Making A Burnisher

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I wanted a burnisher to use on the back side of leather for belts and whatever else I may want to use it for.

Originally I was going to buy one of those nice tempered glass ones but couldn't find one made in a country I support so I decided to make my own.

I made one out of a piece of 3/8" x 3 " x 3-1/4" stainless.





It worked fine but it was heavy. If you dropped it, it could break a toe and when it went off the edge of the leather, it could damage your work surface if it's something like marble, slate, etc.

I made another one out of mahogany (because that was what I had on hand).





It didn't work all that great because the wood dragged on the leather and slicking was difficult. I didn't want to spend $70+ for a piece of lignum vitae, which is the best stuff for the job. Instead, I rubbed it with beeswax, melted that with a heat gun then rubbed it in with a paper towel. I did this repeatedly until the whole thing was a shade darker and waxy to the feel, like lignum vitae is. That did the trick nicely.



To get a really good test of the two, I did one end of a scrap with one and the other end with the other one. Instead of water, I used gum tragacanth. The end done with the mahogany burnisher was shinier than the one done with the stainless. In the photo, that is the left end.



Just to make sure it wasn't due to the direction I was working the leather I dampened the scrap again and did both ends with the mahogany. Both ends were as shiny as the one end was before. Mahogany won hands down.



Maybe I'll fork over the cash for a piece of lignum vitae one of these days but for now, this thing works great!

EDIT: I forgot the last photo so that's in, now.

[Capt Quirk]

I never used Gum Tragacanth, people have said it had problems, like blocking dye. Instead, I use saddle soap, with no issues.

As for burnishers, I to think I've read about folks using a China plate, or part of one.

[Major 2]

Will this is a source   
 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lignum-Vitae-Argentine-turning-blank-1-1-2-x-1-1-2-x-18-FOR-1-PC/333767870063?hash=item4db61d866f:g:TBEAAOSwjkhfmE-G

a lot less the $70 .....maybe it will help you

[Advertising]

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I never used Gum Tragacanth, people have said it had problems, like blocking dye. Instead, I use saddle soap, with no issues.

As for burnishers, I to think I've read about folks using a China plate, or part of one.

I haven't used trag a lot but when I do, it's the last step after all the dying and other work is done. There's another product Smoky Dave has used but I don't recall what it is. Maybe he'll chime in with that when he cruises through here.

Will this is a source   
 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lignum-Vitae-Argentine-turning-blank-1-1-2-x-1-1-2-x-18-FOR-1-PC/333767870063?hash=item4db61d866f:g:TBEAAOSwjkhfmE-G

a lot less the $70 .....maybe it will help you

I'll check that out. Thanks.

edit: I looked at that and it's only 1-1/2" wide. Hard to cut a 3" piece from that. Most of the stuff I saw on ebay was too small for the purpose. This is the piece I was looking at that would work.

[Major 2]

There was one there  @ 2"  maybe still to small ...sorry

[Rube Burrows]

Looks like you ended up with a good product. I have been wanting one of those glass slickers too but just haven't forked out the money for one yet. I had not heard of  lignum vitae so I'll have to check into those.

Great job on making a tool to get the job done. I always enjoy seeing tools that others make also.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks for looking, Major. I've used the mahogany burnisher some more and it really does the trick. I sanded it to 1000 grit before applying the beeswax. There's no need to look for anything else. I'll stick with that. I would expect any of the harder woods would be good for this purpose.

[Smokey Dave]

Mighty fine work Marshal. That mahogany really does the trick for slicking.

I use gum tragacanth a lot now. It works really well on the edges, but I haven't tried it on the backs of belts yet. But from your experiments it sure looks like it does the job very well.

I have used a Fiebings product called Leather Sheen. It's an acrylic type coating and works great on the backs of belts. I thought it may crack over time, but it doesn't. I have it on the belt that I have been wearing daily for almost 2 years and it looks like I just did it.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks, Dave. I gave the mahogany another try today on the back of a belt and it did great. I'm happy with the result.

Leather Sheen. I've never used it. Nice to know it works good. Thanks for that.

[PAMuzzleshooter]

Will...looks great. Nice work.  I may try some cocobolo.

I use a glass slicker I got at Tandy.  I needed a similar piece of glass to align blades on a jointer and went to a glass shop.  He made one for me with rounded edges for free.  He used a left over piece he had.  Had it in an hour.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks. I'll bet the cocobolo will work great.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I made a burnisher for the Dremel the other day to use on belt edges. It works great. I didn't want to bother getting the right size machine screw so I just used a sanding drum arbor. I drilled the wood with a 1/2" Forstner bit so the hole was nice and clean. Today I made another one wide enough for a holster seam. I like this mahogany.

[PAMuzzleshooter]

Looks good...Great idea on the sanding arbor.  Can switch out different size burnishers quickly.

[Rube Burrows]

I made a burnisher for the Dremel the other day to use on belt edges. It works great. I didn't want to bother getting the right size machine screw so I just used a sanding drum arbor. I drilled the wood with a 1/2" Forstner bit so the hole was nice and clean. Today I made another one wide enough for a holster seam. I like this mahogany.

Nice job. That ought to work well.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks.

PAM, I didn't make it with the sanding arbor for ease of switching, though. It was just what I had on hand to do the job and I didn't want to make a trip to the store for the right size machine screw.

Thanks, Rube. It really does work great.

[PAMuzzleshooter]

 Still a good idea.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Still a good idea.

Thank you for the idea, pard. That somehow never occurred to me. That means I now have to make yet another one to switch to.