Little messy with the paint but honestly i think it gives it a bit of character
I really love burnished edges on leather goods. It’s one of the heuristics I use to judge the quality of leather goods, because it’s such a labour intensive process that isn’t actually necessary in most cases — it’s just a nice touch.
What do you use to get such clean edges? Even with a fresh blade, I’m still making 2 or 3 passes on thicker leather (or 1 slow halting pass as I readjust my grip) and end up with rough edges. Burnishing settles them in, but only as long as they aren’t disturbed. Which feels likely on a cosplay piece.
Cheap retractable razor knives are what I use to cut it but I’ll take a few passes as well, I find I get much cleaner results that way. This is only about 8oz leather so not super thick either. Maybe its because the black leather there has a kinda plasticky finish on it and that’ll leave a super clean line even after beveling the edges and burnishing?
What kind/where do you get leather from?
I’ve been using veg tan from Tandy I’ve had better luck with smooth cuts on oil tan or chrome tan, but they’re not quite suitable for boiling
Or maybe it’s too fine an edge? I’ve a retired scalpel and a plethora of blades from my old university job I’ve repurposed.
Most of my stuff has been utilitarian or functional enough it’s not mattered. An nice abrasion/heat resistant shop apron, or renfaire bags
I made a few pieces from scrap to test a book mark and they ended up rough.
Not going to be of much help with sourcing this because all the pieces I used were what has been laying around my shoe shop for at least a decade at this point. I will say a scalpel wouldnt be the first knife I’d reach for. I find that its less about how sharp the blade is and more about the shape of it. The point of the blade especially is what I notice doing more of the cutting
Hmm Thanks for the info!