# Was my flaming shoe shine secretly brilliant? (A homeless sage story) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985 "2013-07-08T22:50:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/1 "2013-07-08T22:50:16Z")
I got my shoes shined the other day by a man who appeared to be homeless. In addition to his chair and shining accoutrements, he had both a dog and a large camping bag full of belongings. Transient or not, he was scraggly and unkempt. But he gave a good shine to my shoes. For $10 (at my suggestion - he said he’d take whatever I wanted to offer, but did scoff at the $25 airport shoeshiners, who “mainly used water”), I was promised a “true Navy shine”. One element seemed either brilliant or insane, or possibly both. He said the secret was to “heat” the polish, to help it absorb into the shoe better. He accomplished this by igniting the polish with his lighter, and then extinguishing it with a forceful breath (which didn’t work so well on the second shoe - when the dose of air only encouraged the fire, he had to quickly use the cover of the polish container to smother the flaming dish). The result was polish that was liquid, and did indeed absorb deeply into the shoe leather. It produced a very good shine, and is still holding well a couple weeks since. I’d like to incorporate some variation of this into my own shoe shine routine, but without the safety hazard. My questions, then: Is heating the shoe shine polish indeed the secret to a great shoe shine? Is there a safer way to sufficiently heat the polish then to light it on fire and quickly extinguish it? Do you keep reading Polish when you see polish? It makes the part about the liquid a little creepy. Also, how much should a guy pay someone to shine his shoes? I’ve never had mine shined in the airport, so I don’t know if $25.00 is accurate. If geography is relevant, this was outside the Miami Dade County Courthouse in downtown Miami, Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/2 "2013-07-08T23:24:51Z")
$25 might be the going rate for non-English speaking rich visiting businessmen or something, but it’s ludicrous. So is $10. Going rate, including a tip, here in Manhattan, isn’t more than five or six bucks. I’ve never tried the flaming polish method, so I can’t tell you anything about that. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/3 "2013-07-08T23:33:49Z")
I shine my own shoes so I’m pretty familiar with the labor involved. It’s about 20 cents worth of polish and 5 -7 minutes of work and this is for size 13-14 oxfords. I can’t see paying more than 4-6 dollars as a convenience. 10.00 for a shoe shine seems pretty steep. $ 25.00 for a shoeshine seems absolutely absurd unless the President of Kiwi Polish is delivering it and pouring you a complimentary beer. I think you were being told a tale to justify the $10.00. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/4 "2013-07-08T23:47:24Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I think you were being told a tale to justify the $10.00. I’m happy to hear that $10 was generous, since it was intended to be. I’m more curious about whether anyone else has heard of heating the polish before shining one’s shoes. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/5 "2013-07-08T23:51:27Z")
I’ve heard of it, but I don’t think it’s generally accepted as a great shoe shine method. If you want to see a group of people anal about shoe care - pop on over to this thread… > **[\*\*The Official Shoe Care Thread: Tutorials, Photos, etc.\*\*](https://www.styleforum.net/threads/the-official-shoe-care-thread-tutorials-photos-etc.228153/)** > > In this thread we talk about shoe care, post our favorite products, before and after photos of our shoes, etc. There seem to be a few opinions on whether to use wax, paste, polish, cream? On what kinds of shoes? How often? Which products? What to... ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/6 "2013-07-08T23:55:56Z")
Navy shine? One thing the Marines did better was the shoe shine. Light the polish in the can, snuff it out with the cap (IIRC Travis Bickle does this), then apply it in little circles using cotton balls. Go back over it with cotton balls soaked on ice water (not loogy spit!) until a high gloss comes up. If you can keep grit and dust from penetrating the wax, you’ll be able to increase the gleem with touch-up as you are then polishing the polish. Also, buy edger and blacken the exposed soles. Or you can do like everybody did the first day out of boot camp and buy patent leather [Coreframs](http://flyfightwin.areavoices.com/files/2012/02/Corfram.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/7 "2013-07-08T23:56:30Z")
I’ve had it done a quarter century ago, and I assumed it was mostly for showmanship, kinda like a flambe dessert. Same with the snapping of the towel and all that. This was at the Kaiser Bldg in Oakland where a bunch of octogenarians ran a barber shop and one guy shined shoes for those who wanted it while getting their hair cut. The youngest fellow working in the shop was in his late 70s. They cut hair quickly and well and shined shoes nicely. Never seen it anywhere else and it was never explained to me either. Oh, and he lit it on fire on my shoe. Fun with matches! ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/8 "2013-07-08T23:57:09Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > If geography is relevant, this was outside the Miami Dade County Courthouse in downtown Miami, Florida. > [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > $25 might be the going rate for non-English speaking rich visiting businessmen or something, but it’s ludicrous. So is $10. Speaking as someone from the next county up, non-English speaking might not be much of a minority in that area. For the OP - If heating the polish was useful, I’d expect there to be instructions on shoe polish saying so. Random Google sites seem to indicate that it helps..or it helps soften old polish..or you should heat the shoes gently after the polish is applied. I guess it might not be cut and dry. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/9 "2013-07-09T01:39:23Z")
