TomE

Definitely should tuck in the pant legs to show off those boots! Nice work.

A slightly damp edge will help the fibers compress into a smooth surface and a bit of lubricant (saddle soap, conditioner, etc) helps prevent overheating with the power burnisher. Need to find the right balance of moisture and friction to get the results you want. You sure can use beeswax or gumtrag to finish, but I find it easier to get a smooth, hard, shiney edge with Tokonole. I am guessing it is essentially glue in some type of slippery vehicle, probably silicone based like cyclomethicone used in hair products. A wax treatment might be a better choice for sealing the edge for outdoor use but it is more work and doesn't shine like Tokonole. For horse tack there's an expectation that it will be maintained by cleaning, conditioning and occasional oiling so I am not aiming to seal the leather. There are a lot of variables to play around with. Let us know how it goes.

It is a small square of canvas that I use to apply saddle soap to the edge before power burnishing with the wooden Cobra burnisher. I've tried making a canvas sleeve to fit over the Cobra burnisher (either side) but the sleeves wear out quickly when burnishing 9-10 oz bridle leather. I guess I've experimented nonstop for several years with burnishing protocols. I've used gum tragacanth, water, saddle soap, Martin's Edge Solution, polyvinyl acetate (Elmer's white glue), beeswax +/- paraffin, a homemade paste of carnauba wax-beeswax-neatsfoot oil, and Tokonole. Slicking with canvas, wooden/plastic/bone burnishers, and the wooden power burnisher +/- a canvas sleeve. I've also done a topcoat of beeswax applied with a heated edge iron. All that stuff works, more or less. The biggest thing for success with a power burnisher is learning how much water and lubricant are needed to produce a slick edge without overheating. Just need to practice for your type of leather and burnishing machine. Here's my current protocol for bridle leather. I try to avoid sanding the edges unless they are really rough because edge finishing is already very time consuming, and sanding bridle leather can do more harm than good - the coarse fibers tend to pull up and the edge gets rougher. I apply Pro Dye to the edge with a block of heavy felt or Magic Eraser held in a clothespin (or use one of the refillable markers with the felt tip). Once the dye has soaked in but the edge is still damp I apply some saddle soap using a damp piece of canvas then immediately power burnish as a first pass. I then dab on Tokonole (or Elmer's glue diluted 4-5x with water), wait for it to become tacky, then power burnish. I finish by polishing the edge with a piece of dry canvas. If I'm going to further seal the edge I dab on softened beeswax and work it into the leather with a heated edge iron. I then rub the edge with a piece of canvas to remove excess wax. I guess I will continue to experiment and would enjoy hearing others' experiences. The HO bridle leather is difficult to slick, compared to regular veg tan, but I like its firm temper for horse tack. Wickett and Craig bridle has a softer temper and is easier to slick. HO traditional harness is waxy and easy to burnish. That's my 2 cents.

Saddle soap is a good lubricant. I switched to Fiebings paste saddle soap applied to the edge with a damp piece of canvas. This works better for me than swiping a wet sponge on a bar of saddle soap, which delivers more water and less glycerin lubricant to the edge. I am using a Cobra burnisher set at about 2000 (?) rpm.

You might look at commercially available lace bevelers for inspiration. https://y-knotlace.com/bevelers:25542

Ha! The rural version of plumber's butt.

Thanks, Jonas. Tried to incorporate methods I know. Thank you. Yes, I trim 15-20 of our broodmares and youngsters, and pay a farrier to shoe a couple that are in work and need shoes. I feel comfortable working on horses I know, and only have myself to blame if they act up. The apron is heavy but my farrier says he likes the 7oz split better than his worn out 6 oz apron.

Brain fart. I don’t normally add the quotes. Google for the save.

He's wearing the apron higher than expected, but he has room to grow.

He is a world class farrier blacksmith. Makes it look easy.

@Northmount shared the tip to use Google to search this site instead of the built in search engine. In the Google search bar type ( site:"leatherworker.net" YOUR KEY WORDS HERE ) without the parentheses. I find this much better for finding old threads of interest.

Good looking collar and nice buckle! This reminds me of a Craig Trnka video showing how to make a bar shoe. He has a bigger surface to work on than you.

Thank you. Realized that the chrome tanned split might oxidize the copper rivets and turn them green. Not sure if brass rivets/burrs would oxidize. I'm not set up for steel tubular rivets, and I guess appearances aren't so important for this work apron. Thanks. I used one of his old aprons to make the pattern then tweaked the belt and back piece. He says these leather aprons last him several years, whereas the lighter nylon aprons with leather knee patches are nice in hot weather but wear out in 6 months.

Thank you. Thanks. Learned some new things.

Made an apron for a farrier friend. It buckles in front and has a padded back support. The apron wraps around the front of the legs and the straps clip to dee rings on the backside. Made from Beiler's 7 oz apron split and 9 oz Hermann Oak veg tan. It is heavy and unwieldy to feed through a sewing machine, but it is done.

Another satisfied customer with a Cobra burnisher. I frequently use the sanding drum to level up edges and the wooden burnisher has a variety of shapes that fit my projects.

My Techpro skiver doesn't have a boot on the universal joints. I purchased some FAV parts (steel feed roller, roller feet) from Campbell Randall in order to skive heavier veg tan leather. They were quite helpful and the parts fit nicely. I posted about it several months ago.

So the blade guard is used for working on the machine with the drive roller removed?

That's an interesting design, Jonas, and it looks very sturdy. Maybe you'll have to make one for Bent too.

I learned a lot about constructing leather projects from Stohlman's case making books. Instructions for knife sheaths are included.

That’s a nice piece of work! Wish I could weld like that.

Nigel Armitage has a video on sharpening the blade of an Osborne #84 splitter. He swings the blade around 180 deg and leaves it clamped to the base of the splitter. That's what I do for my Taiwanese Tandy Pro splitter. Edited to add: That is the video posted above by @jcuk. Guess CS Osborne likes his method.

You could try heating the crease and using it on dry leather. When the temperature is right the crease will glide with less resistance than at room temp. Too hot and it burns the grain of the leather. I use an alcohol lamp to heat the crease. You will feel the heat coming up the shank of the tool when it's about the right temp. Creasers come in many sizes and shapes. Some are easier to use than others. You can reshape them to change the width of the crease line. The Osborne creasers (like all Osborne tools?) need a bit of smoothing and polishing to work really well. Same for the Vergez-Blanchard screw crease. I always crease after finishing the edges of straps - beveling, dyeing, burnishing - then creasing. I repeat the creasing after oiling and before applying conditioner.

What type of creaser are you using - fixed or screw crease? What size is it (how close is the crease to the edge)? Is the edge beveled and burnished before creasing? A picture would help. Do you heat the crease or case the leather before creasing? Don't do both. I find that applying light pressure to establish the crease line before bearing down will give me more consistent results. The creaser works best on leather with a firm, even temper. Harness leather is especially nice because of the waxes that lubricate the crease.

The diagram is easy to see but it's not easy to calculate stitch spacing from the angles shown. I think it's easier to calculate the inner and outer circumferences then convert the spacing of the outer piece to that for the inner piece as the ratio of circumferences. My point is you will end up with something like 6 and 5.5 stitches per inch for the 2 pieces and I don't know how to accurately mark 2 spacings with a small difference. Won't have to do this with an awl. Skipping a hole doesn't fix the spacing.