Having begun my journey into leather crafting only recently, I've noticed that while of high quality, Weaver is VERY proud of their machines. That's not to say they aren't worth the price, but as a crafter and not a high-production shop trying to earn my living, I'm eager to find greater value for my dollars. Thanks for the review!
To save space, I mount mine to the wall. It means it is permanently ‘over the edge of the bench’ with access to the wheel from horizontal and vertical angles.
I’ve had the same machine acquired by Amazon for about $110 USD for about 2 years in my personal shop. Short of taking them apart, I’d wager that it’s exactly the same as the BG one. As much as I love BG, I’d not recommend theirs over the white-box versions.
I've never used this particular item but I have used many grinding and polishing motors. Something like that requires a bit of a break-in period, and then will work smoother with less fluctuation while using.
Its important to remember that electric motor technology has improved massively in the last 12 years so I reckon a direct compairson needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. I have a dremel with a bench mounting clamp for the dremel, so for the projects I make its perfect. Thanks so Much Corter for your great videos and cheap templates.
Was about to comment the same. Not just that... there's scale savings on whitelable OEM as they sell to multiple brands which the rebrand the machine as their own
The Weaver machine still comes with the same electric motor 12 years later so a direct comparison is perfectly relevant, it's the same machine you'll get now. It wold be great to see someone apply more modern electric motor technology to a burnishing machine though!
To get the sandpaper barrel on your weaver all the way. Take the rubber barrel loose and rollon your tabletop and slide the paper barrel on when resistance is felt again keep rolling on tabletop again. This trick I learned on barrel sanders yrs ago.
Funny, I hate the "full cupped" burnishers. When I edge something, it's a flat edge with rounded corners, not fully rounded. The full cup tends to not properly burnish the center of the edge. But, #1, personal preferences, #2, Most of what I do involves fairly heavy leather (10oz +) As mentioned, the Weaver machine is an industrial machine, with a motor that is close to, if not actually rated for constant duty. It's really designed for shops that will literally have the machine running constantly for hours every day. I have occasional days like that, but only once or twice a month. My current setup is a multi-slot burnishing wheel in a small drill press. Not ergonomically preferable, but it won't bog down when I'm burnishing the heavy stuff, and I haven't justified the cost of the Weaver machine yet.
I have that one as well. It's awesome but they should have 2 different burnishing wheels. One for thinner projects and one with larger grooves for thicker stuff. I have to hand burnish lots of stuff still simply because the grooves are too small.
It all depends , some projects just require more work, and it certainly speeds up the amount and quality of this, in some ways. Hand polishing is a separate thing I do after edge finishing. Some projects just don’t need much of it at all.
The only reason not to mount the BuckleGuy machine in a weird orientation is access to the controls. These are literally bench grinders, the only thing about them that's particular to leatherwork is the burnishing attachment. The Weaver is a little more special in that it's got the chain drive that lets you move the motor away and hang the spindle off the edge; you generally wouldn't want this on a bench grinder for other purposes because it weakens the machine both in power and durability. You're not grinding lawnmower blades on it so that doesn't matter, as you said you haven't done maintenance on the Weaver in over a decade, it's so underloaded that it's fine. The biggest concern about moving the controls is creating a situation where you have to reach in a weird way to access them, and that might put you at risk. The need to turn the dial to 0 to start it is probably a flaw not a feature, these are universal single phase motors, they're not very good at starting themselves, at lower speeds there's more impulse. Probably, if you set it to a higher speed, turn it on, and then rub some leather across the sandpaper to rotate the spindle, it'll kick on. Which is strictly speaking dangerous, it means you could have the thing on and stationary, overheating the coils and not indicating to people nearby that it could start spinning with a slight touch. Making this a feature would be rather expensive and complicated. This kind of machine hasn't changed much in the last 50 years, you could put a fancy speed controlled brushless 3 phase motor in there and get more power, more constant speed, more specific speed, and I don't think any of it would have value here. It might be quieter, it might use less power, it would need even less maintenance, and it would cost more. BTW, in terms of maintenance on the Weaver, you should inspect the carbon brushes, assuming it has them. These are a consumable but they last a very long time. If they're wearing out you'll want to know about it.
i thought the same thing about mounting the burnishing machine. I don't use mine very much as i prefer to burnish by hand but to be honest i don't really do much volume. I do feel that it would be better to have a vertically oriented burnisher so that I could see my work properly.
Another way to extend the machine out would be to mount it to a heavy board a couple of feet long and then use a couple of c-clamps to attach it to your bench. Good video! Let us know what you decide.
You could do some small amount of modification of the burnishing contours with some fine sandpaper. I suggest trying 150-220 to make sure you don't take too much off
Can you do a quick video on that little edge sharpening wheel too?? 😬 I know edge beveler sharpening is not rocket science, but for whatever reason, I can’t get mine sharp… ever…argh! If I can get a machine to do it properly, I’d buy it just for that!
I bought one from Amazon for $79.00 and it looks just like the BG one. This is not brain surgery. It gets the job done! I’m sure the burnishing is exactly the same. I have my machine held to the side board of my desk held on by hand clamps. I like Weaver Leather but their prices are way too high for a craftsman. I only care about getting the job done.
I really want the Burnishing machine, but I can't find anywhere to buy replacement sanding sleeves. Would you know if there is someplace to buy them? (I can't find it on Buckleguy website, and I am worried if I buy them somewhere else that they might be a little bit too small or large)
Nice and compact ... but ... I think I'll continue to use my oscillating spi dle sander and leave the sharpening "tool" attached vs mounting the sanding drum
Oh, come on, man... I just got tokonole and love the improvement. Now you have to tease me with an electric burnisher, so I know it has to be a game changer.... I can't keep up... 😜
interesting video idea. can you do a comparison to the buckleguy burnisher and a $70 buffing machine with a burnishing attachment. I've always been curious
