burinishing akward internal cuts?

[CJW306]

I'm using veg tan leather about 1.2-1.4mm (3-3.5 oz?) for a wallet.

I've punched two holes and cut a line to make a card holder and have just tried burnishing the internal cuts (about 8cm apart). Apart from it being very fiddly and tough to get a slicker in there, does anyone have any tips on how to burnish something like that without bending the leather too much, getting gum trag on the front, and into the tiny punch holes?

Or would it be better to just leave them unburnished?

The cuts would be similer to these:  

It looks like they haven't burnished them, but if possible I'd like to. I figure it would give better protection and finish if I can manage it.

 

Thanks

[JLSleather]

Simple enough --- if you're worried about it -- to cut a narrow slot instead of the cut,.. then burnish the slot before folding.

That item there, clearly the main concern in kicking them out quickly as possible -- minimizing the work done to it at all turns.

I personaly wouldn't want something that uses FOUR layers of veg-leather just to have 4 card slots.

 

 

[CJW306]

Thanks.

Just to be clear; that's not mine nor anything like what I'm looking at doing- just grabbed an image that shows what I meant by the cuts. At the moment mine is on one piece of leather that will be stitched afterwards.

[MADMAX22]

Cuts like that I would say can be left as they are. Now the outside edges of that wallet I would burnish. 

If you absolutely must burnish them, if you have one of those drill burnishers with the pointed end that they use on holsters and such if the point is small enough makes burnishing the holes a snap. Now the lines I generally will hold the top flap portion and push it in a tad and push out from the back on the bottom one and burnish the bottom edge of the slit then reverse and do the top. I would use some saddle soap wetted with water then a small brush to rub on the wetted soap then onto just the edge of the leather. Not a 100% proper burnish but it worked for the most part. 

Kind of hard to explain but the above is what I did for the cut belt slits in some knife  sheaths I made. 

[CJW306]

 

Cuts like that I would say can be left as they are. Now the outside edges of that wallet I would burnish. 

If you absolutely must burnish them, if you have one of those drill burnishers with the pointed end that they use on holsters and such if the point is small enough makes burnishing the holes a snap. Now the lines I generally will hold the top flap portion and push it in a tad and push out from the back on the bottom one and burnish the bottom edge of the slit then reverse and do the top. I would use some saddle soap wetted with water then a small brush to rub on the wetted soap then onto just the edge of the leather. Not a 100% proper burnish but it worked for the most part. 

Kind of hard to explain but the above is what I did for the cut belt slits in some knife  sheaths I made. 

Thanks, that's a great idea, I'll have to check out drill burnishers.

[Handstitched]

G'day, I too have had similar issue.

However, what I have been using is this:

 

Not the tool itself, but the wooden handle. (this is not mine, just an example) 

I have the same shaped handles on my bevellers .......who hasn't?  duh  

I use slickers for all the 'straight stuff' belts etc.  but I use the handles of my beveller for awkward  corners , internal cuts etc. 

I have many other tools with smaller but similar  wooden handles & shapes to my beveller handles  that I use for a variety of curves etc.  Wooden handles  work best , I have found. 

 

I hope this helps 

 

HS 

 

[silverwingit]

Not exactly on the topic of burnishing slits (don't even try), but I've found a way that I burnish holes. I make a lot of no-stitch boxes with the method described in one of Stohlman's box & case books. To do this you punch holes at the corners where the leather is bent at right angles and folds over on itself. It's always bugged me leaving the edges of those holes unburnished after I spend so much time finishing the rest of the edges. 

I do have a cocobolo drill press burnisher with a small diameter section but it's in my shop and it's sort of a hassle dropping everything and running out to the garage to use it. I normally just finish edges by hand with a cocobolo slicker, beeswax and a patch of canvas following Bob Park's method. So I've been wanting a way to do finish those pesky holes by hand right at my workbench. I recently got one of those Tandy Craftool stainless steel burnisher/awl tools with the black handle just for this purpose. It's been working pretty well. I use the usual wet/saddle soap/burnish then rub the tip of the tool with a little beeswax and go over it again, this time spreading a little beeswax. Not quite as nice as the straight edges but far better than just leaving them unfinished. They certainly don't draw the eye like the formerly ratty looking unfinished holes.

Michelle