Update for DIY Card Holder, Red Wing 9013 Beckman & Timberland Earthkeepers

Hi Everybody!
Sorry for not updating so frequently lately, been tied up with work and lots of new things going on in life. So yeah, lesser time for blogging. But fret not! I will still do my usual postings of aging leather and stuff, just that it may not be so frequent and my response to your comments (if any) may be a little slow. So do bear with me!

Here's whats coming up:

My DIY cardholder:

Been sometime since I carried it and recently met up with a leather artisan and he saw my cardholder, he was pretty amazed at how it aged and looked. Since I got some free time on hand today, so I went to clean it with Obenauf's Leather Cleaner and follow up with the Heavy Duty LP.


Next up,

Red Wing 9013:

My all time favourite shoes. Took lots of thrashing and beating but still look amazing! Sprayed generously with the cleaner and scrubbed it clean with a clean piece of foam.


And finally,

Timberland Earthkeepers:

To be honest, this pair of boots had almost became my daily beaters. Reason? Its lighter and easier to wear. When I need to visit places that requires me to take off my shoes, this slips off like any canvas shoes, heck, it even weighs like a pair of canvas shoes. Its soft and comfortable. And I am pretty surprised at the leather quality. Initially I thought it will show tears and scuffs in no time, but having wearing it almost everyday now, it still looks well-maintained!! Looks like some Obenauf's Leather Oil is a good treat for it!

Shall leave it to dry and perhaps tomorrow it will all be ready for a shoe-brushing session!

Cleaning my 875

It's the time to clean my 875 again. Except this time round I will be cleaning not only the leather, but also the sides of the crepe soles. Yes, you heard (or read) it correctly. The CREPE SOLES. As odd as it sounds, I am going to clean the sides of the crepe soles today. Yes I once mentioned that I like my 875 looking dirty and worn out. But also at the same time, I like them looking tidy. So, how should I put it, I like them looking dirty in a tidy manner. HAHA. I'm weird. I know.

Starting to notice that the sides of the soles are looking unevenly dirty. With stains from God-knows-where, its starting to irk me.

So I remembered I once read somewhere that toothpaste can clean the crepe soles pretty well. Got my tools ready: A Colgate toothpaste and toothbrush.

And I started to brush a little toothpaste, with a used toothbrush that I'm gonna replace anyway.

Brushing and brushing... 

After rinsing it off...

TA-DA! Looking slightly better. Though I have to admit I was expecting to become sparkling white. Haha. But its alright. Most prob the tougher stains are denim stains.

After the soles are settled, proceeded to clean the leather as usual, with the Obenauf's Leather Cleaner.

See this ugly patch of stain?

Spray the cleaner on it, scrubbing it with a piece of foam.

TA-DA!

All looks well and neat!

Cleaning and applying LP to the 875 (Part 1)

It seemed to be pretty obvious that I am wearing my 875 very often recently. I still wear the 9013 too but it will be about once a week, whereas the 875 takes the spot of "rest of the week".

What prompted me to do a cleaning on the 875 was this ugly patch at the front:

On a side-note: I love the white crepe soles getting dirty looking. Haha!

Hence, I used the Obenauf's Leather Cleaner to see what it can do. 

And I felt that a treat of the LP was needed after I noticed some cuffs around:

And after some gentle scrubbing using a sponge with the leather cleaner:

Check this out!

For a better comparison pic:

I'm pretty amazed at this. I used to think the leather cleaner is just a wipe in a sense that its so gentle that it hardly lift dirt off. But after this, I'm totally impressed. Of course I have to emphasize that most probably the dirt is new and no tough stubborn stains like denim staining etc. That is why it is easier to be get rid off.

And now I am leaving them to dry under the sun. It will be quick as I didn't spray too much cleaner on it and the weather is pretty hot now.

Will be back with the pictures of the application of the Heavy Duty LP..

Card Holder : Updates

Here is the card holder which I repeatedly mentioned I did it myself *prouds*. Haha! Anyway, perhaps due to my new jeans, the indigo staining becomes almost black. Also, I never clean it before so I thought I would just clean it with the Obenauf's Leather Cleaner to see what "magic" it can do. Seriously I don't expect much though.

Here's how it looks like now:

Using the Obenauf's Leather Cleaner with a clean sponge

A generous amount of spray to the leather:

After some scrubbing and rubbing, leaving it to dry:

After a few hours, the leather was dried completely. You can tell whether is it still wet. If its still wet, the leather feels soft and cool. When its totally dried, it feels rigid and warm to touch. That's how I determine whether is it dry or not. If you want to play it safe, you leave it over night to be sure it dries off naturally. DO NOT USE HAIR DRYER or such TO BLOW IT DRY!

After its totally dry:

 Rubbed some Obenauf's LP into them: 

On a sidenote: noticed the people playing basketball in the background? seems like more people are into basketball recently.. Jeremy Lin effect? lol. anyway its a great sport and its good to see people getting more into sports. Keep going!

Cleaning of Clarks DB with Obenauf's Leather Cleaner

Well, my DBs being my daily beaters, get lots of dirts and stains over time and I've cleaned it with the Obenauf's Leather Cleaner. It's a great cleaner. Gentle yet effective. You should see the dirt on the sponge that I used to wipe the boots after spraying the leather cleaner. Gosh.

Left: After Cleaning

Right: Before Cleaning

It's very easy to use the leather cleaner. Just spray sparingly on the leather, wipe/rub with a foam sponge and see the dirt comes off. That's it! Simple as that. After that, leave it to dry and rub some Obenauf's LP on it to nourish it with more nutrients as it may be lost during the cleaning.

Till then..

Cleaning my Clarks Desert Boots

Recently, due to work, I had to walk around houses under construction. My shoes were met with dust, sawdust, dirt, oil, and many other things that you won't want it to stay on your leather shoes for too long. Hence, I decided to give them a lil' clean up using Obenauf's Leather Cleaner. I'm a fan of Obenauf's products!

Here are some pics prior to cleaning and after cleaning (with the dirty one beside it)

After this, I will apply some Obenauf's leather oil to it as per instruction on the cleaner.

So here goes:

Proper way to clean a pair of Red Wing Shoes

In this vid, the Red Wing Shoes shown in the vid is the Beckman 9013, which is what yours truly has one. *proud*

Anyway, the way the vid recommend is,

1) Brush the boots with the horsehair brush.
2) Using the cloth, apply the Shoe Creme to the boots, the side of the soles also.
3) Apply mink oil to the BASE of the sole where the genuine leather logo is.
4) Finish the process of with the leather protector.

For step 1, I am with it as it is important to remove the dirt before putting any conditioner/oil. What bothers me if the step 3, what is the purpose of oiling the base of the sole???
Oh well, to each of his own. Personally, I brush off dirt with a horsehair brush. I apply Obenauf's Heavy Duty Leather Preservative (LP) to my boots and let it absorb overnight. And that's it. In my opinion, the Heavy Duty LP is good enough to nourish the leather and protecting it at the same time.

Here's the vid: