Not burnishing belt edges!

[Dominicff]

Hey. I'm about to make a lots of belt and I found burnishing edges a pain in the xxx. Just wondering if in the long term it will get ugly. I will apply beeswax on the edges but not beveling nor sanding and burnish the edges. 

 

Hand burnish is painful on my hands(from old injury it's hard for me to have a good grip)  and when using a dremel it burns the leather and its not even, it is also time consuming. 

 

What's your opinion? 

[ByNelson]

It's not a step I would skip.... makes a big difference in the final look and feel.... I found that if you follow the edge guide on this forum, it's not so hard to get a ok edge. 

[Tpc]

I would also not skip this stage. You could try a drill to burnish, you could set the spindle speed slower so as not to burn. 

[Halitech]

if you are burning when using a dremel, you have it turning too fast. Honestly, if you aren't burnishing, there is no point in applying beeswax to the edges. If burnishing is that hard on you, consider using edge paints like these

https://www.tandyleather.ca/en/product/eco-flo-edgeflex-8-5-fl-oz-250ml

http://springfieldleather.com/Edge-Kote-Black-4oz

[gmace99]

 

[Matt S]

Burnishing the edges of strap-goods makes a huge difference to the quality of your product. Not worth skipping, IMHO.

[Dwight]

Personally, . . . there is very little that goes out of my shop not being burnished, . . . and belts are never allowed out that way.

I use my Dremel at about 1600 rpm or so (it has a scale on the back telling me how fast I'm going), . . . 

AND I use a discarded HVAC fan motor, . . . I put a home-made burnishing tool on it. 

I also have arthritis in the 72 year old hands, . . . but they can muster through this 5 minutes to make the belt look like a craftsman did it, . . .

It looks like the pics  below.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Dominicff]

Thanks for all your reply I will burnish it now!  Thanks! 

[Dominicff]

15 hours ago, gmace99 said:

 

Anybody tried it? 

[Mattsbagger]

The guy that posted the video is the maker of it. It seems pretty common in English saddle making from what I've read.

[gmace99]

That is the way we do it in the top companies . Like E.Jeffries   We don't spent forever rubbing edges.  This can lead to over handling the leather. 

I made my own belt years ago and the edges are still as smooth as the day I made it.

The way we do things in factories here are evolved from hundreds of years . With the input from thousands of workers over these years

[plinkercases]

Dwight your HVAC motor powered burnisher just made my day. Thanks!

[Dominicff]

On 9/26/2017 at 8:28 AM, Dwight said:

Personally, . . . there is very little that goes out of my shop not being burnished, . . . and belts are never allowed out that way.

I use my Dremel at about 1600 rpm or so (it has a scale on the back telling me how fast I'm going), . . . 

AND I use a discarded HVAC fan motor, . . . I put a home-made burnishing tool on it. 

I also have arthritis in the 72 year old hands, . . . but they can muster through this 5 minutes to make the belt look like a craftsman did it, . . .

It looks like the pics  below.

May God bless,

Dwight

HI! Thanks for your answer. I have and old industrial sewing machine motor you think I can make something like your out of it? 

[Dwight]

It might be a little underpowered, . . . but if you take it slow, . . . it should work.\

Take it to a hardware store, . . . tell em you want the attachment for the shaft so you can put on a grinder wheel or buffing pad, . . . that is the start.

Then you drill a hole as near dead center in a dowel rod (mine was an old broom handle), . . . put the keeper bolt through it, . . . screw it down tight, . . . grab a handfull of files and go to work.  Make the size(s) you need for burnishing your belts.

Then put a little neatsfoot oil / beeswax on it, . . . and burn some leather edges.  You intentionally want to burn them, . . . it'll melt the wax into the pores of the wood, . . . make it smoother than a democrats old bald head.

Mine I think is a 1750 rpm motor, . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

[Dominicff]

On 9/27/2017 at 4:53 PM, Dwight said:

It might be a little underpowered, . . . but if you take it slow, . . . it should work.\

Take it to a hardware store, . . . tell em you want the attachment for the shaft so you can put on a grinder wheel or buffing pad, . . . that is the start.

Then you drill a hole as near dead center in a dowel rod (mine was an old broom handle), . . . put the keeper bolt through it, . . . screw it down tight, . . . grab a handfull of files and go to work.  Make the size(s) you need for burnishing your belts.

Then put a little neatsfoot oil / beeswax on it, . . . and burn some leather edges.  You intentionally want to burn them, . . . it'll melt the wax into the pores of the wood, . . . make it smoother than a democrats old bald head.

Mine I think is a 1750 rpm motor, . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

On 9/27/2017 at 4:53 PM, Dwight said:

It might be a little underpowered, . . . but if you take it slow, . . . it should work.\

Take it to a hardware store, . . . tell em you want the attachment for the shaft so you can put on a grinder wheel or buffing pad, . . . that is the start.

Then you drill a hole as near dead center in a dowel rod (mine was an old broom handle), . . . put the keeper bolt through it, . . . screw it down tight, . . . grab a handfull of files and go to work.  Make the size(s) you need for burnishing your belts.

Then put a little neatsfoot oil / beeswax on it, . . . and burn some leather edges.  You intentionally want to burn them, . . . it'll melt the wax into the pores of the wood, . . . make it smoother than a democrats old bald head.

Mine I think is a 1750 rpm motor, . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

It works yeah!!!!! And I can easily burnish edges!!!!!  I did it with an old clutched sewing machine motor. Can't post pictures tho it's too heavy 

[Dwight]

Glad to hear it my friend, . . . 

I used a Dremel for a long time, . . . wound up with a large job one time, . . . stopped and invented my burnisher (most of my tools like that are self invented if I can do it), . . . and the rest is history.

I still use the Dremel for holsters and other small stuff, . . . but belts are threatened that if they don't burnish themselves, . . . they're going on the machine.  And away we go.

May God bless,

Dwight

[WoodysWorkshop]

Try mounting your burnisher in a vise if you have one.

Then you can move the leather back and forth over the burnisher.

I have one of the Tandy plastic creasers with a half round burnisher on the end. Works for me.