No doubt this technique has been raised on the forum before, but on emptying the last of my things in my Mum's loft that had been gathering dust for nigh on twenty years, amongst some terrible poetry and pitches for film scripts, I came across a pair of black C&J's chukka boots and something really, really special: the Tim Little brown brogues that he made for Gieves & Hawkes.

The only problem was that in my youthful naivete I was layering the polish on real thick and all the creases, serrated edges, lace holes and perforations had a thick white layer of the shoe restorer I was using at the time, which must be at least a decade and half and bit more ago. So, fearing any chemicals might damage this near vintage shoe, I used the hair-dryer of the Missus to warm the shoe up and with the round end of a clothes pin, I was able as the polish started to melt and liquidfy with the heat, clear out the polish build-up in the holes and perforations. A cloth was used on the creases.

And it worked a treat!

The shoes are now refurbished with some brown polish and they look a great, you would never have thought it was the same shoe.