Edge paint

[BDAZ]

"The Crocs ate all the Sharks"!

[RockyAussie]

1 hour ago, niakulah said:

Not an expert by any means, but I did manage to get a decent edge using Giardini semi-dense and dense paints through a lot of trial and error.

Applicator - Tried the rolling applicator that came with the kit, a round awl, a pencil, and a paint box with brass rollers. Could not get it to apply smoothly with any of those except for the paint box, but that still had high/thick spots. I had NO prior experience so it could definitely have been a problem with the applicator, the person

In the end I settled on this applicator. Also available from DLS and RMLS.

 

For prep, I bevel and sand the edges up to 400 grit. I just bought this as well and I think it works very well to give me a nice rounded edge. I know that Giardini recommends that you apply it to a rough edge and then sand in between but I could never get it to be as smooth as I would like it to be.

 

I have a leather wrapped knife that has 3 coats of Giardini semi-dense on its edges. After painting I carried it around in my pocket for about 2 weeks just to see if the paint would come off. That was about 6 months ago and I haven't had any issues with the paint peeling so far. I'm at work and I don't have a pic of it so I'll try to snap one and post it here after I get home.

 

Seen them before but haven't tried them yet. I'll get one and try it. Thanks for sharing.

[RockyAussie]

1 hour ago, BDAZ said:

"The Crocs ate all the Sharks"!

Yep...

[BDAZ]

Yikes! That was from a Fosters ad...

Bob

[charon]

Wow, great information here, thanks a lot guys, as always thats much appreciated.

@RockyAussieWow Harry, I envy you on this great machine setup you got there. It looks so easy when you're doing your edges and they look absolute fantastic in 60 seconds...I don't tell you how that makes me feel right now  Also, thanks for sharing these great videos.

8 hours ago, niakulah said:

Not an expert by any means, but I did manage to get a decent edge using Giardini semi-dense and dense paints through a lot of trial and error.

Applicator - Tried the rolling applicator that came with the kit, a round awl, a pencil, and a paint box with brass rollers. Could not get it to apply smoothly with any of those except for the paint box, but that still had high/thick spots. I had NO prior experience so it could definitely have been a problem with the applicator, the person

In the end I settled on this applicator. Also available from DLS and RMLS.

 

For prep, I bevel and sand the edges up to 400 grit. I just bought this as well and I think it works very well to give me a nice rounded edge. I know that Giardini recommends that you apply it to a rough edge and then sand in between but I could never get it to be as smooth as I would like it to be.

 

I have a leather wrapped knife that has 3 coats of Giardini semi-dense on its edges. After painting I carried it around in my pocket for about 2 weeks just to see if the paint would come off. That was about 6 months ago and I haven't had any issues with the paint peeling so far. I'm at work and I don't have a pic of it so I'll try to snap one and post it here after I get home.

Thanks for the advice on these tools, I bought them both to give them a try as well

 

12 hours ago, Wedgetail said:

I've not had much experience with painting edges compared to these other members, but did have a crack at using the pencil once or twice.

The key difference between a pencil and a cone shaped applicator with grooves in it is that the applicator rolls. If you don't roll the pencil too, you'll just end up smudging paint around... that and the grooves store more paint for longer and smoother runs.

But for both, if you are getting a bead of paint on the applicator that looks like a drop, you've got too much paint and will end up with a big glob at the start which will give you a wobbly line for sure.

Less paint, roll the pencil along the edge. Those are my tips

Now I do have a fair amount of experience with painting models and miniatures. So if you want to have a crack at using a small paint brush (good for corners mostly) try this: Thin the paint down a bit, load the brush so that it gets the paint right into the middle of the bristles (that's where the paint should be carried by a brush, not on the outside bristles). Wipe off excess on a cloth or paper towel so it is not globbed on the bristles, and use the side of the brush, not the tip, to apply the paint... think about applying the paint by using the side of the brush at an angle like you would use to sharpen a knife. For me, a brush is best for tight spots.

