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v7 XL Burnishers

The Largest Production Burnisher In The World. Made by hand in Stromness, Orkney, Scotland. 

A few years ago we were insistent that v6 would be the final production run of the XL Agate Burnisher, however, due to demand, there are twenty v7 burnishers nearing completion in our workshop.

The VPCo XL Agate Burnisher is the world's largest production burnisher, it's handmade from wood, agate and leather.

The v7 uses the same jewelry-grade agate stone as every other model preceding it (if it aint broke, etc), however, this edition sports a new shaped handle and is supplied with desktop storage. 

THE VPCo XL Agate Burnisher is an investment for craftspeople. It's an essential tool for anyone who uses paper, leather, vellum, some cloths, and gold leaf, in their craft. This tool made to last a liifetime and longer! 

WHAT IS A BURNISHER? 

Burnishers are tools used for polishing. Today, agate burnishers are best known as small detailing tools, intended to be used on small areas of gold leaf. 

Our v7 XL burnisher has a stone large enough to polish entire sheets of paper in minutes. It can be used single or double handed, by lefties and right handed people.

Our burnisher can be used on:

• handmade paper
• machine-made paper
• decorative printed paper
• marbled paper
• leather
• vellum
• gold leaf
• fabric cloths

WHAT IS BURNISHING, WHAT DOES IT DO AND WHY DO IT?

Burnishing is polishing, smoothing and strengthening a material such as paper. 

It is a simple process, done by uniformly rubbing the stone over the surface of a material. In our craft, bookbinding and printmaking, we use this tool daily on paper, leather and vellum. 

The act of burnishing does two things:

1. POLISHING

ON PAPER burnishing consolidates (flattens) paper fibres and removes most, if not all of the texture in the surface, giving an attractive, sophisticated, glossy, texture-free finish to the surface of that paper. Imagine turning a cold-pressed textured paper into a glossy, smooth surfaced, hot-pressed paper. 

Burnishing is especially effective on decorative printed papers (marbled, relief printed, machine printed etc), changing both the appearance and surface characteristics to the eye and to the touch.

For example, most hand-marbled papers are normally supplied unburnished. On receipt, they have a flat, matt appearance. Burnishing marbled paper, especially using a polishing agent creates a wonderful, glossy paper with an reflective surface. 

Most antiquarian books with marbled paper covers are almost always shiny and glossy. It's quite unusual to find an old marbled paper covered book with matt papers. This is because they were burnished by the bookbinder as a matter of course; it was just another day-to-day finishing process. 

Like many processes in bookbinding, when mechanisation and cost cutting efficiencies took hold, burnishing was one of the many hand finishing processes which fell by the wayside. Here at VPCo, the majority, if not all of our Properly Made Books are still burnished by hand. That's one of the reasons they look so good.

ON LEATHER the act of burnishing can change the surface from grained into an almost patent-like finish.

ON VELLUM burnishing creates a reflective, super smooth surface, perfect for highly delailed calligraphy and botanical watercolour. 

2. PROTECTING

Burnishing consolidates the surface fibres of paper, flattening and closing the spaces, which helps the surface have a greater resistance to damage such as tears, dirt ingress, fingerprints etc.

In short, burnishing adds toughness to paper surfaces. 

ARE THERE TYPES OF PAPER THAT CAN'T BE BURNISHED?

We've used this tool on almost every kind of paper from ancient handmade paper to mass produced kraft paper.

The one type of paper which can't be burnished is paper with lumpy inclusions such as seeds and flower petals. Attempting to burnish this type of paper will end in guaranteed disaster! 

IS THE ACT OF BURNISHING NEW?

No. Quite the opposite. Burnishing is an ancient process used in papermaking ever since paper was invented. It was used to change the characteristics of rough paper into smooth paper, especially useful for artists creating highly detailed calligraphic and botanical works.

There are still one or two paper marblers who burnish their papers before shipping but on the whole it's a process which has fallen by the waysite, mainly for economic reasons - it can take quite a while and it can by quite physical.  

THE MATERIALS USED TO MADE THE v7 XL AGATE BURNISHER.

THE STONE - 4 inches, 10cm wide

Agate is a very strong stone and resistant to wear and tear and day-to-day knocks. We use jewelry grade agate from Brazil, generally acknowledged as the highest grade stone available. 

It is cut into flat pieces in a rotary saw and then carefully shaped into a 4 inch wide rectangles - the polishing edge has an almost imperceptible curve across its length which gives a perfect, even polish. 

Each stone is cut from a different rock, this means that every stone has it's own unique character, like a fingerprint, which can be seen when held up to the light.

The stone is mounted into the handle with epoxy resin. It's in there for good!

THE HANDLE

Cut from reclaimed bubinga wood, the handle shape has been developed for single and two handed use, it doesn't matter if you're left or right handed either. The bubinga has been oiled so that the handle can easily be cleaned and won't take on day-to-day stains. 

Each handle is engraved with our Vintage Flowers pattern (for grip and fancy pants-ness) and stamped with a serial number. The Vintage Paper Co logo is also deeply engraved and then filled with gold epoxy resin. 

The bubinga desktop stand has a recess tooled into it to accept the stone,

and on the bottom is an embossed leather base.

BURNISHING INSTRUCTIONS

We have made a YouTube video which can be viewed here

1. FLATNESS - Our most important tip is to burnish on as flat a surface as possible. We use a litho stone but if you don't have one of those you should use a blemish-free craft mat.

2. CLEANLINESS - Make sure the paper you're about to burnish isn't sitting on tiny particles of workshop detritius otherwise this can cause damage to the paper when burnishing.

If you're polishing a paper you've printed, make sure that print is bone dry. Burnishing wet ink just causes streaks and unhappiness.

3. WAX OR NO WAX? Paper can be burnished with or without a polishing agent. Our preferred polishing agent is surprisingly, simple unfragranced soap. Gently rub the bar over a soft smooth cloth and wipe it over the surface of the paper. We also sometimes use beeswax.

Using a polishing agent enhances the overall look and also adds more protection to the surface. Importantly is also helps the polishing process. 

If the paper is to be worked on after burnishing, for example if you want to paint or use inks then do not use a polishing agent.

4. TEST TEST TEST - Always test burnish a small piece of the material. Every material and type of paper has its limitations - for example machine made paper can be burnished to a high sheen but it isn't as strong as most handmade papers. 

Some papers, especially Indian cotton paper can delaminate if over burnished. Machine-made papers can ripple and tear if over polished. This is because it isn't particularly well made paper in the first instance. 

5. LISTEN & LOOK - When burnishing, listen to the sound as the stone flattens the surface; As you polish out the texture, the sound changes. You want to hear the same sound across the sheet. 

Look at the surface, make sure you're not over burnishing. This can end up tearing, wrinkling and ruining your good work.  Experience and practise is your friend here.

6. DIRECTIONS - Burnish equally up, down, left and right from the centre of the material. Always try to burnish beyond the margin so that the polishing covers the entirety of the piece you're working on.