If you are a well-dressed person, the chances are very high, and you value how your wardrobe looks. You must be very particular about how your shoes look too. Check the army generals; for instance, they love their shoe ultra-shiny. Any speck on it, and they’ll be bothered the whole day.
If you have a decent stock of leather shoes, then some of them must be fading. Others like Clark desert shoes may be too light for your taste. You can give them a brand new look by learning how to darken leather boots.
What are the reasons to darken leather boots?
You can darken leather boots to give them a new look or an antique feel. Also, you can do that if they feel too light for your usual taste.
3 Ways to Darken Leather Boots
Before you start, dust your shoe with a piece of cloth or blow it with a blower to remove any dirt trapped on the surface. Applying a darkening agent on a dirty shoe makes the process ineffective.
You might need things like soap, detergents, wet towels, tissue paper, gloves, old newspapers, and other valuable prepping items. One or several of those items will be needed along the way. Here are common ways to make your boot darker:
1. Using Oil
You can use Mink oil, coconut oil, animal, and other vegetable oils to give your boots a darker shade. We will go with coconut oil because it has worked for many people.
Pour a small amount of coconut oil into a container. Sink in a piece of cloth and gently rub it on the boot using circular or forward and backward motions. Don’t do it irregularly. Move from a well-soaked area towards a none-soaked one. Every section that sucks up the oil will become darker.
Once you’ve applied it to the entire boot, use a different rag to clean off soaked or areas with clumps of oil. Give it 12-24 hours for the boot to dry up then apply a leather conditioner to avoid cracks. You can resort to the best oil for leather boots to achieve the finest results.
2. Blends and Synthetics
Blends and synthetics are special boot are products. Nothing can come close to them inefficiency. Unlike other single entity products, blends and synthetics are a mixture of various products such as vegetable oil, waxes, tree resins, animal oils, and even petroleum oils.
Most of the time, synthetics contain honey, pine, and other scents. They not only make leather look darker but improve waterproofing. But don’t rely on this method to make your kicks waterproof. Instead, spend a few bucks and get yourself the best waterproof work boots and then treat them when they start to lose their strength.
At times shoes become repellant to dust during the first days of darkening, and this is a good thing. Since synthetic blends are foolproof, applying more or improperly doesn’t have negative consequences. However, you need to do it right to achieve the best results.
It goes without saying that synthetics and blends have a lot of upsides. They smell nice, rebuff bacteria, soften the shoe, and work for longer. However, you will have to spend more on them.
So how do you darken leather boots with blends and synthetics? It’s simple. Using your fingers, scoop some scrap from the container and rub onto various sports of your boot.
Now, massage the boot as you smear the blend’s cream to all areas. You can go another round, but a few will do the work. Allow the shoes to dry for a few hours before using them.
3. Dying
You can darken your leather boots through dyes. Most people resort to them because they achieve lasting results in a short time.
Dyes come in different strains and colors. There’s Alcohol-based, water-based and oil-based. If you want your shoe to stiffen up a little in the end, alcohol dyes will do. If you want to add a lighter, dark layer to your boot without it losing the softness, consider water and oil-based varieties.
Oil-based dyes achieve a very deep sheen that lasts a very long time. So it’s up to you to decide what type and color to buy. The best dyes will always arrive with the equipment to use. That could be a spray bottle, some gloves, a sponge, or a paintbrush.
Dyes don’t smell nice. That’s why you need to work in an open space or keep the doors and windows open. If they splash on your clothes, there’s no coming off. So you can either choose to be careful or wear a rag for a while.
Other downsides of dyes include boot stiffness and dangerous chemicals. However, if you apply it right, you’ll get satisfactory results. Every bottle of dye will contain instructions on how to use it. Most of them go like this:
- Remove the finish from your boot using a rag dipped in a leather preparer.
- Spray the dye in a fine mist to all the leather areas.
- Now, use a rag, paintbrush or sponge to drench hard-to-reach areas.
- Repeat the process up to a maximum of six times(this depends on how dense the dye is).
- Let the boots dry for a day before wiping off any residues.
- Smoothen it up with a leather conditioner to avoid possible cracking or stiffening.
Wrap Up
You must learn how to darken leather boots in order to get them as shiny as you love. It’s not hard to do this when you know the right products.
Dying is one way to do that and has been around for a very long time. However, you need to have a cleansing agent like Saphir Reno Mat to remove any existing layers. You can also wash your boots and let them dry completely before you darken them.
Normally, shoe darkening is a gradual process. You can apply the dye, oil, or synthetic blends a layer after another until the shoe achieves the look you want. In the end, it’s advisable to apply a leather conditioner to avoid possible cracking.
No matter how simple or complicated the method you are using is, remember to have fun along the way.
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