Edge Burnisher For Dremels

[Spinner]

I have a lathe, a grinder & a polishing set up but I didn't have a good way to adapt any of them to burnishing (the lathe is usually loaded with wood or shavings and the grinder has two wheels I need for well, grinding) so I decided to see what I could make for my Dremel since I couldn't find anything. What I found is that if you take the sanding drum bits apart they make an excellent shank for a wood burnisher. Unscrew the little screw at the top, remove the sandpaper and then pull the rubber compression bushing off and what you are left with is a shank 7/16" long x 1/8" dia. So I pulled out some Tulipwood (dense & naturally oily like Cocobolo with 1/2 the weight) cut it to 7/16" long and drilled a 1/8" hole down the center and then turned the profile for 2 different sized leather edges. Sand to 600, hit it with some friction polish as a base for Aussie Wax and then reassembled everything onto the shank. Works beautifully and since the Dremel is variable speed I can find the sweet spot speed to get the edge I want.

Just thought I would share the process and finished product in case other were wondering if it could be done.

Chris

[EricDobson]

This one is getting bookmarked! Like pretty much everyone I've got an old Dremel lying around. Great idea and you put it together really well, very clean. Looks good!

[Spinner]

Thanks Eric, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

Lots of possibilities here, you can make them for pretty much any light - heavy duty stack of leather as long as the channel you make is within the 7/16" width and the depth is dia. - 1/4".

I plan to go buy some more of the sanding drums and make various channels so all I have to do is swap bits like normal.

[EngineCo1]

Great idea!

[King's X]

Very awesome! If you get tired of this one, I am always in the market to buy one for my Dremel just let me know. As for the post, I purchased them at Harbor Frieght without the rubber sanding gripper thingy. My son kept losing my, so I now have about three in reserve. I believe Homes Depot and Lowes sells them as well.

Just FYI. Enjoy!

[Spinner]

Thanks Engineco1!

Very awesome! If you get tired of this one, I am always in the market to buy one for my Dremel just let me know. As for the post, I purchased them at Harbor Frieght without the rubber sanding gripper thingy. My son kept losing my, so I now have about three in reserve. I believe Homes Depot and Lowes sells them as well.

Just FYI. Enjoy!

I may end up making a bunch for folks that want them. They only take a few minutes to cut and turn so cost would be pretty low I imagine.

I'll have to check out the shanks at Harbor Freight. Home Depot wants $5 for the sanding drum replacement pack.

Worst case scenario, I could probably make them and get them shipped in the lower 48 for $10...that sound about right?

[Tina]

Great idea Spinner,

I think you might have a product here and a market for it too in the same go I would buy one in a heart beat...This is just what my dremmel needs:-)

[Deb59]

Put My name on your list!!

[Spinner]

Looks like there is enough interest so I'll investigate everything this weekend and let you all know what the particulars are, cost, etc.

[King's X]

I live in Habor Frieght. I can send you three posts now. I will trade the post for just one wooden attachment and pay your shipping cost. That way you can be up three posts until you can replenish your stock to make more. Either way, your cost is just a bit low. I would sell them shipped for about $15 - $18. Your not going to make bank on this, but your not going to lose your a..... With the cost of shipping, you have several options. I would probably order a half or dozen for our guild meetings. You see I give gifts away during our meetings and I have a small budget to do this and your invention would fit nicely. I appreciate the consideration!

[Spinner]

I live in Habor Frieght. I can send you three posts now. I will trade the post for just one wooden attachment and pay your shipping cost. That way you can be up three posts until you can replenish your stock to make more. Either way, your cost is just a bit low. I would sell them shipped for about $15 - $18. Your not going to make bank on this, but your not going to lose your a..... With the cost of shipping, you have several options. I would probably order a half or dozen for our guild meetings. You see I give gifts away during our meetings and I have a small budget to do this and your invention would fit nicely. I appreciate the consideration!

That would be cool X! I'll send ya a message with my info.

I'm going to sit down this weekend to figure out how much the mailer, shipping, the parts, etc. are and work up a fair price (I'm already set up for high production runs of small turning items from doing wine bottle stoppers for galleries and wineries).

