What Is This Tool Called, And Where Do I Find It?

[CustomDoug]

Just heard back from them...

35 euro for each cork handle

~75 euro each for the edging and wax-melting attachments

+ freight.

Ouch, so the Mando tips are $95 each! I think 3 would be a minimum really. So there's $300 of it. The Campbell-Bosworth stuff suddenly seems a lot smarter. But btw, the Janik units have a ton of external element tips that can be used with them.. here's some http://www.patrickfa...aphy/wpage5.htm the #23 Flat and the T20 knife edge might be usable for leather?

Edited November 23, 2012 by CustomDoug

[Andrew Chee]

Sorry for taking so long to follow up on this. I did get this unit about a week ago but I just haven't had time to test it out yet. I've included some pictures of it. There is a standard paddle tip, an edge creaser tip (I think it's 2mm but they come in different widths), and two rounded edging tips (3mm and 5mm). I haven't really played with it too much but I tried testing it out on edging a single piece of 6oz latigo. The edge I got was using sandpaper, bees wax, and heat. Not bad but I should probably learn the correct way to use this tool so I can get even better results. Anyways, pictures are attached.

Andrew

[CustomDoug]

Sorry for taking so long to follow up on this. I did get this unit about a week ago but I just haven't had time to test it out yet. I've included some pictures of it. There is a standard paddle tip, an edge creaser tip (I think it's 2mm but they come in different widths), and two rounded edging tips (3mm and 5mm). I haven't really played with it too much but I tried testing it out on edging a single piece of 6oz latigo. The edge I got was using sandpaper, bees wax, and heat. Not bad but I should probably learn the correct way to use this tool so I can get even better results. Anyways, pictures are attached.

Andrew

Yea Andrew that edge looks pretty darn good from what I can tell.. and that looks like veg tan leather, these are supposedly good with the chrome. Have you tried making a crease line parallel to the edge of a leather piece yet? I think the flat "paddle" tip is meant to slick the edges particularly using dyes,waxes and paints (from what I can decipher). I may have to order one of these units. Does that silver metallic shaft below yellow plastic get too hot to touch? I assume so, but it's thicker too than most soldering irons I've used.

Edited November 25, 2012 by CustomDoug

[Andrew Chee]

The leather is some kind of Latino so it's probably some combination chrome/veg tan. Not really sure exactly. I haven't really tried the crease line yet but paddle works fairly well. It basically helps melt the wax into the edge. I sand and re-wax between coats and can get a fairly smooth finish. If someone knows the absolute correct way to use this tools, please let me know. As for the shaft part, I don't know. I don't really want to find out if it gets too hot so I just don't touch it.

Andrew

[conceptdiba]

I've received my machine too and will post my impressions tomorrow. CustomDoug, the shaft does indeed get very hot. The setting goes from 1 to 10, and even on setting 3 the shaft is very hot.

[Andrew Chee]

Also, I found that you don't really need to go above heat setting 3. 10 is way too hot.

Andrew

[conceptdiba]

Okay, my impressions on the tool so far.

I purchased the unit, and two attachments.

The first attachment is used to mark a line down the edge of the leather. My plan was to have this line run between the stitching and the edge for a nice finishing touch. The second attachment is used to melt wax onto the edge of the leather for a good edge. I don't have the two brass attachment's Andrew Chee posted in his 3rd picture a few posts up.

My experience with the first attachment honestly has been okay. It's quite difficult to do corners well due to the length of the tool's handle, and I'm finding the line to be a bit too heavy/wide for my liking when doing fine leather goods. Please take that all with a grain of salt, as I still have to 1) hone my skills with this attachment and 2) try fiddling with the heat settings to see what is ideal for this attachment. So far, I've found this tool useful when I do a folded edge, like on a card slot, and opt to do a decorative line with this attachment rather than stitches.

