Burnishing Wheel

[McJeep]

Ed, you might try chucking those mandrels into a drill press or hand drill in a vise and making them round with sandpaper(36-80 grit) or a rasp. You can use a rat tail file or a screwdriver shaft wrapped in sandpaper to make a groove. The more stable the drill the better. Turn at low-mid speed (500-800rpm). Use a sanding block and don't hold the paper still. I'd stick to the 1/2" size at first, until you see how well the dremel can handle the weight, and if your dremel is variable speed, use low. Hold the dremel inside a coffee can and wear eye protection the first time you turn it on with these in it in case they are out of balance and the shaft lets go.

So in keeping with the Scot in me, these "thrify" (hehehe) options intrigue me and yesterday morn was spent playing with an idea. I'm not so convinced that things flyin apart is that big an issue as we're not dealing with very high rpm here. Si with that in mind I went for what I could find in the shop - dermel bits and an old broomstick LOL

It actually worked very well after a couple of failures (the experimental phase I wore shop goggles for ;0)

What I ended up with was a piece of broomstick, center drilled but not all the way (that seemed to never end up being anywhere near straight through) and using dremel screw on mandrels. Drilled the holes just a bit smaller than the mandrel screw to assure a tight fit and it works like a charm. Then chucked it in the dremel, cranked the rpm up and rounded (balanced) it with course emery cloth, then 240 sadpaper for smoothing out. wrapped emery and sandpaper around different sized drillbits to help form the grooves

Now that I know it works well, I'll pick up a length of nice hardwood dowel like maple or other

Thanks to Dwight for the initial heads up on this idea :0)

Here are the mandrels I'm talking about - about $5 a piece up here

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/AttachmentsAnd...il.aspx?pid=401

[oldtimer]

This is my burnisher: I turned a "knob" from Lignum Vitae, drilled a hole for the motor shaft, and drilled and tapped a hole for a locking screw. I then ran the motor and used a metal file, 1200 grit paper and steel wool to make the grooves.

Edited January 21, 2009 by oldtimer

[McJeep]

This is my burnisher: I turned a "knob" from Lignum Vitae, drilled a hole for the motor shaft, and drilled and tapped a hole for a locking screw. I then ran the motor and used a metal file, 1200 grit paper and steel wool to make the grooves.

How much pressure do you use when burnishing - I guess the reason I'm asking is t see if it's really worth my while to go to that size motor. Does being able to "come on to it" produce better reaults or is it all about the heat and gentle pressure. (end newbie mode) ;0)

[gtwister09]

Julia,

Here's an idea of the amount of wobble. I set up the magnetic dial indicator and registered the following run-out numbers on 4 burnshiers at the furthest point from the drill press quill.

Wood stem eaten up (1st time - 0.323, 2nd time cleaned up wooden shaft - 0.210)

Small burnisher (0.0623)

Large burnisher (0.0956)

Medium burnisher (0.101)

My drill press baseline is 0.013)

I have a small 9" that I also baselined (0.178)

My neighbor's drill press baselines are as follows.

Jet 16" (0.095)

Delta 16 (0.102)

Bosch 12" (0.164)

Ryobi 12" (0.232)

Rockwell 20" (0.345) ---> OUCH! It's old and needs some serious work.

As you can see your drill press can have a lot to do with the amount of wobble. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning up the Jacobs chuch, quill and such to get my numbers down.

I made one similar to oldtimer's but used an insert that was threaded on the outside and had a smooth shaft on the inside to fit over the motor shaft. It likewise had a screw that went through the wood, the threaded insert and into the motor shaft. It was made out of some Argentinian lignum vitae. His was a little longer (6" total). He has since converted it into a felt burnisher.

Regards,

Ben

[oldtimer]

How much pressure do you use when burnishing - I guess the reason I'm asking is t see if it's really worth my while to go to that size motor. Does being able to "come on to it" produce better reaults or is it all about the heat and gentle pressure. (end newbie mode) ;0)

I use very gentle pressure when burnishing. Too much pressure and things get hot. Try to find a low rev motor if you´ll build this variety. I have a foot operated switch on the floor to run the machine

[McJeep]

I have a foot operated switch on the floor to run the machine

Nice ... being a "bit" of a tool nut, I can see this pastime getting wayyyy outta control very quickly hehehe

Thanks much :0)

[oldtimer]

Nice ... being a "bit" of a tool nut,

LOL, same here !

/ Knut

[MBOGO]

Would a burnishing wheel made out of metal (aluminum, brass, stainless) work or does it have to be made of wood? Thanks!

Karl

I've seen a metal one somewhere (maybe an article in Leather Crafter Saddlers journal) another alternative is http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/Pro...%20BLOCK%20SETS with these you can run different things off one motor, different sizes ect. there are different size pedistals out there.

Happy hunting

Edited January 25, 2009 by MBOGO

[Kowboyboots]

[RonaldSe]

This is my burnisher: I turned a "knob" from Lignum Vitae, drilled a hole for the motor shaft, and drilled and tapped a hole for a locking screw. I then ran the motor and used a metal file, 1200 grit paper and steel wool to make the grooves.

THIS I LIKE!!

Ronald

[VanHornSaddlery]

Hello,

Thought I would post a pic or two of what I use for burnishing when I do it mechanically. I got one of Ivan's burnishers off of ebay and it works real good. The other one I built out of a wooden rolling pin cut off with a hole drilled all the way through and a nut installed to screw on to the el cheapo bench grinder. Had trouble getting all the wobble out of it but took one of my old shoeing rasps to it with grinder turned on and that pretty well trued it up. Then took some different sized files and made the grooves, ran some sand paper over them and then glued some wet canvas to the whole shebang. Doped the whole thing up with saddle soap and she was ready to roll. On the other side of the grinder is an arbor with a 3" sanding roll on it. Works good for evening up edges on skirts or anything glued together. You do have to be careful with it though or you can burn the leather. A lot of times if I need to even up some edges I will use a little file like contraption, I think the drywallers call a cheesegrater. They use it for evening up edges of drywall but works good on skirts also.

I like Ivans burnisher for some things and my homemade one for some things.

Sorry I rambled on so long.

Here are a couple pics.

Have a good one.

Jake

[DeuceTrinal]

I did finally get some burnishers made and tested, and they work great. I make them from Indian Rosewood, which is nice and dense and oily, like most rosewoods. I have a thread up in the marketplace where you can buy them: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=15051

I also have some rosewood hand burnisher/folder/creaser/rub sticks there as well that Peter K suggested.

I love custom work, so if you have other ideas just let me know!

Edited March 12, 2009 by DeuceTrinal

[PHIPPS CRAFTED LEATHER]

I would be interested, let me know. Thanks.

I just bought a quantity of Lignum Vitae (not the Argentine variety) and Snakewood that I'm going to turn into mounted burnishers like the one in the above picture. I also purchased a small woodworking lathe.

If anyone is interested in my making one for them, I can try to get a feel for how many I can make in a weekend and how much is reasonable to charge. Let me know and I'll post pics of the one I make this week.

[Ferg]

Did you realize that is a post over two years old?

ferg

I would be interested, let me know. Thanks.