair of ammo boots is another matter entirely.
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Yeah i have ammo boots beeswaxed standard dms shoes will just fall apart if your burn them down hiw you are meant too
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It’s really up to you. I personally don’t. All I find it takes is the basic polishing equipment, a positive mindset and patience! Hope you get the finish you want! 
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It’s all about technique, and not at all about “tricks”.
Beeswaxing as an advanced technique but it’s not necessary for general wear.
One can get a mirror shine over the entire shoe, with out without having beeswaxed first, in under an hour, if one has the right technique.
Roughly how many thin layers are required because I spent like 5 hours and I can still see pores in mine, I might just add thick layers or something. It’s saphir too. I would be incredibly grateful if someone gives the method that 100 percent works because YouTube can be vague .
Thanks
Yeah 5 hours seems like a lot but in the scheme of shoes, 5 hours each is a good base
It will depend on too many factors that no-one will be able to differentiate via posting on here (or even with a video clip). The toe caps might not be so easy to polish (found this on some Grafters shoes), you may have applied too much / too little polish (& / or water), your duster might be a factor, etc, etc.
Five hrs sounds far too much time - I do demos for our new cadets on any old spare shoes we have in our stores. I can get one toe cap to very highly polished in 30 mins - & then between the cadets, they have a go & get very close in another 30 mins. I use a Tesco (good quality) duster, Kiwi polish & water. Nothing fancy, no cotton wool, etc.
Without wanting to wreck your work so far, I would give them a hard brush polish & start again.
Don’t beeswax DMS shoes - they are not the appropriate quality / rigidity.
Hi @Barryhawk4
Just one quick basic thing to mention…
To help build up the layers of polish, you need to leave the polish you’ve put ON, to dry a little BEFORE you start trying to polish it…
Kiwi polish is (I’ll wait to be corrected) spirit based (which is why it changes the colour on Altbergs!).
If you let that spirit evaporate, the polish will harden slightly - enabling you to get a smoother surface more quickly…
If you start trying to buff the shoe too soon, the polish will still be quite “wet” and soft.
Ultimately, you’ll still achieve the same result, but it will take MANY more layers…
You’ve seen the pores in the leather - you’re trying to fill these pores with shoes polish - and then smooth this new surface down - a bit like applying plaster filler to a damaged wall - then sanding it smooth…
And… as you apply each layer - don’t over polish it down - all you’re doing is making the overall veneer of polish thinner…
Once you’ve got enough wax on your toe cap, you should notice a significant difference.
Hope that helps
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It’s great that you’re putting a lot of effort in but I just want to make sure you haven’t been misinformed; a “mirror shine” isn’t a requirement, ACP1358 simply states “highly polished”. Clearly this is open to interpretation but I would hope that whoever is judging your uniform wouldn’t hold you to unnecessarily high standards, we are just a youth organisation after all.
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Parafin is an ingredient!
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