Yuya Hasegawa's Ardent Shoeshine Dojo Part I

This is the "Yuya Hasegawa's Ardent Shoeshine Dojo" series. In the seventh installment, Yuya Hasegawa talks about the "fourth process" of shoe polishing. Yuya Hasegawa talks about it passionately.

In this installment of "Ardent Shoeshine Dojo," Yuya Hasegawa explains in detail how to polish shoes, and this time, he focuses on the fourth step of the 16 steps, "shaping the cuff. The word "sharpen" may sound like "sharpen" but it may damage the cobbler's crease.

First, a sandpaper is prepared for sharpening the edge. The recommended sandpaper number is about 280. If you use too rough a sandpaper, the edge will be rough, which will have the opposite effect.

The reason why it is necessary to prepare the cuff is because the cuff, which touches the foot of the shoe, must be beautiful and shiny, otherwise it will not look cohesive when the shoe is finally finished. It is like a car with a shiny body but muddy wheels.

The more beautiful and shiny the upper is, the more important it is to polish the cuff as well. The cuff is the part of the shoe that touches the ground in unison with the sole, and it is the part that wears the most and gets dirty the easiest, so it should be polished well. It is often said, "He who controls the corkscrew controls shoe polish.

The most important thing to keep in mind when shaving the upper is to avoid damaging the upper. To do this, touch the edge of the sandpaper with the edge of the sandpaper. Do this while folding it frequently and being careful not to hit the upper.

You will feel a rough texture when you scrape the surface of the kova with the sandpaper. It is OK if the surface is so clean that the "roughness" becomes "crisp". If you scrape too much, the cobra itself will be worn away, which is not good for the shoes, so remember to "remove only the roughness on the surface.

Here is a trick. If the surface is too rough and rough, wet the entire surface with a wet rag before sanding to remove the roughness. It is a curious property of leather that it becomes shiny when it is rubbed after wetting. This property can be utilized in this method to make even the worst conditioned shoes beautifully finished.

Once the entire shoe has been beautifully trimmed, the process is complete. You can touch them with your fingers to make sure they are smooth, and they will surely remind you of the new cobwebs when you bought them. The phrase "God is in the details" is very apt for this process.

Next time, we will move on to the fifth step, which is the application of the rubbing ink. The accumulation of careful processes one by one will lead to a beautiful finish. We will learn a lot of tips and tricks in the next article, so let's keep on learning! That's all for today! Let's all keep our feet beautiful in February and get through this cold winter! See you soon! See you all soon!