charcoal polish
Home-made shoe polish
Neutral Colour Shoe Polish
To make a neutral-colour, home-made shoe polish, you would need:
Soap flakes 30 g (1 oz) Potassium carbonate 15 g (0.5 oz) (Obtain from chemist/pharmacist) Beeswax 150 g (5oz) Gum arabic powder 15 g (0.5 oz) Icing sugar 45 g (1.5 oz)
Slice the beeswax and add to 568 ml (a pint) of water. Stir in the soap flakes and potassium carbonate. Boil until a smooth paste. Whilst the mixture is still hot (turn off the heat, but act quickly), add and stir the gum arabic powder and icing sugar. For a specifically black polish, 280 g (10 oz) of charcoal powder from the chemist may be added at this stage.
In recent history the black colour comes from an aniline dye. The next recipe indicates that nigrosene (generically, a black dye made from oxidised aniline) was domestically procurable in the 1940s.
Note that the above recipe uses potassium carbonate (potash) whereas the following recipe uses potassium bicarbonate, which is not potash. Imperial Measures are in brackets.Home-made shoe polish
Neutral Colour Shoe Polish
To make a neutral-colour, home-made shoe polish, you would need:
Soap flakes 30 g (1 oz) Potassium carbonate 15 g (0.5 oz) (Obtain from chemist/pharmacist) Beeswax 150 g (5oz) Gum arabic powder 15 g (0.5 oz) Icing sugar 45 g (1.5 oz)
Slice the beeswax and add to 568 ml (a pint) of water. Stir in the soap flakes and potassium carbonate. Boil until a smooth paste. Whilst the mixture is still hot (turn off the heat, but act quickly), add and stir the gum arabic powder and icing sugar. For a specifically black polish, 280 g (10 oz) of charcoal powder from the chemist may be added at this stage.
In recent history the black colour comes from an aniline dye. The next recipe indicates that nigrosene (generically, a black dye made from oxidised aniline) was domestically procurable in the 1940s.
Note that the above recipe uses potassium carbonate
Neutral Colour Shoe Polish
To make a neutral-colour, home-made shoe polish, you would need:
Soap flakes 30 g (1 oz) Potassium carbonate 15 g (0.5 oz) (Obtain from chemist/pharmacist) Beeswax 150 g (5oz) Gum arabic powder 15 g (0.5 oz) Icing sugar 45 g (1.5 oz)
Slice the beeswax and add to 568 ml (a pint) of water. Stir in the soap flakes and potassium carbonate. Boil until a smooth paste. Whilst the mixture is still hot (turn off the heat, but act quickly), add and stir the gum arabic powder and icing sugar. For a specifically black polish, 280 g (10 oz) of charcoal powder from the chemist may be added at this stage.
In recent history the black colour comes from an aniline dye. The next recipe indicates that nigrosene (generically, a black dye made from oxidised aniline) was domestically procurable in the 1940s.
Note that the above recipe uses potassium carbonate (potash) whereas the following recipe uses potassium bicarbonate, which is not potash. Imperial Measures are in brackets.Home-made shoe polish
Neutral Colour Shoe Polish
To make a neutral-colour, home-made shoe polish, you would need:
Soap flakes 30 g (1 oz) Potassium carbonate 15 g (0.5 oz) (Obtain from chemist/pharmacist) Beeswax 150 g (5oz) Gum arabic powder 15 g (0.5 oz) Icing sugar 45 g (1.5 oz)
Slice the beeswax and add to 568 ml (a pint) of water. Stir in the soap flakes and potassium carbonate. Boil until a smooth paste. Whilst the mixture is still hot (turn off the heat, but act quickly), add and stir the gum arabic powder and icing sugar. For a specifically black polish, 280 g (10 oz) of charcoal powder from the chemist may be added at this stage.
In recent history the black colour comes from an aniline dye. The next recipe indicates that nigrosene (generically, a black dye made from oxidised aniline) was domestically procurable in the 1940s.
Note that the above recipe uses potassium carbonate