How do I get a soldier's (bulled) shine on my black leather boots - Any good (quick) tricks?

Douglas, April 2008

You will need normal black kiwi polish, a lighter, a sylvette cloth and a bowl of warm water oh and a good two hours of your time if you wanna do it properly! Parade Gloss is rubbish so don't waste your time with that.... 1st you need too cover the area you want bulled with a modest amount of polish (apply with your finger), then you want to run a naked flame over the polish until it liquidises. Get your sylvette cloth and make damp with warm water and a tiny amount of polish then rub in small circles vigerously keep doing this to build up the layers of polish and eventually you will get a glass finish on your boot.

Richie C, April 2011

all you need is a clean yellow duster and parade gloss shoe polish and a cup of COLD water dip the cloth into the water so there is only a tiny amount of water on the duster then add the parade gloss a tiny amount at a time then add to the shoe or boot in tiny circles aroud the whole boot/shoe keep on repeating this method until you are happy with the overall result you can do the same with cotton wall balls this method is exactly the same with the same result these two methods take hours of practice and can take days to complete to a very high standard so be as patient as you can

Ross Bishop, February 2011

Using wet cotton wool push into a new tin of polish firmly but not too hard. Hold for about 10 seconds. Then you'll see a pinky subsance on the cottonwool, This gives a great finish at the end when you do circular motion

j, July 2009

there are many ways to bull your boots however one in particular works for me GET UR DAD TO DO THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

ZAK, June 2009

Morello. ;)

JD, June 2009

They are the worst methods ever. I was in the household cav and the best method is to get the boot and run solid beeswax all over the boot then melt it in with a blowtorch repeat this till the boot can take no more wax. get your polish normal Black Kiwi polish and use the tin lid to scrap all the excess wax off till the boot is smooth, then get a lint free cloth jewellery cloths are good, and keep applying thick layers everytime your put polish on your cloth make sure you use some water as well gradually getter lighter so the polish does not fall off, when no more polish can go into the leather scrub your cloth out with soap and a nail brush and get some parade gloss and oxblood polish, lightly dip your cloth into the water but dont soak it then dab into the parade gloss and finish off the boot intn light circles making sure you cover all of the boot not just one spot.

Life Guards, March 2009

You want a speedy way of getting your boots nice and shiny?

I'll tell you how I do mine... (Be aware this is a quick fix for a show parade, not for a ceremonial turnout {if you've left it this late for a ceremonial parade then you need to sort your admin out})

Get a tin of boot polish, normal stuff, not parade gloss. Stick a bit on a finger tip, and rub it into the leather till the polish gets absorbed, you want to do this till any dimples or surface imperfections are smoothed over. The finish of the boots should be nice and smoothe, yet an uninspiring matt black. It'll probably take about an hour's solid applying polish per boot.

This will give you the base layer, if you dont do this, you'll have shiny boots that look crap, now for the speed shine!

Get a can of cheap Hair spray, and spray paint the boots up! Like painting a car go in very thin layers till you build up a mirror like shine! and dont rush it, or you'll get tell tale dribbles in the finish of your boots.

Like most bulling methods as soon as you take a couple of steps some of it will break off, but rest assured the toe caps will be fine.

The same works with spray on laquers, but they tend to have a tell tale blue tint to the finish. Also remember that in light rain you'll be ok, but heavy rain will wash the hair spray off.

Evil Twin, October 2008

Hammerite?

job, October 2008

firstly don't use parade gloss as this type of polish goes cloudy over time so stick with plain black. use cotton wool without water to get a good thickness of polish on the boot/shoe. Then allow this to dry for at least 15 minutes longer is better. Then use some very wet cotton wool dipped very lightly in the polish (just enough to coat the wool this stops it snagging on the dry polish). Then small circular motions with the wet cotton wool for a very long time (20 + minutes the longer the better) will bring out the shine you may have to keep adding a very small amount of polish to the wet wool.

snoogley, August 2008

The traditional way is to set fire to the hard polish to make it melt when a pool of polish has formed on the top of the tin (kiwi is best) use the lid to snuff out the flame. Apply the polish with a brush and leave to soak in for a couple of minutes (whilst it is soaking in fill the lid from the tin with water for later) and then remove the excess with a soft cloth, (you may have to repeat this procedure). Now sprinkle small droplets of water onto the leather. Now to bull the surface. Wrap another soft cloth around your finger and polish the surface in small circular 'bulling rings' using the water droplets as the centre point of the circle. The water droplets helps to create the smooth mirror shine.

John Morris, August 2008

You can buy a paint-on gloss for shoes - try shoe repairers(quick) - the traditional method is using a cloth & applying polish (try kiwi parade gloss ) in a circular motion, quick buff and then apply more polish and keep going ! - could take an couple of hours if you want a good job.

DIY guy, May 2008