Motorized Edge Burnisher

[Blackey Cole]

Up to now I have tried about every way to Burnish the Edges of my work. I have used a drill, Dremal type tool, Canvas, Saddle Soap Bar, Gum Tagameth(SP). I recently aquired John Bianaci (SP) dvd collection four of them. The 3 vol Art & Secrets of Western Holster Making and aninterview with him where he explains why he is where he is type thing. Well in the Holster video he recommends getting a motor driven burnisher and how to make the edge tool for it. I found that Harbor freight has an 1750 motor with keyed arbor. So if I mounted it to a piece of plywood and add the double arbor attachment to it with the same size pullys it will run the arbors at the correct speed for Burnishing. Now where to find the arbor attachment? I have ordered some Coco wood edge burnishing tools for my dremal tool and I will see how it works when it gets here later this week. If you have built a motorized Burnisher please show me hos and where to get the parts.

[TwinOaks]

If you have a Grainger nearby, that would be a good place to look. If not, check with some local machine shops; they should have a good idea on where to get things.

[1911 Operator]

I'm interested in this as well. I found an old polishing motor and made my own attachment out of some cherry wood. I'm terrible at turning wood so I think it looks horrible. But I think it turns too fast. What is the correct speed for burnishing? I will get some pictures of what I have going on a little later tonight.

[King's X]

I would recommend that you contact Spinner or Leatherman1457 for advice. They are both experts in this area and run business that make burnishers. If I missed any one else....not intentional. Good luck.

[hidepounder]

I have never built a burnisher, but here are a couple of photos of the Weaver burnisher that I use along with a finished edge and a link to my process CLICK HERE .

Hope this helps.....

Bobby

Edited August 3, 2011 by hidepounder

[Ferg]

I built mine by "loosely" copying the machine Bob Park has. Shaft, pulleys, shaft stops, all came from Graingers. They deliver quickly if you don't have one nearby.

ferg

I have never built a burnisher, but here are a couple of photos of the Weaver burnisher that I use along with a finished edge and a link to my process CLICK HERE .

Hope this helps.....

Bobby

[Spinner]

I've found that wool wheels work better at much higher speeds than the wood burnishers. Wool wheels work best on 1750-3450 motors whereas the cocobolo burnishers seem to work better at a slower speed, around 1000-1100 rpms.

This is the advice I've given many customers and it seems to work well across the field. A $40 Harbor Freight drill press works perfect as a burnisher motor as it's inexpensive and the pulleys have that speed setting already installed.

For dremel sized burnishers I generally recommend the 1/2 way point on the variable speed dremels (which is about 8-12k rpm depending on brand). The smaller diameter combined with lighter pressure (you can press on a drill burnisher much harder than a dremel one) requires a bit more speed to produce the same friction heat and maintain it.

Chris

[Blackey Cole]

If anyone has part numbers or links I would be in debt.

[Spinner]

If anyone has part numbers or links I would be in debt.

I believe this is the one I have seen around $40-50 when they do their big sales: http://www.harborfre...ress-38119.html

Even at $69 it's cheaper than buying a motor, chuck and misc. parts plus your time to make them go together.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Spinner

[hidepounder]

Utilizing a Harbor Freight drill press like Chris suggests would be a quick and easy way to start burnishing with a minimal investment. But don't forget....you can produce "show quality" edges with a piece of canvas and a little elbow grease. In spite of all the burnishing equipment I have, I often have to burnish by hand or touch up by hand to get the final finish I'm looking for. Another way to go which I've considered messing with is adding arbor extensions to the Craftsman variable speed bench grinder. I have one that I set up for my sharpening wheels and I've always thought it would make a good burnisher. It adjusts from 1750 rpms to 3500 rpms. It's more expensive than the HF drill motor, but you would have the advantage of two burnishing wheels always set up and ready to use. I would put wood wheels on both sides and cover one with canvas....I have yet to see anyone produce better edges than what can be produced by using heavy duct canvas. Just some thoughts.....

Bobby

Edited August 4, 2011 by hidepounder

[evandailey]

Utilizing a Harbor Freight drill press like Chris suggests would be a quick and easy way to start burnishing with a minimal investment. But don't forget....you can produce "show quality" edges with a piece of canvas and a little elbow grease. In spite of all the burnishing equipment I have, I often have to burnish by hand or touch up by hand to get the final finish I'm looking for. Another way to go which I've considered messing with is adding arbor extensions to the Craftsman variable speed bench grinder. I have one that I set up for my sharpening wheels and I've always thought it would make a good burnisher. It adjusts from 1750 rpms to 3500 rpms. It's more expensive than the HF drill motor, but you would have the advantage of two burnishing wheels always set up and ready to use. I would put wood wheels on both sides and cover one with canvas....I have yet to see anyone produce better edges than what can be produced by using heavy duct canvas. Just some thoughts.....

Bobby

Bob,

How do you attach your canvas to your burnishing wheels? Obviously the rotating direction is critical, but do you glue the overlap or what?

