Burnishing

[jsroye96]

Hey everybody,

I have about had it with burnashing, I cant make it look good. I sure it's not supposed to look like what i put out. I have been using Gum of Tragacanth and rubbing till I am ready to pass out.

Please, can you all help me get nice shiney brown edges that dont look dirty. Here is an example. Sorry about them not being as sharp and in focus as I would like.

[sodapop]

look here http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...c=16609&hl=

darryl

[jsroye96]

look here http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...c=16609&hl=

darryl

Darryl,

Thanks man, great information, I was ready to freak out! heh heh. Thanks again, this information is going to help alot.

John.

[King's X]

Rawhide (Marlon) gave me a good recipe for doing his edges and they look awesome! Maybe he will see this and chime in to help out here. The reason I don't do it is because I have it written down and put away with my leather stuff. Not feeling really well today, so I am going to take the lazy way out. Sorry.

[cybertracy]

I find sometimes, even with all the tricks i've learned on this awesome site, if I apply too much pressure while trying to burnish I don't get good results. I have to remind myself over & over "less pressure" while I keep up the speed and it always improves the look.

[Lobo]

After sewing I prefer to dampen all the edges, then I use a belt sander and/or drum sander with medium grit. This blends the edge together nicely. Next I bevel the edges.

For the burnishing stage I color as needed (if the piece is to be dyed, that usually establishes the edge color properly; if not, I like a brown Magic Marker to get the brown edge on undyed pieces), then I use a mixture of parafin and beeswax (50/50 mix), rubbed into all edges. Finally, I polish the edges with a felt polishing wheel chucked into the drill press. This compresses the edge fibers, infuses the fibers with the wax, and polishes the waxed edge.

Final surface finish (Bag Kote, Tan Kote, Resolene, or whatever else you are using) completes the job.

I used wooden burnishers for years, chucked into the drill press. Started using the felt polishing wheels a few months ago, about 2" diameter hard felt on an arbor. I like the combined effects of heat and friction, polishing the wax down into the leather fibers. The drill press (or other motor) gets it done more quickly and evenly than any hand-operated method I have ever seen. Works like a charm, and I can burnish out a dozen holsters in 15 minutes or so.

[TimKleffner]

Howdy

here's my idea on burnishing edges.

I have sanding drums of different sizes and sand paper grits. I start with course and end with a pass of medium grit. I take a wool dauber and burn it down till it's small ball [smaller is better ] then knock off all the burn; I then use dark brown [ or any color you want ] color in till you get even coverage. Then another dauber [little bigger] I take Neat-Lac and cover. Let it dry [about 5 minutes] then take a course piece of canvas and rub it several times and it burnishes up nicely.

After an hour to dry, sometimes, I take the 'fine' sanding paper out and sand a second pass, sand lightly, then apply color and lacquer again.

This is also similar to fine cabinet lacquering technique ... multiple layers with time to dry in between give a nice build up of color and finish.

Like everything else...... practice on some scrap... I try to keep my daubers semi wet when doing the process

Good luck ......Happy Tooling

Tim

Edited June 4, 2009 by TimKleffner