Burnishing with black (or brown) tokonole vs. clear

[yober]

I have used clear Tokonole for a long time as a substitute for gum trag or saddle soap, applying in much the same manner with my finger and using a wooden burnisher while the Tokonole is still wet but absorbed into the edged/sanded leather edge.  I get an awesome rounded glossy edge. I was thinking that the black and brown versions would apply in match the same way, but burnishing after it’s absorbed into the edge, yields a mess. Is this more of an inch paint, where I have to wait until it dries before burnishing with the stick, or is there a whole separate process for this? I have use it and cooked before but on holsters it doesn’t last.

Searching the forum, doesn’t give any specific answers on colored Tokonole, only that it’s applied and then burnished, with no indication of how long to wait or what state the leather is in.

Thanks in advance.

[DJole]

In my own limited experience, I do the same as you state above, with all three Tokonole types. But I don't think the color makes a difference. Can you post a picture of what you consider a mess?

[Tugadude]

For edges I'd stick with the clear as it can be used on any color.  The pigmented versions are mainly for application to the flesh side of leather to smooth it out.  For that, add just a bit of purified water to the Tokonole to render a slightly less viscous quality.  Then use a glass burnisher.  

You CAN use black on the edges of black leather projects pretty safely, but if you use black on anything but black, you pretty much have to treat it as paint because any that slops over onto the face or back of the leather is going to be ruined.  

There's a Tokonole promotional video on YouTube and I found it funny that they applied black to a brown piece of leather and it looked horrible.  No way they were going to be able to salvage it.  

So stick to clear!

[Tugadude]

 

 

The bit I mentioned is around the :24 second mark.  Note that they used clear on the green one at the end and it turned out awesome.  The edge was probably dyed green to begin with and then burnished with Tokonole.

[Tugadude]

BTW, I saw a video of a lady applying clear Tokonole to some leather on the grain side and she buffed it to a beautiful luster.  Made it look like much more expensive leather.  So there's more to that product than what you might think at first glance.

[yober]

2 hours ago, DJole said:

In my own limited experience, I do the same as you state above, with all three Tokonole types. But I don't think the color makes a difference. Can you post a picture of what you consider a mess?

Looks like I tossed my test piece, but the issue was if I burnished with the wooden burnisher while the tokonole was still moist, it spread black to parts off the edge and made it look like a sloppy application (which I guess it was).  I wanted the smoothing and gloss, but it really acts like edge paint at this stage.  Letting it dry doesn’t give me the advantage of rounding and smoothing.

Edited March 1, 2023 by yober

[yober]

1 hour ago, Tugadude said:

For edges I'd stick with the clear as it can be used on any color.  The pigmented versions are mainly for application to the flesh side of leather to smooth it out.  For that, add just a bit of purified water to the Tokonole to render a slightly less viscous quality.  Then use a glass burnisher.

I don’t really look to it for fleshy sides, but I’ll keep it around for that should I need it.

I was hoping to combine burnishing and dying, but looks like dye and then clear tokonole it is. Thanks for your help.

1 hour ago, Tugadude said:

The bit I mentioned is around the :24 second mark.  Note that they used clear on the green one at the end and it turned out awesome.  The edge was probably dyed green to begin with and then burnished with Tokonole.

Egads, that’s just nasty.…