Boot bull-sh1t

[Muerrisch]

Having just seen a remarkably shiny pair of boots on the Postcards thread, I am wondering when the practice got under way.

Even best bib and tucker group photos pre-1914 have many a scruffy boot on show, even, dare I say it, RWF and the Guards.

A corollary to the thought is, given that modern polish and a little modern spittle after a sup of ale readily produces the magic gloss, what was available then?

Reading betwen the lines, one of a soldier's two pairs was dubbined, and the other blacked, but I have read nothing of "bulling" pre 1914 in any memoirs.

[T8HANTS]

The LRB Standing Orders for 1909 state that "The men must wear black boots, but ammunition boots may be worn unblackend." Blacking of new boots was partialy achieved by rubbing new boots with a cut raw potatoe (LRB SO's 1939).

Not quite what you were after, but I love the use of the potatoe.

Gareth

[Philip Wilson]

The Standing Orders of the Warwickshire Yeomanry published in 1912 have this to say about boots:

'Recruits on joining will be given a free issue of clothing as listed' and each recruit was expected 'to provide himself at his own expense from the Regimental bootmaker and tailor with:

1 pair of regimental pattern service boots,

1 pair of Wellington boots and spurs .

1 set of busby lines.

He will not be called upon to return these articles, but he is expected to keep them complete and in good order as long as he serves in the Regiment.'

There is no mention of bulling boots but every effort would have been made to start the day with a clean serviceable pair of service boots or wellington boots.

Boots attract dust and a Cavalry Regiment on the march will create a fair amount of dust - likewise an Infantry or Artillery Regiment circa 1900-14. As for boots worn in the battle areas during the Great War they just needed to be serviceable - except for parades when depending on location bull may have been the order of the day. Staff Officers may have had shiny boots but the mud or dust in the forward areas would soon coat any shiny boots.

[Muerrisch]

Thank you both: someone out there knows, surely?

[Tim P]

Photos I have seen of other ranks in walking out pose do show boots that seem to lack any of the sueding associated with a flesh out boot and that are in fact quite shiny if lacking the mirror gloss associated with parade boots from the rest of the 20th century to today. Of course once boots have been dubbed it is more work than anyone could hope to get that parade lustre to them. In that case I imagine as long as the boot was clean, there would be some reluctant acceptance that it wouldnt ever gleam

[trajan]

Aaahhh... Dubbin... Is it still available? Mind you, I do wear Gortex these days - but Turkish issue army boots are still favoured by my Dutch ex-regular services colleague and he always complains about the lack of it over here!

Trajan

[Doc2]

For the benefit of us non-Brits, could someone please define "bulling"? I understand "dubbing", and "blackening", but what is "bulling?" Thanks. Doc

[daggers]

Spit and polish. Moisten with saliva the soft cloth you have placed over your index finger. Dip it in your tin of black Kiwi polish [other brands admissible in some regiments] and make a succesion of small circles on the toecap of your boot. Proceed indefinitely until you can see your face in the gleaming leather.

Repeat on other parts of the boot, then on the other.

I will not go into the dangerous waters of hot spoons to prepare for this process as it was deemed illicit ...long ago.

Any advance in the past 60 years?

D

[NigelS]

Aaahhh... Dubbin... Is it still available?

Apparently yes, although now sold under the 'Kiwi' brand name Click I really ought to waterproof my boots more often, I've still got the remains of a tin of Wrens!

This site Click - which contains a link to the GWF on its Home page may also be of interest, but unfortunately it still doesn't answer Grumpy's original question.

NigelS

[Doc2]

Spit and polish. Moisten with saliva the soft cloth you have placed over your index finger. Dip it in your tin of black Kiwi polish [other brands admissible in some regiments] and make a succesion of small circles on the toecap of your boot. Proceed indefinitely until you can see your face in the gleaming leather.

Repeat on other parts of the boot, then on the other.

I will not go into the dangerous waters of hot spoons to prepare for this process as it was deemed illicit ...long ago.

Any advance in the past 60 years?