Edited August 4, 2011 by evandailey

[hidepounder]

Bob,

How do you attach your canvas to your burnishing wheels? Obviously the rotating direction is critical, but do you glue the overlap or what?

I did glue the overlap with Barge initially but it came apart before very long. The thing is though, once the canvas conforms to the wheel and becomes saturated with soap it just sticks to itself. So there was a small amount of flapping, initially. Nothing that was a big deal, just something you noticed and it then it eventually stopped. The whole piece of canvas is just taped on with electrical tape.

[joefarmer]

I purchased a set of about 2" wool wheels with an arbor at Harbor Freight for about $10.00. I use them in my Shopsmith in the horizontal position with the drill chuck.

Joe

[K-Man]

This is what I use. Spins at 3600 rpms. Pieces are made from stainless steel and were modeled from Weaver's #9 and the wood burnisher off of Weaver's set up. I use it with water and saddle soap (bar). I also use it to smooth the edges of our kydex clips.

This is the result I get (with very little effort):

Edited August 5, 2011 by K-Man

[hidepounder]

K-Man....thanks for posting photos of your burnisher and your results. I have seen the stainless burnishers but had no idea how well they performed.

Bobby

[Warpe]

Did you make those aluminum burnishers, or did you buy them from somewhere?

[TwinOaks]

"Pieces are made from stainless steel"

[Warpe]

"Pieces are made from stainless steel"

Ok...did you make the "stainless steel" burnishers or purchase them somewhere?

[K-Man]

Warpe: I gave a machinist the two pieces of Weaver's tools and they cut them on a lathe. We then removed all the miscellaneous pieces off the shafts of the grinder and mounted the burnishers. We balanced them and they've worked like a champ for the last 5-6 years we've had them.

[Warpe]

Warpe: I gave a machinist the two pieces of Weaver's tools and they cut them on a lathe. We then removed all the miscellaneous pieces off the shafts of the grinder and mounted the burnishers. We balanced them and they've worked like a champ for the last 5-6 years we've had them.

They look great....I just may have to check on some of the local machine shops and see what deals i can swing.

[Blackey Cole]

I built mine by "loosely" copying the machine Bob Park has. Shaft, pulleys, shaft stops, all came from Graingers. They deliver quickly if you don't have one nearby.

ferg

The Grainger part numbers for these parts would be great if you have them

[Blackey Cole]

I got a Grainger catalog today and found the piece I was looking for. It is a Heavy Duty Ball Bearing Mandrel, I am going with the 5/8" drive shaft, part # 6L098, costs $65. So as soon as the eagle flyes again I am off to Harbor freight for their 1750 RMP motor and the to Graingers for the rest.

[randypants]

i usually do it by hand. spit, then burnish, then dye, then gum trag, then burnish.

i just converted(kind of) this table top buffer from Harbor Freight.

left side is a cotton buffing wheel. right side is the same, but covered with denim. makes edges like this.

the line running down is my fault.

i'll probably stick to doing it by hand unless i can get this smoother.

but i've been doing leather work for 2 months, so i'm sure i'll get better.

[Art]

Over the course of 20 or so years, I've chased the burnishing demon, with varying but usable results with the short amount of time available to produce them (I actually work for a living and the kids needed fed). So here is the progression:

First I used the various hand burnishers including canvas.

Then I watched the Bianchi Video and ginned up this rig

That thing worked for a lot of years, then I thought (as all software engineers do) that there MUST be a better way. Cruising eBay one night, I came upon this

This little puppy cost me $500 which may seem like a lot, but honestly one of my Burr-King belt grinders cost 4 or more times that. Well I had the room and the money so off I went. In the box of parts, I found the edge iron heater assembly

and installed it, the previous owner had only done cold burnishing. The edge irons look like this

and come in different widths and configurations. The way you use these is cold burnish damp leather after cutting or sanding, then apply burnishing ink (ink with wax in it), after the ink dries completely (up to 2 hours later) hot burnish with Yankee Wax or Carnauba wax. Selecting the proper cutter and iron is the hardest part of all of this. If you have larger areas to burnish, there are also leather burnishing wheels to do that job.

For a final finish I like to use a loose muslin wheel on the Big Baldor buffer, this brute cruises along at 3600 rpm, but even at that speed it is surprisingly gentle, but you don't want to hang around in one spot too long. It and the brushes on the polisher are great for removing excess dyestuff after drying.

Needless to say, I can never leave well enough alone, and the seller had the mate to the TR3 polisher, the T2-S-RB finisher.

Cost here was the SAME as a new Burr-King, but I was there with a truck. The 1.5 and four inch belt grinders are handy and even better the thing's got a vacuum. It has a bayonet mount so I can hang whatever tool I want on it and a heel top lift cutter

which also works great on belts and trimming anything really. I'm not as used to it as I'd like so a lot of stuff still gets sanded. There is also a sole cutter

which is way tricky to use, even on soles for which it is designed, about 30 different cutters came with it and I am still working that out.

Of course this is all in search of the perfect edge.

Art