How an EXPERT Shines Shoes (ft. Champion Shoe Polisher Anders Sundström @arterton.london)

About this video

The Gazette team demonstrates advanced spit shine techniques with Anders Sundström, Swedish shoe shining champion and founder of Paul Brunngård shoe care products. The video covers the two-stage process of building wax layers to create a base, then finishing with warm water and isopropanol to achieve a mirror-like shine. Viewers learn the science behind proper technique, including temperature control, solvent chemistry, and sensory cues for knowing when to apply wax versus water.

Key takeaways

• The Gazette team explains that building a spit shine requires applying multiple thin wax layers rather than one thick application, as thick layers crack unevenly when solvents evaporate at different rates
• The Gazette team demonstrates that cold water is essential for building layers efficiently, while warm water or breath is used in the finishing stage to achieve the high mirror shine
• The Gazette team recommends using sensory feedback—listening to scratching sounds, observing friction, and watching for smooth polishing—rather than relying solely on touch to determine when to apply wax or water
• The Gazette team notes that pebble grain leather is the most difficult to polish and recommends avoiding full spit shines on textured leathers to prevent water spots and preserve the grain pattern
• The Gazette team indicates that finishing with an isopropanol blend (20-40% concentration) on a well-established spit shine creates exceptional sharpness and cleanness, but should only be used after the shine has set for about two days

Episode details: published May 13, 2024 · 87K views · 31:03 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The style guidance summarized here is the Gentleman’s Gazette team’s own teaching and opinion, presented for education; product recommendations are theirs, not ours. Summaries are written by Self Growth Videos from each video itself.

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