My experience with the second attachment has been excellent. I'm currently waiting on burnishable edge paint/wax samples from Campbell-Randall, but in the meantime I've been using some black edge-paint I received from LCI a while back. I typically work with very thin leathers of multiple layers (Ie wallet inner, card slots, then outer, each individual layer being very thin). I'll use glue to get the layers to stack and align, then sand the edge using a lower grit sandpaper like 200 grit. At this point I apply a layer of edge paint using a very small flathead screwdriver (this works very well to prevent excess wax from sticking to something like a wool dauber or q-tip and going over the edge of the leather). After applying the paint, I run the attachment on heat setting 3 up and down. Then I do a quick sanding to remove excess edge paint (I believe once I find the right edge paint/wax this won't be as much of a problem) before applying another coat and repeating with the attachment. Another coat is added as necessary until there are no discernible 'layers' when looking at the edge; just uniformly smooth edge is visible. I finish off by rubbing the edge with beeswax or similar and burnishing by hand with a small piece of crocus cloth to give it a nice shine and finish.

I still need a bit of practice with this tool, but here's the kind of edge I got on a combination of about 5 mixed layers of chrome and veg-tanned leather using the above method. In reality, I'd probably skive all the layers down so the edge wouldn't be so bulky, but I think it demonstrates this tool's effectiveness.

Overall, I'm very happy with this tool. The edge attachment is exactly what I've been looking for at a fraction of the price of other available tools. I'll post an update once I've tried out the different edge paints from Campbell-Randall.

[bernardojr]

hi there!

where can i buy the edge paint/wax?

thank you!

[raysouth]

This is an interesting use of tools that are common in my shop. Never considered using pyrography for sealing edges but easy to see how could be done.

There are many pyrography burners available, and very reasonable handpieces/tips that will do the same thing. I also have a digital temp. control solder station that I did not get to use much and have packed away, that would also perfom well in this area.

You could go to any of the pyrography sites and view the different machine or simply do a search for pyrography tools. The basic pyrography pens, which are very inexpensive, would also work but care would have to be used as they would not be temperature controlled.

Take a look at the basic tools and tips as offered at Walnut Hollow, to give you some idea of the tools available. There are controllers made for the basic pens as well, but no idea who is making them today.

Will have to try this myself, as it seems to do a very nice job on edging.

God Bless.

Ray

[conceptdiba]

hi there!

where can i buy the edge paint/wax?

thank you!

I have a sample from LCI in black that works very well. I also received samples of the Italian edge paints from Campbell-Randall, but compared to the LCI, I find they take way more coats to get the edge I like, and are much lower in viscosity than the LCI edge ink.

[CampbellRandall]

For better coverage with fewer coats, I would recommend trying the PLUS version of the paint.

[bizbeblu]

Interesting. Without having a clue that this was an "accepted practice" I got into using a resistance soldering machine with a broad tip to produce probably much the same effect. A resistance solderer creates an electrical current between the work piece and the active solder point. This of course won't work with leather cause it doesn't conduct electricity, but properly equipped they can also create the resistance within a given tip much like a standard soldering iron. Their advantage is that you can "dial up" temperature and work with a variety of tips. (I work in brass fairly often and stumbled across the idea of doing leather from that.) The keys for me were to clamp the edge to be worked securely along its full length with the edge barely above the clamping material and work the "stuff" (I've tried various combinations of carnauba and bee's wax) lightly, a very thin coat at a time. Knowing how to solder and also how to sweat copper helped, but it shouldn't be hard to learn. Unless you are producing work at a factory output level or maybe have really large pieces, the tools noted above look like overkill. I use a device no longer on the market, but American Beauty's are available in base configuration for about $300.

[bernardojr]

thank you so much! do they have other colours aside from black?

[bernardojr]

I have a sample from LCI in black that works very well. I also received samples of the Italian edge paints from Campbell-Randall, but compared to the LCI, I find they take way more coats to get the edge I like, and are much lower in viscosity than the LCI edge ink.

thank you so much! i will give it a try. do they have other colours? can i buy it online?

[conceptdiba]

thank you so much! i will give it a try. do they have other colours? can i buy it online?

Please see my post here and let me know if you're interested. The LCI stuff isn't ideal, and isn't available online, but I did find the edge paint that is. I've tried a few brands and none of them work as well as I'd like.

[Trox]

Hi all,

know this is an old thread. However, I did some Internet searching and found this tool on an Korean site http://beavertools.co.kr/xe/index.php?mid=marking&document_srl=1286 I do not understand the letters on this site but there is a number under it, 70.000 Korean money equals to 61 USD.

Here it is on youtube

And here is a video on how to convert a battery charger to a wood burner temp. control unit

You can make this tool yourself and buy the creasing bits for it.

