Bulling Boots

R

RobbieRedmond12

New Member
In my recruit platoon in the Irish Defence Forces, I was teaching a newcomer to the platoon how to bull his boots. I explained, not noticing that he was only half paying attention, how he was supposed to;
take a teaspoon of polish
set it on fire
blow it out
pour it on the boot
rub it in with his shammy.
I left to look after my own admin, only to run back a minute later with a fire extinguisher.
The idiot had only put the tin of polish on his lap, set fire to the entire tin and tried to dip the shammy into the still burning polish.
It had spilled onto his lap, and he and his bed was on fire.
Needless to say he left the army the day after he was released from hospital.
 
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lol I love it.

I remember all to well bulling boots as Robbie states. Covering the boots in polish and setting fire to the polish, then using a spoon iron out all the dimples, then when thats done the old "spit and polish."

During basic training I got my boots like a mirror, then decided to clean my bayonet, I removed the bayonet from its scabbard, dropped it, and the point of the bayonet dug into the toe cap of my boots. I spent hours and hours trying to remove the damage.
 
the whole setting on fire is a huge exgeration...You can get the same results by spreading an even layer of Kiwi, waiting 10 minutes and than buffing it with a dry brush or even a sock(IDF military socks do very well). This whole set on fire/warm up the Kiwi deal is bloody stupid and gets people burned. espcially when you get idiots who have a hard time tieing their own shoe laces and tell them to set highly flamable and sticky materials on fire inside the barracks.
 
As it was explained to me the reason behind setting fire to the polish.

The polish soaks into the leather, then using a spoon to iron out the dimples is made easier while the leather is warm. As for people getting burned, we didnt have one incident of anyone getting hurt. But yes I agree, one has to be very careful while doing it.

This is the method used in the British military since well before WW1.

We too used Kiwi polish, for some reason Cherry Blossom doesnt bring the boots up as well as Kiwi
 
kiwi is the bast. though i must admit when i felt lazy i just brushed ofthe sand and tha used gun oil to make it look shiny:) works for the morning inspection than after one walk in he sand it gets horrible. but really, after morning inspection i dident care ....:)
 
We had a guy in basic do the same thing. Except he was using floor wax. When he tried to blow it out, it flared up and he singed off his eyebrows. He caught hell for a while until they grew back in.
 
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