Burnishing leaving brown spots?

[khoiphan92]

Hi I am a total beginner at leather work so please be patient for all the questions i am asking! :D

Whenever i burnish my edges (after i bevel them) it turns the places where the water touchs dark brown. Even after it's dried. can someone tell me how to prevent this?

[ClayB]

If I understand what you are describing, the brown color is "burnish" and that's what is supposed to happen. The heat and friction from rubbing the edges wtih proper moisture smoothes out the "fuzzy" edges and the color is usually the result of doing it right.

[khoiphan92]

yes i understand the point of burnishing but the spots i DONT burnish it turns brown.

[bcurrier]

Do you mean places on the surface of the leather turn brown - not the burnished edge? If so, perhaps you're overheating whatever tool or cloth you're burnishing with and touching that that to the leather, you're gripping the leather so tightly when burnishing that you're compressing the leather, or that the leather itself is flawed. Remember, though, that it is perfectly possible for leather to water spot no matter what you do.

Bill

[Jordan]

One thing I notice with water is if the entire piece does not have the same moisture content you will end up with spots.

[Rawhide]

Could you post pictures of your problem? I think we could give you better advice if we could see what you mean.

Marlon

[TwinOaks]

Water hardness? Do you know if there's any 'softeners' added to the water supply?

[Washroad]

Water hardness? Do you know if there's any 'softeners' added to the water supply?

All water has something in it unless it is filtered a lot. My home tap water is very hard (over 25ppm). So, I installed a water softener and now it's down to less than 5ppm. It only cost me $1800 installed!

Take a bottle of it to a store that sells softeners. They can tell you your hardness.

There are no "softeners" added to water, rather it's a extensive filtering.