The elves have been very busy setting the edges on this rebuild of a clients shoe. And now with hard wax, fire and some heated hand tools we have now set the edges so that they quietly shine like amber.

Taking a step back in the process we set the edges the night before by wetting the edge of the sole and pushing a basic soap compound along the area. Then with a warm edge iron we seal the area, the heat from the edge iron bonds the soap compound and the leather fibres.

Then the next day when you rub the hard wax along the surface you have a sealed and slightly slicked surface that does not grab at the wax. The trick is to have enough wax on the area that when you apply the heated edge iron (when you touch the surface with a wet finger the water sizzles) that it skates along a bed of molten wax. And hey presto you have a surface ready for hand polishing!