Good tip here as well, I wasn't aware of the fact that I might need to roll the pencil, I'd give that a shot later..

Just to give you a reference, I'm currently working on a personalised holder for a German drivers license and registration holder

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out so far but since it doesn't burnish that well and the edges break apart all the time after burnishing this was my first attempt on edge paint ever.These edges are bevelled and sanded and then I tried to apply the edge paint. These edges are about 3-4oz in total. I peeled off most of the paint in rage last timne but you can still see what my problem is here:

Cleser to the bottom of the image you can see that the line is far from straight and really wobbly. No matter how many coats I applied I couldn't get it to be straight, it always looks like it's spilled all over the place. The top doesn't look any better:

I was so frustrated, I re-did it and used other leather that burnishes really well to get rid of that problem but I want to grow from my mistakes and get this edge paint to work for me. Sometimes there is no alternative to it. What I learned from now it seems to be an applicator issue in terms of tool and crafter  But I'm willing to learn and improve so thank you for your support guys!

[niakulah]

1 hour ago, charon said:

Wow, great information here, thanks a lot guys, as always thats much appreciated.

@RockyAussieWow Harry, I envy you on this great machine setup you got there. It looks so easy when you're doing your edges and they look absolute fantastic in 60 seconds...I don't tell you how that makes me feel right now  Also, thanks for sharing these great videos.

Thanks for the advice on these tools, I bought them both to give them a try as well

 

Good tip here as well, I wasn't aware of the fact that I might need to roll the pencil, I'd give that a shot later..

Just to give you a reference, I'm currently working on a personalised holder for a German drivers license and registration holder

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out so far but since it doesn't burnish that well and the edges break apart all the time after burnishing this was my first attempt on edge paint ever.These edges are bevelled and sanded and then I tried to apply the edge paint. These edges are about 3-4oz in total. I peeled off most of the paint in rage last timne but you can still see what my problem is here:

Cleser to the bottom of the image you can see that the line is far from straight and really wobbly. No matter how many coats I applied I couldn't get it to be straight, it always looks like it's spilled all over the place. The top doesn't look any better:

I was so frustrated, I re-did it and used other leather that burnishes really well to get rid of that problem but I want to grow from my mistakes and get this edge paint to work for me. Sometimes there is no alternative to it. What I learned from now it seems to be an applicator issue in terms of tool and crafter  But I'm willing to learn and improve so thank you for your support guys!

Pics as promised. 3 coats of Giardini.

[charon]

3 minutes ago, niakulah said:

Pics as promised. 3 coats of Giardini.

Those look really nice and as you said they show no wear. I ordered the applicator you recommended at AliExpress but it takes 4-6 weeks to get here, so I wait patiently. I think I can get the top of the edge sorted out with a good applicator, my main concern is the side, which looked awful every time I tried applying it. Any issues with your applicator there? Hard to tell from the pictures.

Thanks

[niakulah]

49 minutes ago, charon said:

Those look really nice and as you said they show no wear. I ordered the applicator you recommended at AliExpress but it takes 4-6 weeks to get here, so I wait patiently. I think I can get the top of the edge sorted out with a good applicator, my main concern is the side, which looked awful every time I tried applying it. Any issues with your applicator there? Hard to tell from the pictures.

Thanks

The paint sticks to itself really well and forms a nice rounded surface all by itself. So after doing the top, quickly do the 2 sides while it's wet so that they stick to each other and make a continuous surface. If you make a smudge on the grain just quickly wipe it off with a clean finger.

Keep the leather upright (wet edge on top) until the paint starts to become firm. It only takes about 5 minutes in my 20+ °C weather.

 

[RockyAussie]

10 hours ago, niakulah said:

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out so far but since it doesn't burnish that well and the edges break apart all the time after burnishing this was my first attempt on edge paint ever.These edges are bevelled and sanded and then I tried to apply the edge paint. These edges are about 3-4oz in total. I peeled off most of the paint in rage last timne but you can still see what my problem is here:

By the look of that leather my approach to edging it would be 2 coats on first, then iron smooth and follow by another 1 or 2 finishing coats. When the leather is rough like that to start with it is best to smooth it down with a heated iron then the rest will be fairly easy. DO NOT (experience talking here) iron before applying the edge coat as this can bring contamination oils etc to the surface and it will not hold so well. 

