Saddle Soap For Edges Question

[Eldorado]

Folks,

I'm working on a leather cuirass, very much in the style of the Greenwich armors of the 16th century. I'm going for the look you see where "great men" had their portraits painted with them in their armor, with poofy collars and cuffs. So I've made the cuirass, tooled it, and have gotten to the finishing stage.

I read the posted guide on burnishing edges and have begun that process, though I don't have all the tools (e.g. a mechanical burnisher) available. At this point, I've got white saddlesoap on the edges of the cuirass and the knap laid down nicely. I really like the look, but I'm all of a sudden worried that the saddle soap will behave like soap when it gets wet (from perspiration or even just getting splashed with a bit of rain). I fear it will lather or get, frankly, soapy or something.

Should I be washing this out of the edges or will it "set-up" with the dying process?

To burnish, I'm planning on taking a long strip of denim, wrapping it around a screwdriver, and inserting the screwdriver into a mounted drill. The tutorial suggests I keep even more saddlesoap on the denim, so I'm uncertain whether the act of burnishing will take the soapy qualities out or exactly how this all behaves in the end.

Some additional details. I'm working with B grade Saddle Skirting. Some portions are very tight grain and others are just a bit loose grain (almost spongy). My budget didnt allow for a $200+ hide unfortunately.

I've got alot of hours in the tooling, so I'm really hoping I can get some advice before I ruin the piece. Thanks in advance.

[Tkleather1]

Well I am no expert but what I do is soap up and burnish with canvas, and then I use a beeswax/parafin mix and burnish some more with canvas. then when you think you are done burnish a little more and be sure to use lots of elbow grease you want some heat there that is where the burnish comes from. then I finish with neatlac or whatever.

Tim

[js5972]

The saddle soap is more of a lubricant for the burnishing. It shouldn't be a problem if you use a sealer. Your burnishing technique sounds a little scary to me. Better do plenty of practice pieces to try it out.