Gents, I picked up a pair of To Boot NY cap toes for $9 at my favorite thrift spot. They had some water/salt damage on the sides near the sole and toe, but otherwise they felt good. The damage went pretty deep, so the only way to wear them (and not embarrass myself with the fashion faux pas) was to try and polish them. I saw Joe's post about the Stafford wingtip boot transformation, but the brown polish I used near the toe just wasn't dark enough. And I didn't want to just make the shoes black. So, I took them to my local cobbler and gave him the project. He replaced the soles, stripped the leather color down, and applied three or four coats of chocolate brown. Two weeks later, I'm very, very happy with the result. The color is now a deep mocha that shines brown in light but leans black when in shadow. The damage is now invisible! The total cost for unique, new (to me) shoes is less than $70.
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