Has anyone tried the edge glider?

[SUP]

1 hour ago, AEBL said:

It looks like a  very nice tool. Is there something special about what it is made of - or can I just use a chainsaw file and a block of scrap hardwood to make one?

It is well made and mine is light. I have no idea how the other woods are. But you should be able to make it if you have the tools and wood, and one that is comfortable for you to use. I have smaller hands so this is comfortable to use. I have no idea how people with larger hands will find it.

If anyone with larger hands has tried this, maybe you could put in a word about how comfortable it is to use? 

 

[AEBL]

The "nice tool" factor I get. Some things I use just make me smile when I pick them up. I'm still learning the art of burnishing, so I imagine that today I could make just as bad-looking of an edge with an expensive tool as I could with a cheap one . I'm going to keep trying though, and there's a leatherworker near me who makes glass-like edges. I'm going to see if I can trade him a six-pack for some in-person training.

[SUP]

2 hours ago, AEBL said:

leatherworker near me who makes glass-like edges. I'm going to see if I can trade him a six-pack for some in-person training.

Oh wow! Could you share the information? My edges, no matter what I use, are rarely glass-like; nearly glass-like but not perfect as I would like them to be.  🥹 I plan to go old school and work with an old piece of canvas again. Maybe that will work. On the thicker leather, of course. 

[AEBL]

@SUP, from what he told me, he uses his knife belt grinder (2x72) and works through the grit progression on the edges "up to like 1000 grit." Then he uses Tokenole, and then burnishes it. He may also use a buffer wheel on the grinder after burnishing. I had been using 60 grit paper on a wooden block (because it was handy) and then I tried 120 and then 220 after I heard what he had been doing. The edge did look nicer after I burnished it, so from my perspective, finer grit did indeed make the edge smoother, but it was far from what I would have liked to have seen. I was using Gum Tragacanth on veg tan, I don't see why that shouldn't have been similar to Tokenole on veg tan (but I'm new at all of this).

Edited May 4 by AEBL

[SUP]

So increasingly finer sandpaper to smoothen and then burnish with Tokonole. Ah! Should have used my common sense about it. I've been smoothening with 400 grit and then burnishing. So it was evidently not smooth enough before burnishing, to give that shine. If I remember correctly, this was mentioned elsewhere earlier but I had forgotten.

I've not used gum Trag but many who have used it say that they prefer Tokonole. I like it.

Incidentally, I'm new at leatherwork too - just about 2 years. So I'm learning all the time as well.