Edge work and water buffalo veg re-tanned

[Hardrada]

Frustrating. Nicest word I find to describe working with this kind of leather, especially the burnishing. I applied Edge Kote and then gum trag, but I think my slicking is fuzzing rather than smoothing the edges!

Is this leather simply un-burnishable?

According to Tandy's description "this heavy leather will make rugged belts"... yeah, I can see that. Of course, I'm willing to blame these results on my noobishness. Hence I wanna ask you folks, is there a way to get decent results when burnishing this. If it's nigh unburnishable, what kind of things other than belts can I use this leather for? I don't wanna chalk it up as a total waste of money.

Thanks in advance.

[jimi]

MMM....That looks iffy?? I could be wrong but that looks like split to me and not very compact??? You may have to paint the edges instead???

[Hardrada]

Ooops, sorry, I shoulda included a pic of the grain side as well.

The grain side does have a plasticky feel, though. Even when bevelling it peeled off like fish scales.

[RockyAussie]

Edge coat only I reckon. Should make up some nice motorcycle tool bags and such if edge coat is a no go for you.

[battlemunky]

I've got some really nice veg-retanned and while it doesn't have the milled surface, it is juuuuust about unburnishable. You can get it to sort of look better than raw edge but I tend to leave it raw edged. It doesn't look bad, it just looks a little less finished. Nothing close to regular veg tanned.