Burnishing Tools Compared
From the beveler to the motor, one job: rub the edge until it closes.
Leather burnishing tools all do the same thing, which is make friction on a cut edge until the loose fibers pack down hard and smooth, and they differ only in how much of that friction comes from your arm and how much comes from somewhere else. A stick of wood, a rag, a bone, a motor. People argue about them the way line cooks argue about knives, and most of the argument is about the hand holding the thing. Taken in the order you’d pick them up at the bench, from the first cut corner to the last shine, the comparison gets a lot plainer.
Video: Using A Weaver Wood Roller To Burnish Briefcase Flap Edges, from Marcellino NY Briefcase Maker on YouTube.
That’s a video from my channel of burnishing briefcase flap edges with a Weaver wood roller. I hand burnish for tradition, and I’ve used the machine too. Both show up below.
Before any burnisher: the beveler and the sandpaper
No tool can shine an edge that isn’t square and flat.
The first tool in the order isn’t a burnisher. It’s the edge beveler. Weaver’s page on burnishing leather describes it as a sharp metal blade slid along at an angle to cut away the hard square corners on the front and back of the edge. Tandy’s guide to mastering leather edges says to hold it at a consistent angle and pull it in one smooth motion, and lists skipping the bevel as a mistake because a sharp corner is harder to burnish. It also warns that dull tools tear instead of shaving.
Weaver mentions an edge groover in the same breath. It isn’t part of burnishing, but it cuts the line a stitch will sit in, so it belongs on the same stretch of bench.
Then sandpaper. Sailrite’s guide to slicking leather edges says to sand and bevel first because it makes burnishing easier. Weaver adds that a higher grit before burnishing gives a glossier edge. A block behind the paper keeps it flat. A finger behind it rounds the edge, which is sometimes what you want and usually isn’t.
My opinion: if you’re going to save money on one tool, don’t make it the beveler. A cheap one chatters, and every chatter mark is a dip the slicker will skip over later. The sanding hides some of it. Not all.
The hand slicker: wood against plastic
Wood is the default for a reason. Plastic does the same job for less.
This is the tool most people mean when they say burnisher. Sailrite describes slickers as usually wood, with plastic and glass versions around, sized to fit the palm and often grooved on one end for different leather weights.
Weaver sells both kinds. Its exotic wood slicker has three grooves for three leather weights, a tapered rounded body for small oblong shapes, and a shank that fits a drill press or hand drill. The page calls it one of the two favorites of Chuck Dorsett. Weaver’s plastic slicker, by the page’s own description, has the same features as the wood one at a lower price.
So why does wood keep winning? Emily Medlock, in her guide to burnishing leather edges at Maze Leather, says plainly that “Wood slickers are my favorite type of burnishing tool,” because they feel natural and they’re easy to control. She uses a pointed one, a flat one and a wheel.
Use is simple. Weaver’s method: pick the groove that matches the leather’s thickness, run the slicker back and forth along the edge, then move to the next larger groove to polish. The post on hand burnishing vegetable-tanned edges covers the aids and the strokes in more detail.
Check the tool before every job. On the leatherworker.net thread about burnishing tools, one member advises picking something comfortable and making sure it has no nicks, because a nick in the groove prints itself into every edge it touches. It’s the same rule as a chipped knife. You only find out on the work.
Canvas, denim and bone
The cheapest tools on the bench, and some of the best.
A strip of canvas costs almost nothing, and it shows up in every guide here. Tandy says to wrap canvas cloth around the edge and rub it for extra heat and smoothness. Sailrite uses canvas after burnishing, to buff for more shine, with a little oil or wax to condition the edge.
In the leatherworker.net thread, one member who goes by electrathon names denim or canvas as a favorite. Another, Tramp, says he reaches for a piece of canvas when his arthritis flares up. That’s the real case for cloth. It wraps the edge, it moves with your fingers, and it doesn’t need a groove sized to the leather.
Bone is the third cheap option. One member of the same thread, Thor, says he uses a bone folder quite often. It’s hard, smooth and narrow, which makes it good for short runs and tight curves where a big slicker can’t sit flat.
None of these is a fancy answer. My opinion: a beginner with canvas and patience will beat a beginner with an expensive slicker and no patience, every time.
Glass is for the flesh side
It’s sold next to slickers. It doesn’t do the same job.
Glass slickers sit on the same shelf as edge burnishers, and that’s where the confusion starts. Rocky Mountain Leather Supply describes its glass slicker as a tool for “smoothing out the flesh side of your leather.” You put a burnishing agent on the flesh side and rub back and forth with pressure, and the glass spreads the agent and builds heat. Maker’s Leather Supply sells a glass burnisher with a flat plate and a walnut handle, and lists its use as polishing the flesh side and finishing belts, straps and full panels.
That’s surface work, not edge work. A flat plate of glass covers a lot of area fast, which is the point on the back of a strap and the opposite of the point on a narrow edge.