I'm not worried about making bank on them, just trying to help folks fill a need that has been mentioned before. I'm also going to go through my wood supply and see about other woods to use (may test cocobolo to see if the weight bothers the dremel as cocobolo is great for burnishing too)

I had a thought this morning, the troughs on this one work for 3/4 oz and 7/8 oz. respectively. Think it would be worth it to do a second version with one larger trough for say double thickness 9oz for the holster folks?

Edited September 18, 2010 by Spinner

[K-Man]

...I had a thought this morning, the troughs on this one work for 3/4 oz and 7/8 oz. respectively. Think it would be worth it to do a second version with one larger trough for say double thickness 9oz for the holster folks?

Nice job. You might consider offering them in two basic sizes like we do:

Ours can be set up to work in either a Dremel or standard hand drill or drill press. The thought is that most people will have at least one of those types of tools.

[Spinner]

Nice job. You might consider offering them in two basic sizes like we do:

Ours can be set up to work in either a Dremel or standard hand drill or drill press. The thought is that most people will have at least one of those types of tools.

Well, hell K-man...I didn't know you were making these already. I apologize for stepping on your toes like that, I hadn't seen anything for the dremel yet.

You have some that fit 1/8" openings?

[Tina]

Well, hell K-man...I didn't know you were making these already. I apologize for stepping on your toes like that, I hadn't seen anything for the dremel yet.

You have some that fit 1/8" openings?

Spinner...I would still be interested in one (or two depending on sizes) of wood from ya;-)

And I would say it has to be space enough for both of your tools

Edited September 19, 2010 by Tina

[LNLeather]

I may end up making a bunch for folks that want them. They only take a few minutes to cut and turn so cost would be pretty low I imagine.

I'll have to check out the shanks at Harbor Freight. Home Depot wants $5 for the sanding drum replacement pack.

Worst case scenario, I could probably make them and get them shipped in the lower 48 for $10...that sound about right?

Howdy Spinner

That's a very clever little tool there, and if you are seriously taking names... you could add me to the list?

I'd be might Happy to own one or two of your burnishers for my Dremel. If you make the 2 sizes, I could use one of each.

[K-Man]

Well, hell K-man...I didn't know you were making these already. I apologize for stepping on your toes like that, I hadn't seen anything for the dremel yet.

You have some that fit 1/8" openings?

We can make it that way.

It looks like though that you've got plenty of interest in your style(s). I'll take our offerings elsewhere.

Good luck to you!

[BigRiverLeather]

It seems Spinner's toes were the ones stepped on.

Put me down for a couple if you are going to do a couple of different sizes. One like you showed and if you do them for the double 9 oz I'd take one of those too.

[K-Man]

It seems Spinner's toes were the ones stepped on.

Really? All I did was show that Spinner's idea/offering was not a new idea, as some comments could be interpreted that way. I even suggested that he offer two different sizes, and indirectly suggested that he offer two different shaft sizes so that he could reach the greatest amount of people. Then I said that I would take our version and go offer it elsewhere. This was so he could reach a great market here on LW.

So, BRL, I'd suggest you stick to trying to figure out how to make holsters rather than stick your nose where it doesn't belong.

Spinner: I hope you have great success with what you're able to make and offer.

Edited September 19, 2010 by K-Man

[Spinner]

Hey guys, no need to get into it on my account. To be honest, I didn't plan on making these as a product to sell, I was simply showing off something I made that I hadn't seen before.

The requests to buy then just sort of morphed from the thread. After I saw K-man's posting yesterday I did a deeper web search (I originally was just going to buy one but couldn't find them)

and still can't find anywhere something like this can be bought in wood. Plenty of mention of felt ones though.

K-man: There's nothing that says we can't both offer our wares to the LW members. Some folks may even prefer the metal (I'm assuming aluminum?) ones to wood or vice versa.

I appreciate the photos and the size advice. The first difference (aside from materials) I see in the two styles is that I am confined to an area 7/16" long due to my current method. That's not the case with yours so they serve different personal preferences, etc.

I would suggest actually putting them online somewhere if you're going to offer them though. I searched google, LW.net and even your website after your posting and still can't find them.

Friendly competition is healthy as it gives the makers a reason to improve on designs and everybody wins that way. Good luck to you as well!

To the folks wanting to buy these: I'm not a rich guy and this was initially an experiment so it may take me a week or two to purchase all of the shanks. I have plenty of wood between tulipwood and cocobolo (cocobolo does work as well by the way).

