These Edges Are Driving Me Crazy!

[LeatherCaptain]

Personally I would get rid of the gum. Use your casing solution and wet your edge and then use your dowel method. then follow it up with wax and some canvas and use lots of elbow grease you want the heat that is what makes the burnish.

as far as the speed thing I have heard lots of talk about going to fast and I have never had a problem, I use a hardwood slicker mounted direct to my 1/2 arbor grinder motor that spins aweful fast and I have good luck.

Just my way not the best way but it works.

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

could you elaborate on what casing solution is?

[MADMAX22]

He is just talking about the water or mix that you use to wet the leather. Some people use various things in the water especially when tooling to get a smoother knife cut and better tooling. I just put some saddle soap in my liter bottle and fill it with filtered water.

[K-Man]

I use H.O. leather for all my products. I use water, a belt sander with 150-grit sandpaper, a #3 edge beveler, saddle soap, and my two edge burnishers, both fashioned after what Weaver Leather sells/offers. The two edge burnishers are mounted on a motor that spins at 3600 rpms. I haven't burned an edge. I spend less than 5 minutes total on an edge.

This is a sample of the edges I get:

The general consensus seems to be that you have to spin a burnisher at ~1700 rpms or slower. I think the pictures above show that you can do a professional job at higher rates of rpm. YMMV

[Tkleather1]

Yes Casing solution is what ever you use to wey your leather. I use a water and Lexol mix. and I totally agree with K-man about the speed of the burnisher.

Tim

TK-Leather

[Dwight]

I have tried several different methods, . . . and for different products, . . . use different methods.

For holsters and belts, . . . the little burnishers you see in the pictures are oak dowels with a 1/8" drill bit inserted as a shaft (so it fits right into my Dremel tool).

Lightly moisten the beveled and sanded edges with a paper towel folded and soaked in luke warm water, . . . use the long one with the single shoulder for belt edges, . . . the multi groove one for the holster edges, . . . in the Dremel tool, . . . about 1700 rpm's.

Use light pressure on the edge with the tool, . . . going back and forth. A 36 inch belt, . . . doing both sides and the ends, . . . will normally take me about 6 to 10 minutes from beginning to done.

The edge will glisten up and shine, . . . while it is still warm, . . . rub it with real honest to goodness 100% beeswax, . . . re-burnish, . . . and you will have an edge that actually glistens.

If you want a harder edge, . . . gum trag will give it to you, . . . replace the water & paper towel with an acid brush and gum trag, . . . but be VERY sparing until you catch on with it. Gum trag on a non finished surface can ruin an otherwise really nice project.

The grooves are made by chucking up the tool, . . . cutting it smooth all around, . . . sanding it, . . . and cutting the grooves with a file while it is spinning in a lathe or drill press.

May God bless,

Dwight

[LeatherCaptain]

Yes Casing solution is what ever you use to wey your leather. I use a water and Lexol mix. and I totally agree with K-man about the speed of the burnisher.

Tim

TK-Leather

You don't use a casing solution to mold holsters though, right? This is just something you'd have for stamping/carving....sorry for the hijack

[Tkleather1]

You don't use a casing solution to mold holsters though, right? This is just something you'd have for stamping/carving....sorry for the hijack

Well you still would use water I am guessing. I add the lexol for casing because it helps with the burnish and knife cuts when tooling.

[seveneves]

This is my method for what it's worth. I first get the edges wet. Then when let it soak into the leather and return almost the it's original color. Then when I edge it, it sort of burnishes it automatically. Then I rub beeswax on the edges, this get's the friction going which is what you're looking for. Then I get a heavy cloth like canvas, denim or anything it doesn't matter as long as you get the heat going in your hands you know you're doing it right. You should get a nice dark brown look. Hope this helps.