D

Ahh! Now I get it. It's what we Yanks call "spit-shining". The current boots are rough side out, so supposedly no more spit-shining, but we used to do it when we wore the black boots. Dissolving the paste wax slightly with several types of solvent was often also used for the initial layers, as was the application of heat via matches or cotton balls with alcohol on them (probably not safe, and definitely not considered proper, but often tried). Lots of supposed short cuts, but the liberal use of elbow grease always seemed to win the competition. Thanks for the terminology definition. Doc

[trajan]

But still no explanation to others as to why it was called 'bull'. We in the uk know what it means and what it is - shades of whitening coal buckets. But whiy 'bull''?

Trajan

[auchonvillerssomme]

I wonder if it coincided with the manufacture of better grade boot and shoe polish.

Bulling has nothing whatsoever to do with dubbin.

[Old Tom]

Bullshit baffles brains! Many a true word spoken in jest.

Old Tom

[Andrew Upton]

Photos I have seen of other ranks in walking out pose do show boots that seem to lack any of the sueding associated with a flesh out boot and that are in fact quite shiny if lacking the mirror gloss associated with parade boots from the rest of the 20th century to today. Of course once boots have been dubbed it is more work than anyone could hope to get that parade lustre to them. In that case I imagine as long as the boot was clean, there would be some reluctant acceptance that it wouldnt ever gleam

With apologies to whoever posted the original pictures on the GWF, some of the issue boots themselves were allowed to be made in a variety of materials. Rough side out leather can be shined up with a lot of hard work, but some of those made in pebble grain leather (much like WW2 issue boots) as illustrated below would have shined up much more easily. In certain circumstances the wear of privately purchased boots (by non-Officer types) was sanctioned, and these also invariably seem to be smooth or glossy leather rather than rough-out. All of which would conspire to create a healthy variety of of shined and non-shined boots of varying degrees:

http://postimage.org/image/1e2l9wo84/

[PhilB]

Apropos Bullshit:-

"The origin of the figurative use is uncertain, but is likely related to the Old French boul, boule, or bole meaning fraud or trickery. The word bule appears in Middle English in the 14th century, but appears to have died out by the 15th. Bull appears in the 17th century and may be related to the older term, either as a revival or re-importation.

Bullshit appears in the early 20th century; the first cite in the OED from 1915. The addition of **** appears to be for emphasis and pejoration, as well as a bit of folk etymology as the Old French words would be unfamiliar. Equating it with **** makes it instantly understandable to a modern audience. It’s also possible, given the 1915 date, that soldier slang had something to do with it. Soldiers often add profane elements to words, although none of the early cites in the OED indicate a military origin. (There is a 1930 letter by T.E. Lawrence that uses the word in reference to military drill.)"

[auchonvillerssomme]

I think the OED is talking BS.

[Muerrisch]

I think the OED is talking BS.

Brophy and Partridge The Long Long Trail

'Bull' Bullshit [one word]: not spit and polish but any kind of pretentiousness or incredible nonsense.

As a specialised book, written near to the events, it is probably more reliable than the OED in our context.

[Philip Wilson]

T.E.Lawrence when writing as 352087 A/C Ross has this to say of Bull-**** on page 83/84 of his book The Mint first published in 1955 well after his death:

"Kit Inspection in fifteen minutes. We broke into a mad rush. In rehearsal, kit laying had taken an hour."

Lawrence explains the entire process of laying out the kit in meticulous detail ...for example "our spare boots were turned soles-up, each side of the holdall. The soles had been polished black and the steel tips and five rows of hobnails rubbed with emery-paper to shine. Our five polishing brushes, washed and with glass-papered white backs were lined across the foot of the bed..........................this stuff was just kit inspection stuff , and our real dirty brushes, our real worn clothes were hidden in our boxes. 'Proper bull- ' grumbled Lofty when made to Silvo his boot-blacking tin till it simulated silver.

Bull- it was."

[Black 8]

Spit and polish. Moisten with saliva the soft cloth you have placed over your index finger. Dip it in your tin of black Kiwi polish [other brands admissible in some regiments] and make a succesion of small circles on the toecap of your boot. Proceed indefinitely until you can see your face in the gleaming leather.

Repeat on other parts of the boot, then on the other.

I will not go into the dangerous waters of hot spoons to prepare for this process as it was deemed illicit ...long ago.

Any advance in the past 60 years?

