Sanding Edges?

[DavidL]

Is it possible to use an electric sander to even out the edges without issue on edges?

No mushrooming of edges or unevenness.

In wood working its normal to cut 1/8th of an inch longer and sand completely flat. Is this the same thing with veg tan?

[plowboy73]

Yes it works well. I usually sand and then bevel the edge. The only time it mushrooms is when i try to do it when the leather is wet.

[Colt W Knight]

I have a Rigid Oscillating Belt and Spindle sander to do exactly what you are talking about.

Typically, when you tool leather it distorts some, so glueing two pieces of tooled veg tan leather with perfect right angle is nearly impossible. So what I do is Cut the leather, tool it, dye it, and then glue/sew the two pieces together. Then move the piece over to my oscillating belt sander to flush up the edges. Once the edge are flush, I use my edge tool to bevel the edges. There is a little feathering on the edges sometimes, but it is removed after beveling. Then I dye the edges, add some saddle soap, and run the edges throuh my burnisher.

Did this one yesterday

[silverwingit]

You don't need an oscillating belt sander. A regular one works quite nicely too.

Michelle.

[johnv474]

This approach is used very often in the shoe repair industry. It is definitely possible. Effectively, it is done on belt sanders.

[Dwight]

I have a 12 inch round flat sander, . . . a 1 inch belt sander, . . . and I waste 100 bucks on an orbital tube sander.

The 1 inch belt sander was the cheapest, . . . smallest, . . . and hands down does the best job.

I only keep the other two because they are handy for metal and wood work also. If I only did leather work . . . I'd sell em.

May God bless,

Dwight

[wlg190861]

Dwight could you post a photo of the sander you use for leather work ?`

[snubbyfan]

I also come from a woodworking background. I just chucked a sanding drum in my drill press and use that to sand my edges.

After sanding, I bevel my edges, wet, burnish, let the edge dry then gum trag, burnish, let it dry then gum trag and burnish again. After that dries, I do the stitchin', top coat then burnish the edge one more time.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. I do all my burnishing by hand.

[silverwingit]

Ah, er... Gum Tragacanth.

I hate it. For me, the edges can initially be made to look very nice, like yours do, Snubbyfan. But... My GT-treated edges do not last! With a little time, use and abrasion, the edge treatment starts to wear off and the nice smooth appearance of the edges start to deteriorate. I get paranoid about one of my pieces doing that on one of my clients out in the field.

Bob Park doesn't even mention Gum Tragacanth in his classic method of treating edges. I'm certain he has a reason for that. Perhaps his experience matches mine?

I use a slightly modified version of Bob's edge treatment method. Once I abandoned GT I became much more confident in the longevity of all the work I do on edges.

Your mileage obviously varies, but I'd be very interested in comments by users of Gum Tragacanth.

Michelle

[snubbyfan]

After my edges are burnished, I put a couple of coats of topcoat over them and that seems to help.

I checked out Bob Park, he said that he doesn't use gum trag. because he dyes his edges after burnishing and it prevents the edges from absorbing dye.

I just might try some of his techniques, I'm always willin' to try something new.

Edited November 11, 2014 by snubbyfan

[retiredff]

I also come from a woodworking background. I just chucked a sanding drum in my drill press and use that to sand my edges.

After sanding, I bevel my edges, wet, burnish, let the edge dry then gum trag, burnish, let it dry then gum trag and burnish again. After that dries, I do the stitchin', top coat then burnish the edge one more time.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. I do all my burnishing by hand.

Snubbyfan - do you use a guide of some type with the drum sanders or just free hand it?

Thanks

Tony

[snubbyfan]

I also come from a woodworking background. I just chucked a sanding drum in my drill press and use that to sand my edges.

After sanding, I bevel my edges, wet, burnish, let the edge dry then gum trag, burnish, let it dry then gum trag and burnish again. After that dries, I do the stitchin', top coat then burnish the edge one more time.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. I do all my burnishing by hand.

Snubbyfan - do you use a guide of some type with the drum sanders or just free hand it?

Thanks

Tony

I just freehand it.

[Hi Im Joe]

I switched from using gum trag to saddle soap after reading Bob Parks tutorial. It works about a million times better.

[retiredff]

Thanks Snubbyfan & Joe. I have gum trag, so I'll buy some saddle soap and try it.

Thanks for the reply's.