Burnishing multiple leather edges

[Leescustomleather]

As a bladesmith I wanted to do my own Sheath's, after about a year I thought I was doing pretty good then I got a side gig making sheaths for a high-end knife maker of 35 years. Through their constructive criticism my leather work improved a great deal but I was continually frustrated with trying to burnish the edges of the sheet where multiple layers of leather came together , you could always see the glue lines. I tried many things and ( edge paints ) watched tons of YouTube videos but was never satisfied with the quality. So I started experimenting and have started to see some success. The process takes time and patience but that's okay if I end up with a high-quality product. Here is a photo of the result. This is two layers of 8 oz veg tan. You can still see the separation and spots but it's not obvious anymore I would really appreciate any tips anyone has to share, thank you. 

[chuck123wapati]

you should be the one giving tips lol That is as close to perfect as a guy could get imo. How do you do it?

[sbrownn]

 

Very nice job on a "treated" leather edge.

I prefer my edges be left to show the natural "end grain" color of the leather, but to each his own.  

 

[immiketoo]

Are you hammering your seams before edge finishing?  Are you building oversized and cutting to final shape?  Both of these will help you eliminate that line.

[chuck123wapati]

48 minutes ago, immiketoo said:

Are you hammering your seams before edge finishing?  Are you building oversized and cutting to final shape?  Both of these will help you eliminate that line.

i stand corrected lol.

[battlemunky]

lol

[Leescustomleather]

chuck123wapati 

Thank you I just tried many different ways, not applying glue all the way up to the outside edge so that it doesn't show after being sanded, Polishing and inspecting between sanding and repeat several times. But after what immiketoo posted it looks like there is still room for improvement

[immiketoo]

7 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

i stand corrected lol.

Lol

[mike02130]

How many layers of edge paint are you using and do you use heat to smooth it out?

[Leescustomleather]

I don't use Edge paint, on something like a sheath it has a tendency to wear away and then the exposed Edge looks bad. This small sample was done with fiebing's leather dye and Seiwa leather craft Tokonole, from the website Goods Japan. It is a burnishing agent and you can dye through it