For all who want to save some money and use their own time instead.

Thanks

Tor

[KandB]

FYI, you can now get the tips on ebay of all places - I'm buying the whole set:

http://www.ebay.com/...ip&LH_PrefLoc=2

With any luck I'll have beautiful edges too.

[traiven3d]

I'm wondering if a simple tool like this might be an inexpensive option:

http://www.woodcraft.com/category/2001813/complete-woodburning-kits.aspx

The temperature control looks like it drops the supplied power by a percent, and the multiple tips on the iron, while not exactly what Peter Nitz uses, contain one that is flat sided and another that goes to a point for making creases and the like. Whether this can be dropped low enough to work on binding fibers and melting wax without scorching is the big question.

[traiven3d]

I received my order for the woodburner 10 in 1 set, as well as my temperature modulator. On the lowest heat setting i'm able to use the tool to burnish the edges of chrome tanned leathers and smooth down the flesh sides very quickly. The burner comes with a number of tips, including a flat angled head that fits the bill for shaping and burnishing very thin (.6-.8 oz) leather edges. Its a big improvement over trying to use burnishing tools on these flimsy pieces and allows me to get a rounded edge that's very smooth and ready for application of edge paints. It makes easy work of hard-to-burnish edges such as those that are short or those areas in corners. The tool is also very capable of laying down linear details into the leather.

I have found that the Fenice edge paints sold by Tandy are not the best consistency for working with a hot iron. They seem to melt and peel away from the edges, instead of melting into them. I was able to shape some areas without them lifting off if I worked quickly, but the results were inconsistent. I'm not sure if I have the technique correct, or if there is some way I can further reduce the heat to enable me to shape them instead. I'll have to take another watch of Peter's wonderful video to see if I can glean anymore wisdom.

Over all, I'd say that this kit is a great starting point for those who don't want to invest in $600 + shipping in order to burnish and polish chrome tanned leathers with an iron. I'm certain the higher end kit will allow for great control of temperature (which may be the ticket for being able to shape and smooth edge paints), but this is definitely going to provide me with another way to improve my craft.

*Note* - Even on its very lowest temperature I've found that the tool scorches veg-tan leathers. Similar to wood, it burns and creates a black mark. I was able to work it over a gum-trag treated edge and flesh side, and it didn't burn, but I was working very quickly, skimming the tool over the surface. The results were mediocre. I could see someone using the tool as a way to blacken the edges of leather for a unique finish, or burning in details on tooling.

[Eemo]

SO,

I got my fileteuse from mando with one psu, 2 handles with 2 tips. I think the psu is a pretty basic, similar to a soldering station power supply. You could potentially buy a soldering station and just modify the cable adapter to use the mando handles... At least that's what Im going to do or at least try it out. Maybe I should write a disclaimer here, lol!

Got my edge paint from beraud aswell. We'll see how this goes. I have used normal black edge kote, let it dry, rub beeswax to the edge and then use the hot edge to get a pretty good end result. No idea of the durability of the edge yet though.

The beraud ct0 paint doesn't seem to have a lot of wax in it. it's pretty thin paint. Any special recipes with that particular paint?

Oh yeah, use a piece of scap to figure out the correct heat when making marks to the leather with the hot iron. Every time you use it. It can burn pretty quick if too hot.

[jk215]

So what were your verdicts on edging veg tan with the heat tools? Ive been a lot of combination veg tan and exotic pieces and id love to be able to seal a combined edge nicely like in the original video.

[Eemo]

It works, but veg tan burns real easy. Careful with the heat!

[greekgod]

HI guys anyone tried the project of playing around with different combinations of a generic soldering iron with different tips to get a good outcome? Any advice?

[jk215]

HI guys anyone tried the project of playing around with different combinations of a generic soldering iron with different tips to get a good outcome? Any advice?

I bought a generic adjustable soldering iron off amazon last week and have been playing around with it. I will post some pictures of my results when I get a minute. Ive been using it on veg-tan with black acrlyic paint as my edge dressing and its been going ok so far I think.

[valafar]

hello,

I was reading your posts on edging and the tools used also the inks, if you need some help on the application of the inks and the tools used I can give you some info , also where to buy the edgers and parts and I've used the inks from France and Italy I could tell you how each one is different and some tips on the applications

Greg