<p>A recent grad advised me to begin polishing my low quarters in order to build up a layer of wax on them or something... so what, precisely, do I need to purchase to do this, and are there any special methods I should know?</p>
<p>you need some kiwi shoe polish and a soft rag,(old white t-shirts work well).</p>
<p>A lighter, kiwi polish, water, and a cotton undershirt are all you really need.</p>
<p>Dip the rag in the water, then in the kiwi, rub it on evenly, seal it with the lighter, buff with more water, then dry with the undershirt. That's what I do, at least, and it seems to work pretty well.</p>
<p>get the parade gloss kiwi</p>
<p>It SUCKS!
Use cotton balls and water for a good shine. I don't recomend flame shining.</p>
<p>flame shining is for slackers like me</p>
<p>A Kiwi sponge does wonders. It supposedly ruins the leather on your shoes, but you'll get a better shine spending 10 seconds rubbing the sponge on your shoes than spending an hour shining them the regular way.</p>
<p>Except the Kiwi sponge seems to come off shoes rather quickly.</p>
<p>I used one and it ate all my good shine off...i spent hours building a new good layer of wax on</p>
<p>Don't use the Kiwi sponge. It's just bad.</p>
<p>My favorite way of getting a good shine involved a hair dryer. Put on a good layer or two of kiwi parade gloss polish with a sponge applicator, then point the blow dryer at it for just a few seconds, until it starts looking a bit melty, then shine with an old cotton shirt soaked in COLD water. Repeat once or twice, and your shoes will be perfect. Make sure you don't hold the blowdryer on them too long, though, or you might scorch the polish into the leather, which leaves random dull spots.
I usually dip an old toothbrush in the polish and rub around the crevices and the edges of the shoes, so they look cleaner. Easier than edge dressing.</p>
<p>Building up a good base layer is important to keeping your shoes and boots clean and shiny. Some of the funniest bonding moments I've had have been at "boot shining parties" I had with my sister nULLs.</p>
<p>I just told my son who is headed to R-Day to start lighting up his shoes and he laughed and laughed - pointed out to me you dont set your shoes on fire, merely pass the lighter over them a few times. Now my initial read would have led to some pretty funny occurances.</p>
<p>If you choose to melt the shine in the can like some people like to, make sure you don't hold it there for too long because that stuff WILL catch fire.</p>