I'll buy the shanks and make them as I can and message you in the order you replied to see if you're still interested. King's X was right about the cost, it looks like $15 each, including shipping is about right. Between the buying shanks, little boxes and shipping and T & M that's what it worked out to. If folks are getting more than one, it will be a little cheaper per as we'll be able to combine shipping.

~ Chris

[JohnBarton]

Pretty cool. I am going to make a couple for our spare dremel. I made something similar a while back for the drill. I took a pool cue and cut it at about 10" from the joint pin down. Sanded off all the finish to get to raw wood and then waxed it up pretty good. Then I sanded in some grooves and brought the end to a point. This allows me to get into hard to reach places. The drill is variable speed so it works great.

I have also used just the drill chuck and that works as well.

I do find though that using the drill, drill press, and probably the same with the dremel, that it's easy to slip and gouge the product. You have to have a very steady hand and be very focused on what you are doing so as not to accidentally show your spinning tool onto a part of your project where it shouldn't go.

Not that I have done this ;-) not me.........well the trick is then to add a bunch more burnish marks and make it part of the design...........

[K-Man]

K-man: There's nothing that says we can't both offer our wares to the LW members. Some folks may even prefer the metal (I'm assuming aluminum?) ones to wood or vice versa.

I appreciate the photos and the size advice. The first difference (aside from materials) I see in the two styles is that I am confined to an area 7/16" long due to my current method. That's not the case with yours so they serve different personal preferences, etc.

I would suggest actually putting them online somewhere if you're going to offer them though. I searched google, LW.net and even your website after your posting and still can't find them.

Friendly competition is healthy as it gives the makers a reason to improve on designs and everybody wins that way. Good luck to you as well!

As I mentioned to you in the email I sent, we had them offered here on LW. However, I've not been able to find that thread any more. It's possible it might have been lost as a result of some of the computer/server problems that have occurred here since originally posting them.

To me it does not make sense to put them on my website where I retail holsters and other leathercrafted items I make. There was a greater exposure to the market here on LW. I saw less than a 1% likelihood that anyone would look for them on our website. We've offered other products specific to the leathercrafter and have listed those here on LW and on eBay. Specific items pertaining to leathercrafters are going to have a greater likelihood of selling on a forum such as LW or eBay rather than on a retail holster website. I may be viewing it wrong, but I don't think so.

Perceived interest in your product by certain LW members will bring you better sales, and it looks like you're on that track.

Kevin

[westtxcowboy1979]

I would like a couple of diffrent sizes.

[LNLeather]

To the folks wanting to buy these: I'm not a rich guy and this was initially an experiment so it may take me a

week or two to purchase all of the shanks. I have plenty of wood between tulipwood and cocobolo (cocobolo does

work as well by the way). I'll buy the shanks and make them as I can and message you in the order you replied to

see if you're still interested.

King's X was right about the cost, it looks like $15 each, including shipping is about right.

Between the buying shanks, little boxes and shipping and T & M that's what it worked out to. If folks are getting more

than one, it will be a little cheaper per as we'll be able to combine shipping.

~ Chris

HI Chris

........................................................................

I am in noooo hurry

and by the way I was thinkin that you should charge a little more... so that is just fine with me.

[Spinner]

Hey John, have fun making a few. If you need any info when you give it a spin let me know.

K-Man, got your email and I'll reply to that as well. Yeah, I did a LW search as well and couldn't find anything. You might want to consider just adding an extra page to the website where folks can check stuff like this out. I actually work in leather, wood and metal and have divided my site map up for this so I can add little things like this that may not be heavy volume but might be sought for. Either way, good luck with everything.

WestTX, no problem. As I mentioned, I'll let foks now as I get them made.

Cheryl, I probably could charge more but for now this seems far and isn't my main business so just being able to provide my fellow leatherworkers with another option at a reasonable rice is good enough for me. (Unless of course I start losing money then I may reconsider. )

[LNLeather]

Cheryl, I probably could charge more but for now this seems far and isn't my main business so just being able to provide my fellow leatherworkers with another option at a reasonable rice is good enough for me. (Unless of course I start losing money then I may reconsider. )

What I was saying was... you had started out saying $10. each and

I was thinkin that you should charge a little more...

then you changed it to $15.

I was just a sayin.......... I was still interested.