Got some standard army issue boots, want to put a good shine on them. Most of the time I would take my time and just shine them a bit everyday.

If I want to speed up the process what should I do?

I hear you can scuff the outside up with a green scrubber so it takes the polish easier.

Do you want a spit shine ?

or just a regular brush shine (which I recommend)

Don't forget to take the rubberized coating off before attempting a shine

I'm lazy so I took mine to a shine boy at a airport. Best money ever spent.

This may sound a little wierd but it works. Get some of that mop and glo stuff. It is used to "wax" linoleum floors. get cotton balls or something to apply the stuff with and spread it on your boots. Are these going to be "inspection" boots? then of course you will want to do this a couple of days before so they don't drip on anything. You'll want to put papers down underneath them anyway so you don't make a mess. Maybe you should try it on an old pair to see if that is something you want to do. It worked well for us"back in the day" Good luck ! Hope this helps. Take care.Coondog

strip them with alcohol. or a store bought substance.
open your kiwi. light it on fire. blow it out.
use an old brown t-shirt. wrap it around your finger tips and hold it in your hand.
use your finger tips to dip in the melted kiwi and apply a layer to the boot.
use a heat gun to melt the kiwi evenly all over the boot. a lighter will work but not as well,
when the kiwi has a dull look, use a clean part of the t-shirt dipped in water to buff in small circles.
repeat all of the above till your happy.

i do this with one pair while the other pair is at the boot man's. when you do it for a while you only have to do it once or twice a week. then buy some liquid starch to wash your bdu's with and they'll be easier to press on your own. saves cash that you could be spending on tobacco and ammo.

Quoted: strip them with alcohol. or a store bought substance. open your kiwi. light it on fire. blow it out. use an old brown t-shirt. wrap it around your finger tips and hold it in your hand. use your finger tips to dip in the melted kiwi and apply a layer to the boot. use a heat gun to melt the kiwi evenly all over the boot. a lighter will work but not as well, when the kiwi has a dull look, use a clean part of the t-shirt dipped in water to buff in small circles. repeat all of the above till your happy. i do this with one pair while the other pair is at the boot man's. when you do it for a while you only have to do it once or twice a week. then buy some liquid starch to wash your bdu's with and they'll be easier to press on your own. saves cash that you could be spending on tobacco and ammo.

So you spread the kiwi by hand but also melt it to get a more uniform covering??

How much do you use?

Melting the kiwi causes it to fill all the pores in the leather faster, making you get a good shine faster.

I just drop my garrison boots off at the boot monkeys on friday after work.  Pick them up on sunday... $4 for a better spit shine than I have ever gotten on my own.  Works for me.

You really don't shine the boots...you shine the polish.  Actually, the more polish on the boot the better shine you will get, however, too much kiwi will crack and actually chip off.

Follow what 30calTBLkid says...as this is the method I have used and it works the best.

same here. Another trick if you don't use the heat gun is to polish them right after taking them off. The heat from your feet and wearing them all day helps the polish get in the pores.

Get some custom boots made to pattern out of patent leather.

Note: If this results in your ass getting chewed up and spat out by your CO, remember, I just give the advice, you'd be the one to follow it.

Find a grunt straight out of basic and give him $10 and 10 minutes. You'll be able to look up skirts with your boot toe.

The guys in the corrosion control shop (12C for you NAVAIR types) would shoot black poly and then clear coat their boots.
Looked as good as Corfram shoes.  

Mop-N-Glo and similar products are clear gloss acrylics.  Sometimes used to put gloss coats on models.  Ise them after you get a smooth surface.

Getting a smooth surface. - Heat the Kiwi to get it to soak into the leather pores, what youare trying to do is use wax to build up to just above the surface of the leather, then you are buffing and polishing the very top and THIN layer of polish.  Any extra polish just takes more effort to get to a good shine and can crack.

Spit  - s;ightly acidic gives a good shine quickly but eventually the acid dulls the polish.

Water -  like spit thins/softens the polish helps to get the thinner layers, but doesn't dull the wax. when it evaporates out..  

Heat gun or similar to melt and soak first then buff down and then I use cotton balls with wax and a small drop of water.  Then use a GOOD quality Brush and cloth to buff it to sheen.   I use my Dad's WWII vintage horsehair brush and clothes.

I prefer to use heat only at the very beginning of the process when sealing the pores, after that it is overkill.

Then again I once saw a guy who swore by lighting the polish on fire as the best method, course he lit his shoes on fire about 20 minutes before an inspection formation once in front of the guys he was demonstarating his method to.  I can't recall if the laughter at that time was more than after the inspection but he got no sympathy from anybody.

Mop_n_glo is a waste of time.


Strip with alcohol, to get the leather oils and tanning mojo out of it. Then shine with Lincoln or any other quality shoe polish. Melting the first couple of applications by running over it with a lighter will help get teh polish into the leather, then spit shine from there on out. You may substitute water for spit, it's OK.

Lincon wax and a heat gun then TexMex Seal-a-Shine

If you want a mirror finish on the toe and heel (the hard parts of the boot), keep polishing over and over again with a wet cotton ball.  The kiwi will build up till all the pores are filled.  You can get a smooth as glass finish.  I can make it so you can see your reflection, without the fake stuff (i was Honor Guard for a few years).

Quoted: Find a grunt straight out of basic and give him $10 and 10 minutes. You'll be able to look up skirts with your boot toe.

IIRC that's what 1911greg is...

I  usually got the best results from COLD water, with a lil bit of rubbing alcohol in the water.
follow the instructions of using heated up shoe polish to get a good base of wax first, get a nice  brush shined base coat, then follow with either cotton balls, or cotton baby diapers. small circles.
DONT USE MOP N GLO!!!!
they will turn white when it rains, ruin your boots.

in the move "TAXI DRIVER" Roberto Deniro  shines his combat boots by lighting the small container of KIWI shoe polish in the metal can on fire, then he blows out the flame and applies hot shoe polish on his boots.

I would also get a bottle of "Heel & sole edge dressing" so the sides look nice and shiney too.