Period Boots

[Bsquirrely]

I know all the current Old Soldier Army tricks on how to polish a set of boots, but how did they do it say in the civil war (if they did it) or WW1?

[Bluehawk]

I know all the current Old Soldier Army tricks on how to polish a set of boots, but how did they do it say in the civil war (if they did it) or WW1?

Found this re: WW1 polish, for reenactors...

 

Link:

http://www.tommyspackfillers.com/showitem.asp?itemRef=VS052

 

VERY interesting question...

[hawkdriver]

Field boots were dubbed for WWI and most of WWII, no polish needed.

[mpguy80/08]

Field boots were dubbed for WWI and most of WWII, no polish needed.

 

When I got my roughouts from At The Front, I bid on and won a can of original dubbing from WW II. When I opened the can, I reclosed it and thought no way would I put that gunk on my boots, so I settled on KIWI Wet Pruf. I applied one coat, let it dry completely and then applied a second coat. The boots went from a light tan suede color to a nice, dark reddish brown color. The second coat is dry, and the boots do not exhibit any greasy feel to them. See the attached pictures.

 

Wayne

[ColBob506]

Spit-shining is probably one of the oldest of the "old soldier" tricks,I've seen diary explanations of it for 1812 leather gear and riding boots.Dubbing was and is a field thing as polishing is more of a garrison thing.Matter of fact if you can find Guy Empey's book "Over the Top" I believe he describes alot of WW1 trench time killers in it.Including the 'cootie hunt'.

[Bsquirrely]

Spit-shining is probably one of the oldest of the "old soldier" tricks,I've seen diary explanations of it for 1812 leather gear and riding boots.Dubbing was and is a field thing as polishing is more of a garrison thing.Matter of fact if you can find Guy Empey's book "Over the Top" I believe he describes alot of WW1 trench time killers in it.Including the 'cootie hunt'.

 

Interesting,

Somebody else sent me en email about how in the Rev time period they would roll balls of tar onto the shoes to clean them and some of it came off.

 

Now another question that has surfaced;

 

Corofram or patent leather, what would be a correct date for these types of leather boots?

[Chukpike]

Now another question that has surfaced;

 

Corofram or patent leather, what would be a correct date for these types of leather boots?

 

If you are talking about military issue there may be no correct time. When I got out of the Navy in 1975 you could wear patent leather shoes for liberty or standing watches, but my command did not allow them for inspections. They did not come issued.

[mpguy80/08]

As far as I know, Patent leather has never been Authorized Issue footwear in the US Military. It was always individual purchase, and you couldnt wear them for inspections in all the units I've been in...

 

Wayne