trying to burnish 6 oz veg tanned edges with heavy denim

[esantoro]

I've been trying to burnish 6 oz veg tanned edges with heavy denim and have noticed that Tandy's plastic burnishing wheel works much better -- except for difficult to reach areas. Is there any special method to be used in burnishing with canvas or denim?

Ed

[Clay]

Ed,

Getting a good burnish on the edged has a lot to do with the water content of the leathers edge.

Here is what I do, After I have done all of my tooling and dyeing and the leather has dried, I bevel the edges with what ever size edger I need then I take some fine grit sand paper like 400 or 600 and sand the edges smooth. If there are any little fuzzies I burn them off with a lighter but go fast so that you do not burn the leather itself just the fuzzies. I use a mixture that I learned about from Paula Marquis of PSLAC up in Washington State. The mixture is made up of wood glue, water and a little black dye powder. I use one of thoes small foam brushes cut in half to apply it. I apply it on a few inches then rub it with the canvas briskly but not forcefully till it is smooth I repeat this till I have burnished the piece.. After burnishing I let it dry and then follow up with a light coat of neat lack being carefull to apply it just to the edges. This process may seem to be more involved than just using a slicker but it is worth it as it makes for a very nice profesional looking edge.

Clay M.

[carpfisher]

I put the plastic Tandy Burnishing tool ona mandrel and chuck it into my Shopmith (read lathe) and run it to 1800 RPM.'s I got that figure form the Bianchi Holster making videos. Dye the edge as appropriate, let it dry. Rub the edge with beeswax and work it into the burnisher. It works very well. Makes a nice professional edge and it is fast. I was wearing my arms/hands out rubbing in Gum Trag. before. This system works much better.

[Tangent Creations]

Carp did what we do, put the burnisher on a lathe. There is also a different type of burnisher available from Weaver that has multiple size sections so you can get into tighter places. It's real nice, a bit more costly, but worth it.