Dremels for sanding and burnishing

[LuisPaulo]

The most time consuming for me is : sanding and burnish the edges.

I wonder : is a Dremel useful to do this job .... ?

[BruceGibson]

On smaller items like sheaths and holsters I would say yes. Belts are a little long in my opinion, but I've used my Dremel for smaller items. It worked very well. Just watch your RPM's to avoid burning your leather.

[gunfighter48]

I bought one of Harbor Freights $89.00 drill presses for doing the edges of belts and holsters. It's one of the table top versions that is belt driven and you can change the belt position on the drive pulley to alter the speed. Bought a set of 2" drum sanding disks to use with it. Works great and doesn't take up much room. I only use my Dremel for very tight places now. Even at low speed it's easy to burn the leather.

Edited October 3, 2007 by gunfighter48

[Rayban]

Luis, I urge you to reconsider going to power tools for your work.....hand rubbing, sanding, blisters, band-aids, sweat, poking yourself with the awl, ouch, another band-aid, hand stitching.....what do you want to do, take the romance out of a "hand-made" item????...just razzing you my man....

I guess the other side of the coin is if you're in this as a business and you have to look for efficiencies in your work, right? it's the 21st. Century way....

I like your work and welcome to the forum...

RG

[Michael Sheldon]

I use two different dremels in my shop.

I have a corded version with the flex-shaft attachment for high-speed work, mostly modifying small metal bits.

I have a cordless version that I use with sanding drums for making small "adjustments" to the shape of leather pieces. The cordless versions run at a much lower speed than the corded versions, which prevents burning the leather.

[DCKNIVES]

I also have two Dremels, but they get little use on leather anymore.I built a small wheel belt sander for doing knifework and I use it for my leatherwork as well.I opted for a 1725 rpm motor and with a 2" drive wheel it runs slow enough not to burn the leather as bad. It has a 1"x42" belt, a 1" and a 1/2" contact wheels.Speeds up the process nicley. Dave

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/DCK...pg?t=1191625979

[LuisPaulo]

Rayban,

I'll seriously consider your comment. I agree with you. Many people told me to buy a sewing machine, but I prefer to do by hand, simply because... I like it, and I do some fancy stiches too.

But, like you said.... In the other side of the coin..... The customers always wants to receive the itens.... yesterday !!!! Century way, unfortunately. I guess we need to fight this "century way"