If you’re working on a piece of leather article that has multiple layers of leather, you will need to ink up or paint the edges to give it a nice professional edge. What you’d use to apply the ink or paint over the edge is what’s called a leather edge paint roller. But what are the best leather edge paint rollers?
In no particular order, here are the best leather edge paint rollers you can consider for your leather projects:
- Tandy Leather Craftool Pro Edge Dye Roller – (Best Professional Roller)
- Aiskaer DIY Roller Pen – (Best Oil Paint Roller)
- Fiebing’s Edge Kote Roller Pen (Best All-Round Paint Roller)
- Balance World Inc. Edge Dye Roller – (Best Multipurpose Roller)
- DGOL Painting Box – (Best Paint Saving Roller)
You will certainly want the edges of your leather articles to look good because it’s going to define how much attention you give to details. And if you’re a perfectionist like I am, you would want the edge paint application to look really good.
You can totally slap paint on the edges of your leather with almost anything you lay hands on, but if you want it to look amazing, you need the good stuff.
What’s a Leather Edge Paint Roller?
The leather edge paint roller is a simple handheld finishing tool designed as an applicator for leather edge paint and is often shaped in the form of a pen and has a revolving tip that carries the paint over the edge of the leather.
Why this tool is particularly important is how it makes the chore of leather edge paint application more precise and accurate compared to the hundreds of different ways paint can be applied to the edges of leather.
Before you use the leather edge paint roller, there are a couple of things you need to get done first.
- After you have stacked your leather pieces, whether they’re for pockets of wallets, or the main body of a leather bag, etc, you will need to make sure it’s all lined up nicely.
- So what you need to do is to first, sand the edges. Using a 150 grit sandpaper to sand off the edges and then following up with 320 grit sandpaper can pretty much get it all lined up perfectly.
- If you have a leather sanding machine, you can use that too provided the sanding is done in the sequence of 150grit and 320 grit sandpaper respectively.
- You can then finish off with a leather edge beveler to round off the edges nicely and use a soft canvas cloth to polish off any debris on the edges.
- After this is done, dip or get your paint on the leather edge paint roller and then apply on the leather edges.
Do you really need a Leather Edge Paint Roller?
The short answer is Yes! and to give you a much longer answer, the Leather Edge Paint Roller will,
- Help spread paints or dyes evenly over the edges of your leather articles.
- It will also make it possible for you to apply paint on the most thinnest or thickest leather edges without it overrunning or staining the grain or flesh sides of the leather.
- The edge paint roller in most cases makes it very easy to apply paint to hard-to-reach edges of the leather article easily.
- Using an edge roller will ultimately reduce the consumption of your paint or dye.
- You can use it for a variety of edge applications such as leather dyes, Acrylic dyes, Pro dyes, Paint finishes, etc.
Buying Guide: Leather Edge Paint Roller
When it comes down to it, when it comes to choosing your Leather Edge Paint Roller, a few factors are to be considered to make your decision making process a very quick one.
Material
The first one is material. The material that would be used for the roller will commonly be brass, stainless steel, and some kind of plastics, etc. If the weights of the handheld tools you use matters a lot to you and you want something which is lightweight, then the plastic or a combination of plastic and brass made rollers will be your way to go.
It’s fair to add that, these tools are generally not the most heavy duty type of tools that’s going to put a lot of stress or cause major fatigue. So you should view the materials used from the perspective of how durable the edge roller will be given the material used!
Edge Paint Heads
The next thing you might look at is the shape of the head. The head of the leather edge paint roller will come in two basic shapes, the pointed cone-like head and the round cylindrical head.
Either one is perfect for applying paint over the edge of leather articles. The only advantage the pointed head has over the cylindrical head shaped roller is that it will be able to get to hard-to-reach areas like tight corners when finishing leather articles.
Grip
Would you want a delicate grip on a fairly thin handled edge roller like a pen/pencil or you would want a somewhat bulky grip like you would with a sharpie, or you’d prefer not hold the edge roller completely, but instead, run the edges of the leather article over the leather edge paint roller?
Any of these alternative are great, and whatever your preference is, you will be able to find what you want in my list of leather edge paint rollers.
