SakuraBirb

First I'd like to say both pairs of boots look fantastic. Second I'd like to apologize for reviving an old thread. Similarly like OP, I have my eyes set on Corcoran jump boots. The brown ones are next to impossible to find in my size and of decent quality. I've been doing a lot of research on how to do this project of mine, and I made a lot of progress with my knowledge. It all started with me remembering I got a black pair in storage, and how I was hoping to strip them and dye them brown. The more modern black pairs are either the 1500 or 975. The 1500 is more accurate, but is pure black leather. The 975 is just natural leather with the top layer being black. Both have through dyed tongues. It became clear to me that both would be quite the challenge to make brown, let alone impossible. I found a group focused on these jump boots and a post on taking 60s era boots and successfully stripping the dye and making them brown. Only issue is the tutorial is a Google translated paragraph, and they didn't say what they used to do it besides scratching the edges of each leather piece right at the seam with scissors and using sandpaper and steel wool on the larger surface areas. Then brown dye and reddish brown polish. No real specifics there, and the materials to strip the dye sound like it would be easy to cut into the stitching. The finished product however looked very good. Now, I was hoping that any of you in here could guide me on how to safely strip off the old coating and dye, and if when fully stripped if I could get close to the original russet brown color. I'm very much into WWII history and always wanted brown jump boots, and using vintage boots allows the closest homage possible with the highest quality build. Also, I know it isn't leather, but the eyelets I was curious on if enamel paint would be smart to use to have them not be raw metal.