Bulling Leather Army Boots

[UKRay]

The British army (and probably most others around the world) has a tradition of polishing leather army boots until they resemble mirrors. I'd be very interested to know the processes used to get this finish and whether these processes vary around the world and between military establishments.

Can any of you fine military people help with a description of how you would give new army boots a proper military shine and what this process is called in your part of the world?

Thanks,

Ray

[barra]

The British army (and probably most others around the world) has a tradition of polishing leather army boots until they resemble mirrors. I'd be very interested to know the processes used to get this finish and whether these processes vary around the world and between military establishments.

Can any of you fine military people help with a description of how you would give new army boots a proper military shine and what this process is called in your part of the world?

Thanks,

Ray

In Australia this is known as spit polishing or spit shining. Alas this process has more or less died as we move into the sensitive new age. What has also died is the skill of attention to detail that was applied to spitty-ing boots/shoes that naturally rubbed off into other aspects of Military life. Now it is all patent leather shoes and the little whozawatzits of today can't even manage to keep them clean. OFF soap box now.

As a former drill instructor my boots naturally had to be better than my recruits so I think I am fairly adept at this lost art. Anyhoo there are more spit polish recipes out there than you can poke a stick at. Every soldier since the dawn of time has tried to come up with the best method and short cutting tricks. I will list my old method and list a few variants that mates have used.

The term spit polish comes from the fact you literally spat on the boot to add moisture. it is also believed that whatever is in saliva was a mild cutting compound. Here is my polish recipe evolved over 20 years of trial and error.

Most people I know use straight Kiwi Parade gloss polish but I scooped out the polish and put it into another can about twice the size. To this I added beeswax to about 1/3 the volume of the polish and a good sized dollop of Johnsons floor wax. I then Melted all ingredients together . The beeswax makes for a nice firm polish. Get a nice soft lint free cloth and wrap it around your finger. Add a small amount of moisture to the finger tip (damp not wringing wet) and rub the finger in the polish so that only a small amount of polish is there. I believe in this case less is more. Now begin by rubbing the polish onto the show in small circular movements with a a fair amount of pressure. This generates heat and friction to melt the polish in. When you see and feel it getting dry and another small amount of moisture to the finger. When you see the cloth has no more polish add another small amount. Keep repeating this process over the whole shoe adding more small layers of polish. When you feel you have achieved the look and are on your final coat, increase the size of your circular movements with the finger so as to blend in the swirl marks.

Moisture:

1. actual spit

2. tap water (depending on your region)

3. distilled water

4. Huffing on the show which applies a small mist of moisture from your breath

5. Use a spray bottle. When using this method I find it was better to not actually spray water on the boot/shoe but it was better to spray into the air near the boot and move the boot thru the mist. This seemed to apply the right amount of moisture.

I use pure white vinegar and finish with huffing.

Another method to apply the polish is to get a cotton ball,dip this in your moisture and apply the polish to the moistened cotton ball and then use the same circular movements on the shoe. I find old T shirts a bit coarse but a good material is old flanellette shirts or pyjamas.

Melting the polish in tricks

Apply the polish (again in relatively small amounts) and then use a cigarette lighter to lick the polish and melt it in. Be aware the polish is flammable.

Heat a tea spoon over a flame, wipe off the soot and use the spoon to melt in the polish.

Finishing off or shall we say the poor mans spit polish.

Apply polish to the shoe and Buff vigorously with one leg of your significant others stockings/panty hose stuffed with a rag. The stockings make a great buffer.

cheat tricks.

In Australia the is a brand of liquid floor polish called one go. A cotton ball was dipped in the one go and wrung out well. This was applied to the shoe. OMG did it look super mirror shiney. Only problem was the practice was frowned upon as cheating but on the same note everyone either did it and the bosses both knew and did it themselves in their younger day. Problem 2. If the shoe got wet it turned a tell tale milky white "BUSTED". RSM's would go on inspection armed with a water bottle, spray bottle or water pistol to catch out the heathens who did it.

Super cheat method.

Paint the shoe in gloss paint, leather lacquer or tire black.

If you are spitty-ing shoes or boots, wear them in first to form the creases in the shoe that naturally occur as we walk. Then avoid

large amounts of polish in the areas that flex as you walk.

Barra

[Dwight]

The US military used to do the "spit polish" thing too, . . .

I think that it has pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur with all the new digicamo, . . . rough out boots, . . . etc.

But if you want that polish, . . . want it quick and dirty, . . . clean up your leather real good, get all the dirt, dust, mud, hairballs, etc. ALL OFF the leather to be done.

Mix up a 50/50 solution of Resolene and tap water, . . . apply with a real "bristle" brush ( a 1 inch or 1 1/2 inch wide one ) in a slathering motion of left-right-up-down, repeat, repeat and build up a thin lather of bubbles on the surface.

Once you get the thin lather, . . . quit applying liquid, . . . keep brushing until ALL the bubbles are gone. Hang in the sun to dry. Let it dry for about 48 to 72 hours.

THEN, . . . get out your KIWI shoe polish (it is THE shoe polish) for this job, . . . follow the Aussie DI's instructions. The Resolene will super significantly reduce your polishing time, . . . it will be easier to "fix" when you scuff it up, . . . and the DI and his water bottle won't bust you

May God bless,

Dwight

[Echo4V]

The only thing that has been missed is breaking down new boots before polishing. Saddle soap, hot water and a stiff bristled scrub brush. Scrub like you've never scrubbed in your life, the boot will be a greyish color when it's ready to start polishing. Start with a thick coat of polish and buff with a boot brush, then start with the instructions from Barra. One trick we used to use on Fridays ( we used to break our boots down and re shine every weekend) was to put rubbing alcohol on a cloth and gently wipe down the boots it would extend the life of the shine for a day or two but you couldn't get a good shine again until you broke the boots down ( cleaned off a layer or two of polish to get all the alcohol off). I've even seen people cut their polish with alcohol and I've seen the can's lit on fire then put out ( by putting the lid back on the can) and only using the polish while it was still in liquid form. The best cloth I've found for the job was cloth baby diapers, in fact we were issued two diapers when I was in boot camp just for spit shining.