D

When I was at Sandhurst, we were required to tell the Academy S'arnt Major when asked that we had bulled our own boots by burning them down wih a spoon heated over a candle.... The truth was that our CSgt did the whole Platoon's worth with blowtorch and beeswax! We did, however, layer up and bull said boots ourselves; the process was to "finger bull" the burnt down boots with kiwi Parade Gloss, applying layer upon layer of polish with the fingers and a tiny bit of spit until the grain of the leather was no longer visible. Then the real work of getting the mirror shine began - a soft cloth moistened with water (definitely NOT spit, which left a slight residue which wouldn't pass inspection) was dabbed lightly into the polish, before being firmly but lightly applied to the boots in small circles. This continued for hours, until the whole surface of the boot was literally a black mirror; we then placed the finished boots under a slow running tap and rubbed gently with a soaked cotton wool pad to remove any imperfections - the "final shine" - after which we had to blow off any remaining water in case it left marks. We then went out for parade in socks, moving to our final positions on the heels of our boots. The first drill movement was accompanied by an almost audible "crack" as 30 pairs of boots were broken in, but by then the inspection was over; hours well spent! Before burning down the boots had to be tightly packed with hundreds of small balls of wet newspaper to prevent shrinkage (wet sand also works). Even when well packed they shrank by at least a shoe size.

Massive digression, but I don't believe this was common practise until the 1930s. I have no proof for this, but there's a massive difference between "highly polished" and "bulled": boots which are regularly buffed with wax polish gradually pick up a high sheen caused by the wax filling the pores of the leather, which I think is most likely to account for shiny boots in GW period photos. Bulling results in an entirely impractical patent-type finish which would be impossible to achieve without hours of work (just ask anyone who's done Public Duties!).

[auchonvillerssomme]

The late Queen Mum could spot an idle soldier from several yards. The sinking feeling if she slowed in front of you and caught your eye and then the RSM's eye made strong soldiers quake.

[o j kirby]

Hello Troops,

I had many a "happy" hour bulling my Highland Brogues preparing for the Queen's Colours Parade held at Holyrood on the 2nd July this year. The Royal Regiment of Scotland received its colours (except for 4 Scots), and as a TA member in 7 Scots, I attended the parade.

One of our older soldiers, an ex-regular, demonstated the ideal method for bulling ( thanks Ginge! )...

First of all, the entire shoe was ironed to get rid of the grain on the leather. It was then covered by hand, with a thick layer of polish, and left to dry for a while. The shoe was then briefly burned to get rid of excess oils, and to let polish penetrate. The rest of the task was to build up layers of polish with a cloth and water as others have described on this topic. I was advised to build up layers of black, brown, and clear polish to obtain "depth" of shine. The job takes hours to achieve, and a good sense of humour is essential.

I will point out that in Highland dress, we wear shoes and spats.

At the end of the parade, I received a souvenir mug for the effort!

Cheers,

Owain.

[Staffsyeoman]

My father was at an Infantry OCTU (Officer Cadet Training Unit) in 1943. He recalled how they were

issued one pair of boots in the first week - and orders were issued on a half daily basis 'boots

will be dubbined' in the morning replaced by 'boots will be highly polished' at lunchtime.

Attempts to do this by thick layers of boot polish was usually rumbled by SNCOs passing squadfs throufh wet grass, of any form of water.

One of my mother's chores in the 1930's was bulling Grandad's (WW1 veteran) TA parade boots.

Of course, those in a hurry in the 70s and 80s for TA parade would apply a layer of

Johnson and Johnson's 'Kleer'. . meant for polishing tiled & lino floors. Fooled nobody. And caused a rianbow effect if your boots got wet.

[bigjohn]

If you could get it {when i was in Germany} We used Morello, you painted it on and left it to dry,then a light bull over it would look and act like real bull even flaking and cracking. Quick fix

Sunday night ready for Mondays muster parade.

Regards

John

[squirrel]

Of course, those in a hurry in the 70s and 80s for TA parade would apply a layer of

Johnson and Johnson's 'Kleer'. . meant for polishing tiled & lino floors. Fooled nobody. And caused a rianbow effect if your boots got wet.

Not if you "proofed it" with Kiwi Parade Gloss worked in gently with a duster.

[pioneecorps]

Hi All

The way I did it was first heat up a spoon to take off the pimples? on the toecap then good old spit and polish .

Regards.

Gerwyn