My opinion: on an unlined strap or a case where the flesh side shows, a slicked back is the difference between a finished piece and an unfinished one. It’s a separate step with a separate tool. Don’t let the word “slicker” on two labels talk you into thinking it’s one.
Motors: drill bits, rotary tools and the bench machine
The motor spares the arm. It doesn’t spare the edge.
Once the hand tools make sense, the motor makes sense. Sailrite lists burnishing attachments for rotary tools and drills, and bench-mounted burnishers that bolt to the work surface, often with a sanding drum and a grooved wood tip. Tandy recommends a powered wheel for faster results on large projects.
Weaver’s Master Tool Power Edge Burnisher is the heavy end. It mounts to a workbench, runs at 1725 RPM, and comes with a wooden roller for final burnishing to a high gloss and an 80-grit sanding roller, with replacement sleeves at 80, 120 and 320 grit. The product page lists it at $1,200. My flap-edge video uses a Weaver wood roller, so I’m not going to pretend I’ve never stood at one.
The forum members split the middle ground. Bob Blea runs a cocobolo burnisher in a drill press and says it’s much easier than burnishing by hand. Medlock treats a burnishing machine as a luxury, and places a rotary tool between the machine and the slicker, noting that a rotary tool gives less control.
The danger is heat. Sailrite warns that you have to watch the speed of a power burnisher because the leather can burn. Tramp, in the forum thread, tells people to be very careful not to over-burnish with power tools, and Bob Blea describes over-burnishing as friction that scorches the leather. A hand slicker can’t really do that. Your arm quits first.
The tool I’d pick, and why it barely matters
The hand does the work. The tool just makes the hand faster or slower.
Here’s my bias. I hand burnish for tradition. My Leather Choices page recommends that a thick Hermann Oak briefcase keep “the edges traditional by burnishing, not painting.” On some vegetable-tanned pieces I dye the edge and burnish it only lightly, no paint at all. So I’m the man who should be telling you a wood slicker and a strong forearm are all you’ll ever need.
Except my channel has a video of me burnishing flap edges on a motorized wood roller. Medlock says a machine cuts burnishing time down significantly, and on a long, straight flap I’m not going to argue with her for the sake of a blog post. And on lined or suede-lined cases I don’t burnish at all. I use a latex-based edge paint, because it glues the layers together while it covers them, and no slicker made can do that.
So which tool is best? The leatherworker.net member Dwight, who makes his own from pine, ash, maple and hardwood dowels, gave the answer that holds up best of anything in that thread: it’s “more the person doing the work than the tool.” A member named alexitbe adds the one firm exclusion: metal is a poor burnishing material because it pulls heat away from the leather.
My opinion: buy a beveler that cuts clean, a grooved wood slicker, and a strip of canvas. Learn what a closed edge feels like under your thumbnail. Then decide if a motor is worth the money. The site’s piece on the edge nobody notices until it fails makes the case that the edge is where a bag shows its age first, and no tool on this list will save an edge that was rushed.
The hard part is the part no tool sells you, which is stopping when the edge goes from satin to glass, and not one stroke after, even with the motor still spinning and the shine right there.
Fiebing’s Gum Tragacanth, 4 oz: A 4 oz bottle of gum tragacanth, a burnishing aid for leather edges. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
3Pcs Wooden Sandpaper Block Set: A three-piece wooden sanding block set with bevel and wedge shapes. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
Beesworks Yellow Beeswax Bars, 6 oz: Yellow beeswax bars, 6 oz, for waxing thread. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
DEEDYGO Genuine Bone Folder: A genuine bone folder for creasing and burnishing. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
Wet Dry Sandpaper Assortment, 45 Pieces: A 45-piece wet and dry sandpaper assortment that starts at 400 grit. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
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Sources
- Weaver Leather Supply, Burnishing Leather: https://weaverleathersupply.com/pages/burnishing-leather
- Weaver Leather Supply, Master Tool Power Edge Burnisher: https://weaverleathersupply.com/products/master-tool-power-edge-burnisher
- Tandy Leather, Mastering Leather Edges: Beveling, Burnishing, and Polishing: https://tandyleather.com/blogs/tandy-blog/mastering-leather-edges
- Sailrite, How to Burnish (Slick) Leather Edges: https://www.sailrite.com/how-to-slick-leather-edges
- Maze Leather, Burnishing Leather Edges Guide (Emily Medlock): https://mazeleather.com/burnishing-leather-edges-guide/
- leatherworker.net, Burnishing Tools, Just Wood? (forum thread): https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/62007-burnishing-toolsjust-wood
- Rocky Mountain Leather Supply, Glass Slicker and Burnisher: https://www.rmleathersupply.com/products/glass-slicker-burnisher
- Maker’s Leather Supply, Glass Slicker: https://makersleathersupply.com/products/glass-slicker
- Marcellino NY, Leather Choices: https://marcellinony.com/leather-choice/
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