How Are You Applying Dye On Edges?

[TrooperChuck]

I've often been frustrated with various methods of dyeing edges.  Wool daubers, small brushes, sponge, etc.  Perhaps I'm just prone to goofing up, but none of these methods worked for me.  Recently I've been using an old jumbo sized felt tip Sharpie marker.  This marker was pretty much all used up and I was wondering if I could re-charge it with Feibing black oil dye.  I used a scratch awl to poke a hole in the top end of the barrel.  Being thin aluminum, it was easy to poke a hole, then enlarge it with a phillips screwdriver.  I then used an eye dropper to fill the barrel with black dye.  I put a piece of masking tape on the end of the barrel to close up the hole.

Now, when I need to dye edges I just grab the marker and make several passes over the edges.  It works quite well on smaller projects such as pocket knife sheaths and small belt pouches, but gets a bit tedious on longer edges such as gun belts.  The advantage of using the recycled marker pen is that I'm not getting any bleed-over or "oops" on my leather.  (This has also helped reduce the amount of swearing that is heard in my shop!)

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure the same thing could be done with dark brown dyes, if you could find a jumbo-sized brown marker pen.

When I'm not using the marker I store it point-down so dye doesn't leak out from under the taped hole in the top. 

After dying the edges I use a small sponge to apply water and then hand buff it with a scrap of canvass.  Sometimes, if I'm feeling ambitious, or if the edge just doesn't look as shiny as I want, I will wipe the edges with liquid glycerine soap and buff it again with the canvass.  Chris Andre, of Slickbald Leather, taught us the glycerine soap trick at his holster making class at the last Southwest Leather show in Arizona.

I don't know if this will help anyone, but it has worked okay for me.  (That is, until I come up with some other hair-brained idea of questionable practicality!)

[Red Cent]

The leather will make a lot of difference in the success of your burnishing. Realize that we talk as if we all buy the exact same leather from................

A piece of leather that is "conditioned" with NF oil or EVOO before you do anything else may not have good edge results. Saddle soap has a number of ingredients depending on the recipe you are viewing.  Some or all off the following: lanolin, Castile, NF oil, hand soap, flake lye, and gum turpentine.

Pick up a small piece of evenly cut veg tanned leather, preferably 8-9 ounce. With a damp rag, BARELY wet the edge. About six inches long or so. Buff or machine burnish. You should get a glass smooth edge in about 10 seconds. When you get the edge damp, there is a small window when the leather will re-act to the heat of the burnishing. Dampen three to four feet of leather and you will not have the same result the full length. If you machine burnish you may get away with it.

This slick edge is the ticket to get an even dye application. And the dye (alcohol) will make the edge dry and may crack. I use a big dowel rod to burnish immediately after I dye. I don't let it dry. This will show all the problems with your edge.  This will smooth the leather more even if it is dry, it will be smooth. If it is too dry, then rub on a glycerin bar lightly. No water. The glycerin will provide moisture and really slick the edge. A machine burnisher may not make it shiny. Do not despair. This is probably the leather. After you finish, the best thing in any case is to get a piece of towel and buff the edges.

Some leather will crack at this point if you bend it. Use a small amount of water at the bend before you bend and lightly apply more glycerin and get out the old dowel rod.

The last application is a 50/50 of beeswax and paraffin. Machined burnished.

 

You don't want to know how much time I put into my edges.

 

[OLDNSLOW]

Red, you mention that you use a number 3 edge beveler, what I have noticed is that not all bevelers are the same even from the same seller.  Case in point is the new style from Tandy is different from the wood handle style beveler that they sell, so my question is which type are you using?  Or would it make much difference between types?  As a side note the number 3 from Tandy with a rubber type handle is much larger than the wood handle type, so I was wondering if it makes much difference.  I haven't had any caffeeeen yet so not sure I made any sense.