used to apply polish to boots and the lightly flame them with a lighter when I was in the Army in the 70’s and 80’s ---
**Author:** ![stoplight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@stoplight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoplight)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/10 "2013-07-09T01:56:35Z")
I think we did the same in the Air Force but to finish the shine we used nylon foot stockings stretched out and rubbed quickly back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![the\_O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@the\_O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_O)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/11 "2013-07-09T02:25:12Z")
The only way to spit-shine is to light the polish. That’s the only method that I’m aware of. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/12 "2013-07-09T02:58:34Z")
People still get their shoes shined in this day and age? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/13 "2013-07-09T03:03:40Z")
What that using liquid polish or wax polish? The method I used to use was: Wax shoes, somewhat heavily, with wax polish. Hold over a match or candle to melt (not ignite) the wax. It melts into the leather, leaving a very dull finish. Then polish that. It should polish to a deep glow. Extra hint: Use your mother’s old nylon hose stockings to buff. Best buffing cloth there is. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/14 "2013-07-09T03:07:16Z")
> [@stoplight](#): > > I think we did the same in the Air Force but to finish the shine we used nylon foot stockings stretched out and rubbed quickly back and forth. I thought the Air Force shined their boots with a Hersey bar. In the Army I also used the melted polish technique. When I was motivated. Also works with floor wax. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/15 "2013-07-09T03:53:59Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’ve had it done a quarter century ago, and I assumed it was mostly for showmanship, kinda like a flambe dessert. Same with the snapping of the towel and all that. This was at the Kaiser Bldg in Oakland where a bunch of octogenarians ran a barber shop and one guy shined shoes for those who wanted it while getting their hair cut. The youngest fellow working in the shop was in his late 70s. They cut hair quickly and well and shined shoes nicely. Never seen it anywhere else and it was never explained to me either. Oh, and he lit it on fire on my shoe. Fun with matches! What a great story! I had something similar happen to me in Shreveport. And this old gentleman at the ancient parlor (adorned with the ever descending serpent of blood and bandage) applied and then lit the waxen polish right there on my shoe as well. Steel toed dress boots. That was a fine shine. Deep and more lustrous than you’d expect from what was essentially a nice work boot. I think they were Red Wings. Fun with matches, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/16 "2013-07-09T05:24:28Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Navy shine? One thing the Marines did better was the shoe shine. Light the polish in the can, snuff it out with the cap (IIRC Travis Bickle does this), then apply it in little circles using cotton balls. Go back over it with cotton balls soaked on ice water (not loogy spit!) until a high gloss comes up. If you can keep grit and dust from penetrating the wax, you’ll be able to increase the gleem with touch-up as you are then polishing the polish. Also, buy edger and blacken the exposed soles. > > Or you can do like everybody did the first day out of boot camp and buy patent leather [Coreframs](http://flyfightwin.areavoices.com/files/2012/02/Corfram.jpg) Someone does it in one of the Alien movies, also. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/17 "2013-07-09T16:44:41Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > People still get their shoes shined in this day and age? I guess I could just buy new shoes when the surface gets scuffed or dull. Seems a waste. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/18 "2013-07-09T17:13:42Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I guess I could just buy new shoes when the surface gets scuffed or dull. Seems a waste. If everyone had that attitude just think how bad the economy would be! ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-my-flaming-shoe-shine-secretly-brilliant-a-homeless-sage-story/662985/19 "2013-07-09T17:36:49Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I’m happy to hear that $10 was generous, since it was intended to be. I’m more curious about whether anyone else has heard of heating the polish before shining one’s shoes. Yup. My ex was in some sadistic army cadets thing when he was at boarding school in England as a teen, and they swore by setting the polish on fire, to avoid getting sworn at for insufficiently shiny shoes.