Use of a dremel for burnishing

[Bree]

I was doing some burnishing by hand with the f7 grade felt, 1/4" thick. it works very well with just beeswax. First time I've tried this and was very surprised.

ed

I was over at Rockler yesterday and picked up a 20 pack of some extremely fine grit sponges for both my wood and leatherwork. I also spotted a couple of items that I thought I might test out. They had a 1" thick block of very firm felt maybe 5" long by 1 1/2" wide. I grabbed that and then I spotted a similar block of cork and grabbed that. I used two 25% off coupons that I had to treim the pretty ridiculous price on each of these.

Anyhoo... I took a piece of veg tan strap, wet the edge, and corked it with a firm unidirectional, moderate pressure rub. I got a very nice burnish out of it! The cork block was surprisingly unaffected by the burnishing pressure. It felt good in the hand because that block is pretty easy to grip and use. I didn't have time to test out the felt yet.

I don't see either of these as a replacement for a powered rotary burnisher. I am getting ready to test out Ivan's burnisher and I am hoping that it is all that he says it is. I will let you know my impressions once I try it out. I can't run it on my buffer because he says that the speed is too high. So I have to fabricate an adapter to run it on my drill press. I bought a long 1/2" hex bolt yesterday with a long section of non-theaded round stock. I will cut off the head and the threads with my Dremel tool and a diamond cutting wheel (hopefully!). And then use the drill press to test out the burnisher.

I have to wait for a replacement burnisher because there was a problem with the initial one I received. Ivan is taking care of the problem with a smile! Good man! If his burnisher works out, I will buy the special motor and use that rig for production. The package looks like a great deal and I am impressed with what I have seen so far.

But it never hurts to have many ways of doing the same thing!!

[ArtS]

I've been watching the threads on making burnishers. Today I made my own with some felt I had and a bolt with washers. I use it in my drill press. It' works pretty well! I designed it after the one I saw on ebay for sale.

Art

[Bree]

I bought the burnisher and motor from Ivan. He convinced me that this thing is the greatest deal since sliced bread! I have a nice MDF base cut to afix the motor too and clamp to my surface plate. So as soon as it comes in I will let you know how it performs!!

[Fatolbaldguy]

i am also very new at this. I was wondering if using a router mounted in a portable table work letting me use both hands on the work?

[shtoink]

i am also very new at this. I was wondering if using a router mounted in a portable table work letting me use both hands on the work?

Unless you have full control over the speed of the spindle, I'd say that a router wouldn't be a good choice. I know they tend to have rather high RPMs and you'd more than likely end up burning your edges. At the speeds a typical router spins, there is only a fraction of a second between 'smooth & shiny' and 'burnt to hell.' A drill press, and to some extent rotary tools, allow for lower RPMs, so they are more forgiving in that department.

I have heard of people scavenging the motor and speed controller from old treadmills to repurpose them in some way. They are usually cheap or free, have a decent amount of torque, and all you'd need to do is relocate the necessary bits into a new housing so you can make it do your bidding. That is, if you are up to making a dedicated burnishing station for you workshop/garage and you are willing to tear into old exercise equipment that you found on the side of the road someplace.

Just a thought...

[silverback]

Good think'n shtoink,i also was thinking of using an old singer sewing machine motor and having some wood wheels made up.you got me thinking with the old treadmill motors and controllers would they be strong enough and fast and slow enough for sewing with my singer 45k25.??? Thinking thinking thinking.

[Slow Learner]

I have limited knowledge but this discussion made me think about using the plastic wheel that I got from Tandy. I got an arbor from Harbor Freight. I attached the wheel to the arbor then used it in my drill press at a slow speed. It seems to work. Any thoughts?

[shtoink]

I have limited knowledge but this discussion made me think about using the plastic wheel that I got from Tandy. I got an arbor from Harbor Freight. I attached the wheel to the arbor then used it in my drill press at a slow speed. It seems to work. Any thoughts?

You might've even done something like this...

It's worth mentioning that the head from that bolt was removed shortly after those pictures were taken so that it didn't present any issues when chucked in the drill, though.

[Slow Learner]

It shows to go you that there is nothing new under the sun.

[shtoink]

Good think'n shtoink,i also was thinking of using an old singer sewing machine motor and having some wood wheels made up.you got me thinking with the old treadmill motors and controllers would they be strong enough and fast and slow enough for sewing with my singer 45k25.??? Thinking thinking thinking.

While digging about internets in non-leather related places, I ran across some other folks discussing DC motor controller plans that are meant for working with those treadmill motors. It seems that these guys talk about couple different plans, but felt it was all worth adding to this thread since it was related.