burnishing with edge kote or before applying it?

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vilePossum

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Jan 14, 2015
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Well I got my box with goodies yesterday, including some edge kote, because I wasn't quite satisfied how my edges roughened up after a day or so of burnishing with just water/leather finish.
Now here is my question though, do you aplly it after burnishing as stated on the bottle or do you apply it and then burnish the edge while it is still wet?
didn't try any gum tragacanth yet, but I actually imagine it to be similar to this stuff and many people say they burnish after applying the GT.

Note, I will try other choices of edge burnishing as well, I was just wondering whether I was doing this right.
I applied it yesterday to several edges, some newly burnished with water and pressure, others older, some a bit rough. this morning it seemed like it dries nicely and will give a good protective coat, however it does nothing to improve the structure of the edge. maybe it will get better when I polish it tonight after the 24h drying period.

On a sidenote, I also received some oil dye... boy, I'm never going to go back to the other stuff unless I have to! This stuff is amazing.
 
water-only burnishing doesn't mat all the fibers like you want. Stain the leather, rub beeswax on the edge and THEN burnish it.

or edge coat it and then burnish it.

note that any wax will retard leather from taking dyes or stains easily.

I don't use edge coat on my leather, I only use beeswax
 
thanks, I'll try beeswax as well... i guess tonight i will try burnishing with edge kote as well.
 
btw, after trying some stuff i will settle on using edge cote as something similar to gum trag. for example rough side treatment of leather works as well.
 
vilePossum said:
btw, after trying some stuff i will settle on using edge cote as something similar to gum trag. for example rough side treatment of leather works as well.
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For the flesh side of leather [the rough side] I use a glass burnish plate to slick it down [called "glassing" i believe?]. Dampen it like you normally would for tooling and hit it with the edge of the beveled glass. I've also done it with beeswax because sometimes Veg tanned leathers can have an adverse affect on some steels. Beeswax not only waterproofs it, it also acts as a lubricant and a barrier film against the steel. Note that it will darken lighter leathers and stains/dyes will not 'take' as well once you've added the wax.

Theoretically speaking, you could substitute a glass bottle for a glass plate.
 
Omega Leather Works said:
Possum, what was your prep work before burnishing again? Do you have a belt sander?
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erm, embarassingly, so far it varies. :) i don't have a belt sander, but resorted to a sanding drum on a dremel for the folder sheat and after seeing the result for handsanding on the combi sheath i guess i will resort back to that.
 
I get the best results from using a belt (or drum) for sure. I believe the belts I use are 120 grit. Finishing by hand after the belt is pretty easy too. Only thing I don't like about the drums is that they can dig in if you accidentally linger.

It seems like the benefit of high speed abrasives is that they tear the fiber off the edges better than hand sanding. Burning is a problem though, again, if you linger. The little 4x36 belt sanders from Harbor Freight are cheap and I use mine on every sheath.
 
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