Burnishing Question

[lightningad]

I've been struggling for a week to get a decent looking burnish on a pouch i'm making.

I'm using a fancy highly polished steel jewellers burnisher which is making the veg-tan nice and smooth but not really giving that nice burnished colour. However, I have discovered that if i turn the tool around and use the wooden handle it works a treat!.

This then prompted me to try burnish the flesh of the leather as well, and stone me...it works fantastically too! My pouch is gonna have a smooth inside and outside.

The big problem with this method is it takes a long time and an awful lot of elbow grease. So my question is...

are there any mechanical methods for burnishing larger areas of leather? I've got a dremel if thats any use?

I know i can get dremel / drill mounted edge burnishers, but i'm more interested in burnishing the whole item being made.

thanks

Adam

[Cyberthrasher]

I'm using a fancy highly polished steel jewellers burnisher which is making the veg-tan nice and smooth but not really giving that nice burnished colour. However, I have discovered that if i turn the tool around and use the wooden handle it works a treat!.

I would get some scrap and experiment with that technique on nice wet leather, preferably the same leather you're using for the pouch. Different levels of moisture will give you different shades - the wetter the darker. Now, I don't know how this will apply to what you're doing, but it's what causes the burnishing color in tooling.

[lightningad]

already been doing the wet stuff, thanks.

Thats what has puzzled me - wet with the steel - not much colour change, wet with wood - much darker.

I'm more interested to know how the burnishing is achieved on large flat areas, rather than edges.

adam

[Cyberthrasher]

I'm more interested to know how the burnishing is achieved on large flat areas, rather than edges.

adam

That's why I wasn't sure about what would happen. Sorry I didn't catch the fact that you were using water. Do you have any pictures or anything of what you're trying to accomplish. Maybe something completed by someone else? I haven't done anything like that so I'm having trouble picturing what the outcome should be.

[lightningad]

i'll do some photos tomorrow of the piece so far.

Basically, i decided to try burnish the leather instead of stamping and carving. Its got this lovely deep glossy brown from the burnishing, but because of the shape of the tool, its difficult to get an even burnish - theres streaks visible because such a small area of the wooden handle is in contact at any one time.

I'm also going to try an experiment with soapstone - its a very soft rock that can polish up nicely, so i'm going to flatten a profile, smooth it off and see how that works as a burnishing tool. The very quick test i did this evening certainly looked promising.

[Cyberthrasher]

i'll do some photos tomorrow of the piece so far.....

I'm also going to try an experiment with soapstone - its a very soft rock that can polish up nicely, so i'm going to flatten a profile, smooth it off and see how that works as a burnishing tool. The very quick test i did this evening certainly looked promising.

Cool. You have me intrigued about the outcome.

[lightningad]

right - done some tests with quite interesting results.

firstly - here's the pouch i'm working on. The colour and shine is purely the result of burnishing the leather with the wooden handle from one of my tools. Looks great but takes a heck of a lot of rubbing and looks rather uneven due to the small contact area of the tool handle.

to try improve on this i have made two new burnishers today - one is made of soapstone and the other is american black walnut. Both have been sanded to a very smooth finish. Here they are with the two veg-tan scraps wetted ready for rubbing!

following some frantic rubbing i discovered the soapstone seems to give a deeper browning but probably because of poor polishing of the stone, its scratching the leather and looks quite uneven (difficult to tell in the picture)

The walnut gives a very glossy and much smoother burnish, although it takes a lot more rubbing and pressure than the soapstone, and the colour seems more even.

Considering there is no other finish or oil or treatment of any kind, i'm amazed how rich the leather is starting to look. I might try some of the dremels buffing attachments to see if they do anything interesting.

[Cyberthrasher]

I think you nailed it. The soapstone probably looks darker for the reason you stated. Best results would definitely be the walnut. Once I saw that sitting there I started thinking about Spinner's burnishers. I like the Dremel attachment idea, but I think the best, most professional look is going to come from the walnut. We just need somebody to make a large surface burnisher that's attachable to a drill or dremel so you don't have to kill your arms doing it.

[lightningad]

i might have a go this weekend - we bought a lathe last saturday so it seems like an ideal project!

I'll just have to glue up some walnut pieces to make a thick enough lump to turn.

[Cyberthrasher]

Lathe - yet another one of those things I want once I have a place to put it.

Don't know if you've read of Spinner's information on burnishing or not. It's geared toward edge, but the principals of the burnisher should apply to this project as well.

http://www.leatherburnishers.com/BurnisherFAQ.html

[lightningad]

Lathe - yet another one of those things I want once I have a place to put it.

Don't know if you've read of Spinner's information on burnishing or not. It's geared toward edge, but the principals of the burnisher should apply to this project as well.

http://www.leatherbu...rnisherFAQ.html

Thanks - i had read it, and it was that site that gave me the idea to use the walnut (its the only hardwood i have in the garage at the moment!)...only i had forgotten what the site was so had not been back to re-read it for a while.

I'm intrigued by his mention of "burnishing compounds" - i thought it was all down to the oils in the leather and the use of water as a wetting agent.

I wonder what effects it might have if i use a beeswax polish on the walnut?

[Northmount]

Have you looked at using glass? Tandy

[Cyberthrasher]

Have you looked at using glass? Tandy

That's sad. I forgot all about those things, even after the Walnut slab reminded me of it.

[lightningad]

That's sad. I forgot all about those things, even after the Walnut slab reminded me of it.

i had, but after watching Tandys online video i decided not to bother! The video shows the leather being rubbed but it doesnt appear to make any difference to the colour.

I guessed that the glass was too smooth, like the steel on my jewellers burnishers, and that there needs to be some friction to create the burnish.

The walnut (and the tool handle) are smooth to the touch but have more resistance when rubbed on the leather.

I think if you want smooth and shiny without a colour change, then stick to steel or glass. if you want to see some burn, then you need friction.

but then i could be completely wrong!

[Cyberthrasher]

I think if you want smooth and shiny without a colour change, then stick to steel or glass. if you want to see some burn, then you need friction.

but then i could be completely wrong!

Well, there you go. You found a fault in an existing product, showing a need for a new product which you have the ability to produce.

Now, get to work on that lathe and let's see the results

[lightningad]

if you want to see the completed pouch, its on the critique forum ... here

[TTcustom]

Have you tried a stack of firm wool buffing pads on a buffer? use a motor speed controller on the buffer though. Bob Parks has a good edge burnishing procedure pinned on here.