[RockyAussie]

10 hours ago, niakulah said:

Pics as promised. 3 coats of Giardini.

Darned if that doesn't look like a folded edge at the front with edging put on. Good job

[niakulah]

4 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Darned if that doesn't look like a folded edge at the front with edging put on. Good job

Thank you!

[charon]

7 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

By the look of that leather my approach to edging it would be 2 coats on first, then iron smooth and follow by another 1 or 2 finishing coats. When the leather is rough like that to start with it is best to smooth it down with a heated iron then the rest will be fairly easy. DO NOT (experience talking here) iron before applying the edge coat as this can bring contamination oils etc to the surface and it will not hold so well. 

Thanks for your suggestion Harry. So we‘re back at doing heat treatment to the edges. As I said in my first post I‘m not willing to spend $2000 for an iron thats basically a modified soldering iron with a tip that looks like a pocket knife, just because some French company said it costs like that. Is there an alternative? Normal soldering irons can be adjusted from 150C to 400C, shouldn‘t that do the job as well? Just need a tip then...

[fredk]

What about using one of these brass slickers in a soldering iron/pyrogravure

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leather-Edge-Hot-Process-Brass-Electric-Iron-Copper-Head-Leather-Craft-Tool-UK-/192508734268?hash=item2cd26a2b3c

or this type

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leather-Edge-Brass-Electric-Iron-Copper-Head-DIY-Leather-Craft-Tool-5-Groove-/282510513355?hash=item41c6f054cb

which looks like something you could make yourself if you had some brass bar

[RockyAussie]

54 minutes ago, charon said:

Thanks for your suggestion Harry. So we‘re back at doing heat treatment to the edges. As I said in my first post I‘m not willing to spend $2000 for an iron thats basically a modified soldering iron with a tip that looks like a pocket knife, just because some French company said it costs like that. Is there an alternative? Normal soldering irons can be adjusted from 150C to 400C, shouldn‘t that do the job as well? Just need a tip then...

Some of those tips that @fredk has linked could be useful. What I have done for many years is use a 60 or 80 watt soldering iron as you can see mentioned and a picture of earlier in this post and with the supplied tips, the one that is screwdriver shaped I hammer it back a bit in a vice and groove it out. For temperature controlling it I have used a light dimmer switch housed into a wooden box as seen in the back of this picture below on the second shelf. Also note the extended workmate I made to help for ironing in belts and a different tip is useful for rounding in the belt tongue holes/crew punch holes etc.

[Geoff]

Having read through this thread (thanks for the info) I think I will get Giardini product.

I am mainly making wallets and knife pouches by hand, and will be using a conical hand applicator. Do I get the the dense or semi dense?

[garypl]

On 5/19/2018 at 3:20 AM, charon said:

Thanks for your suggestion Harry. So we‘re back at doing heat treatment to the edges. As I said in my first post I‘m not willing to spend $2000 for an iron thats basically a modified soldering iron with a tip that looks like a pocket knife, just because some French company said it costs like that. Is there an alternative? Normal soldering irons can be adjusted from 150C to 400C, shouldn‘t that do the job as well? Just need a tip then...

I use a pallet knife (used for painting) and heat it with an alcohol lamp - works pretty good to smooth the Giardini paint.

Gary

[immiketoo]

Speaking of edge paint

[BDAZ]

24 minutes ago, immiketoo said:

Speaking of edge paint

 

Amazing! It looks vulcanized!

Bob

[RockyAussie]

16 hours ago, Geoff said:

Having read through this thread (thanks for the info) I think I will get Giardini product.

I am mainly making wallets and knife pouches by hand, and will be using a conical hand applicator. Do I get the the dense or semi dense?

You can use both but they recommend semi dense for hand application is better and dense is preferable with machinery but also can use either.