At the January program following the General Meeting, we were introduced to the 2020 European Family Bootblack, Alistair aka LeatherHiraeth, who had stayed up quite late to present to us from the UK. With a camera trained on his face and one on his work, Alistair walked us through some techniques for keeping our boots shined while also telling us a bit about himself and his journey.
Raised in a rural area of Wales, Alistair was taught early how to care for his boots. His father, a Royal Navy man, made sure his son knew how to spit shine and also how to use a unique technique he called hot spoons. As he was coming into his own, Alistair yearned for something he couldn’t name until he discovered Leather. He read about it avidly and discovered DK Leather and the UK KRuel Leather Family, which he petitioned to join 7 years ago. He was accepted into the fold and given the name Hiraeth, a Welsh word that means “a yearning to belong, a homesickness; for a place, an idea, an emotion or people.”
During the presentation, Alistair’s words flowed easily, with occasional additions by his Master DK Leather, as his hands worked fluidly and ceaselessly on his boots. He had some boots he had stripped with acetone and subsequently thoroughly cleaned. When asked how to tell they were clean, he said smell was the best indicator that the acetone (or ethyl alcohol) was gone. He showed a variety of conditioners and commented on what he thought of each one, with his favorite smelling one being Wren’s Dubbin.
Alistair shared a couple of techniques with the group, but the first one was a particularly unique way to achieve a hard high shine. He uses a hot spoon. He scoops some polish with a spoon and heats the bowl with a lighter, being careful not to light it on fire or heat it too hot so as not to change its chemical makeup. Once the polish becomes liquid, he tips it gently bit by bit onto the boot, using the back of the spoon to fill in the dents and spread it. When satisfied with the coverage, he sets it aside to harden. Once hardened, he sprays it with water and brushes it out. He repeats this process with progressively harder polishes and finishes by buffing it to a high shine.
Alistair is fundraising to fulfill the goals he set out for his title year as European Bootblack 2020, and also for his travel fund to get himself and his fabulous support team to IML in 2021 to compete for the International Mr. Bootblack title. To help support Alistair, check out https://www.getyourhandsdirty.co.uk/support-alistair/.
If you are interested in learning more about Alistair and his Leather family, check out https://www.getyourhandsdirty.co.uk/ where you will also find info on all his favorite products.