LeatherCaptain

Thanks, guys. I appreciate your willingness to share your skills and what you've learned to help out others. Those edges look great. hidepounder, Out of curiosity, how much was that burnishing machine from Weaver? Their catalog doesn't have any prices...(I guess I could call). My current machine is an old electric motor that my grandfather had rigged up as a grinding wheel. I took off the grinding wheel and drilled a hole into a 6" bun for the bottom of furniture and then held a round file to it to create some grooves. It works alright but, I'm afraid it's just got way too high of a rpm and I only have the bun on as best of center that I can get. I tried a couple of different objects for a burnisher but, this was the best thing I could find. I just couldn't drill a straight hole through the middle of anything to save my life. I don't have a drill press and ended up having to buy a new hand drill because my other one, uh "stopped working" as a result of my frustration of trying to drill a straight hole in the center. I think I may try putting a straight edge up to the wheel making it a sort of lathe where I can take a knive to the bun to get it squared off. The weaver machine just looks so much easier. Plus, by the time i've finished buying 75 buns, a new drill, drill bits, round file, bandaids, chamomile, tylenol I could have just spent the dough on a nice, new shiny burnishing machine that would have made life so much easier.

So, it seems easy to talk about the way it should be done but, would anyone be willing to post pictures of your edges and the process you go through? I'm really curious to see what you guys have (don't extrapolate this any further than leatherworking )

Hi, ya'll. I just can't figure out how to get those glass smooth edges on my holsters. So far, I've been cutting, sewing, sanding edges, beveling edges, burnishing with water using a wooden post that i've got chucked onto an old motor, molding, dying, redoing edges, finishing. So, my problem is, when i do the edges the first time, i can get them looking good. I use water on the edge and use a little bit of wax on the burnishing wheel to do the edge. But, when I mold the holster, i put it into the oven to warm up and help create a stiff mold and once the holster is done drying, the edges are looking bad. So, I come back after molding and dying to try and touch up the edges again but, i just can't get that really nice edge again. I usually just settle for what i've got at that point. What am i doin' wrong and what should I be doing? I've read different post about this topic and it's easy to get a nice edge when the leather isn't molded or dry. But, once it's molded and dryed out, it's about crazy trying to burnish the edges. Thanks a bunch!