David

[UKRay]

Fascinating!

Thanks guys. There is a whole 'culture' here that people outside the military know little about. Can anyone else add anything? Stories? History? Where did the idea come from? Does anyone still do it?

Ray

[TTcustom]

I can only reinforce what Bara and Echo said. This was the same procedure I followed. I used cotton balls for a while but the flannel "gun patches" worked best for me. Soft flannel cloth or diapers seemed to be the most popular I seem to remember. Keeping the polish to a minimum in the creases was important. All of the cheating methods would wind up giving you a cracking boot that was useless. Pretty cool that this is the methodology around the world.

[gary]

Ray,

All of the above plus my recipe (from 27 years in black boots and then brown shoes). I was never a drill pig so my boots and shoes didn't have to reach the same standards but I did train officer recruits for a couple of years so had to be scrutinised carefully at times.

Break in the boots - I used to wear them as my day to day working boots for about a month before making them my 'best' pair. With some types of boot you actually seem to break-in your feet as the boots hardly flex.

If you got any big chunks taken out of the leather from clambering over tanks or kicking things, you could fill those in with a mixture of melted beeswax and melted kids crayons' to get the right colour. You probably couldn't do that now as wax crayons probably don't contain wax 'cos it's a health and safety risk or some such.

The Army used to (cleverly) issue grained leather boots and you had to get rid of the grain to make the leather smooth before bulling them - heated teaspoon bowl and use polish as a 'lubricant'. Spoon not too hot.

Apply a thin coat of pure beeswax as a base coat. Build up layers of polish (always Kiwi and, when it came out, Kiwi Parade Gloss as it has a higher percentage of beeswax (I think)). Keep bulling as Barra et al indicated.

The best cloth, I found, was a very fine jeweller's polishing cloth but a high quality yellow duster did just as well.

Once you'd got the high gloss finish we 'water-bulled' which meant holding the boot under a running cold tap and gently bulling under running water with cotton wool. This got rid of the final smears.

If you're bulling something flexible like a Sam Browne belt you should flex the leather every now and then (small flakes will come off) otherwise you will have a beautifully shiny belt that cracks and splits as you try and put it on.

To keep the boots shiny for particular parades you have to walk around like a penguin, on your heels, to reduce the flex in the leather.

If you're bulling brown shoes, put a coat of black polish on once every 6 or so coats of brown and it gives a deeper shine. I did the same with black boots, using an occasional coat of brown and that seemed to improve things.

We used similar techniques for horse tack but had to be careful not to get the polish layers too thick. Even 'best boots' had to be stripped back to the leather every couple of years and the whole process restarted.

We also, for some arcane reason that was never explained, had to scrape the black paint off the lacing eyelets back to the original brass so that we could (had to) polish the brass eyelets as well. And iron the bootlaces flat. And polish (bull) the part of the sole between the heel and the main sole. And I believe some units made their soldiers polish any studs (13 studs per boot) in the base of the boots.

I believe bulling was invented during the British colonial period as a method of occupying troops to stop them going to the local town and getting drunk, annoying the local population, getting beaten-up and collecting a venereal disease of their choice.

'Cheats' involved varnish or black gloss paint (put them somewhere dust-free to dry - long story but funny) or floor polishes such as 'Seal' or 'Klear'.

All the cheats or patent leather were just not cricket, old chap.

When we were boy soldiers, we had to spend an hour in the barrack room every Saturday evening, in absolute silence, straddling our bed with nothing but boots, duster, tins of polish (and a small tin of water for those who didn't like spitting) while the Duty Sergeant walked up and down to make sure we had as miserable a time as possible.

Ah, nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

Gary

[celticleather]

I sell Morello polish in my shop, for achieving a high-gloss shine. It's a paint-on polish that forms a smooth base for the subsequent use of Kiwi Parade Gloss or Guardsman Gloss polish. I think it's regarded as a bit of a cheat, but that doesn't stop vast numbers of army cadets from buying it!

http://www.cadetdire...er1.php?pg=1863

[somewhereinusa]

I was the equalavant to a DI in the Navy, my ONLY job in evenings (while everyone else cleaned barraks) was to polish my boots. I once got my a** chewed out for helping with the cleaning.

It's been over 35 years since I did it, but I seem to remember water,rubbing alcohol and boot polish. Also very risky(if you burned the boot you were in big dudu) hold boot over a lighter flame

to melt the mess. I don't remember what cloth I used, but it was probably something supplied by the chief. Believe it or not his boots were not creased from walking and had the shine of

patent leather. He also wore custom made uniforms. I was very impressed by the custom made camel hair great coat. I learned a great deal from that man.

Edited July 14, 2010 by somewhereinusa

[Frank]

In the service when I was in basic, we'd polish the entire boot with black polish and a bristle brush. Then for hours we'd sit there with a wet cotton ball (several) and shine the toes and heels almost until you could see your reflection. Just work them in a circular motion all over the toes and heels. This was a nightly process when you had people in front and in back of you who didn't know how to march! Wow, the good ole days!