Pro Tip: Always clean your leather edge paint roller while it’s wet with a micro fiber cloth
Best Leather Edge Paint Roller – Reviews
Here’s a quick review of some of the best leather edge paint rollers you can get to help make your leather article a lot more professional looking. So in no particular order;
1. Tandy Leather Craftool Pro Edge Dye Roller – (Best Professional Roller)
The Tandy Leather Craftool Pro edge dye roller is from the House of Tandy leather and you’re sure to find this particular brand of edge roller tool in most leather crafters tools box.
It was specially designed to make the application of Tandy Leather’s range of eco-flo, edge paint, and dyes a whole lot fun, easy, fast, and most importantly, give your leather article a very professional look.
The Tandy Leather Craftool Pro Edge Dye Roller is pen-shaped handheld tool with a solid revolving pointed brass tip that makes paint and dye application very even and thorough.
The Tandy Leather Craftool Pro Edge Dye Roller Pen is made with high-quality materials, that will enable you use it for a really long time. You will particularly enjoy its ergonomic design that makes its use convenient even in hard-to-reach places of a leather product you’re making.
If you happen to be interested in the Tandy Leather Craftool Pro Edge Dye Roller Pen you can check it out over here on Amazon!
2. Aiskaer DIY Roller Pen – (Best Oil Paint Roller)
The Aiskaer brand is also a very popular brand in the leatherwork tools niche. The Aiskaer DIY Roller Pen has a unique design and quite differentiated from the one from Tandy leather.
Unlike the pointed tip of the Tandy leather edge paint roller, this one from Aiskaer is round, giving you a long consistent coverage when you’re applying paint.
The interesting thing you will notice is the meshed-edge brass head. This allows the edge paint roller to effectively load heavier paints like oil paint easily. The brass mesh head massages paint nicely and smoothly into the fibers of the leather.
To finish off, the tool has a beautiful 6.88 inch stainless steel handle that’s ergonomically design to give you the comfort you’d have with your regular pen.
If you’re interested in the Aiskaer DIY Roller Pen, you can check it out over here on Amazon for any additional information.
3. Fiebing’s Edge Kote Roller Pen (Best All-Round Roller)
Since 1895, the Fiebing Company has been manufacturing high quality Leather Care products in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
The Fiebing’s Edge Kote Roller Pen was designed for Fiebing’s range of paints, dyes, and finishes. If you happen to use a lot of Fiebing’s paints and dyes then why not use their applicator!
The Fiebing’s Edge Kote Roller is very similar to the one from Tandy Leather. It has a pointed applicator tip you can use to apply finishes on hard-to-reach areas on leather articles. It’s great for applying finishes evenly, and reduces the amounts of paint, dyes, or finishes needed.
If you’re interested in the Fiebing’s Edge Kote Roller Pen, you can check it out over here on Amazon!
4. Balance World Inc. Edge Dye Roller – (Best Multipurpose Roller)
The Balance World Inc. Edge Dye Roller is the next on the bill! It’s a leather edge dye pen that will fulfill all the functions of a typical edge paint roller and at the same time doubles as a glue applicator.
The leather edge paint roller from Balanced World comes with a slender metallic knurled handle that’s ribbed to offer you a comfortable grip. This edge paint roller has a pointed rotating copper head on one side while on its opposite end there’s a suitably flat spatula for glue application, modeling, or any other helpful function you deem appropriate.
If your interested in the Balance World Inc. Edge Dye Roller, you can check it out over here on Amazon!
5. DGOL Painting Box – (Best Paint Saving Roller)
Unlike the conventional pen-shaped leather edge paint roller, the DGOL Painting Box can be set with ink on the workbench and allows you the freedom to use both hands to support or hold the leather article while the edge painting is being done.
The DGOL Painting Box comes with a solid brass edge oil box and a pair of rollers with different textures on it. With the paint loaded in the box and with its rollers set, you simply run or feed the edge of the leather article to the rollers. While the roller rotates it picks paint from the box and nicely applies it on the edges of your leather article.
This is the opposite of most edge rollers where the leather article remains static while you run the roller over the edges. This tool is very simple and a fast alternative to applying edge paint on leather and will save you a lot of paint.
In most cases, it’s even more efficient in helping you avoid wastage of paint than most of the traditional leather edge paint rollers.
If you’re interested in this leather edge paint roller, you can check it out over here on Amazon!
How do you Use a Leather Edge Paint Roller Pen?
Conclusion
There are two ways to finish off the edges of leather articles with paint – the hard way and the easy way. The hard way would be to use a brush, cotton buds, fingers, sticks, dabbers, etc where you’d spend all your time trying to get it as accurate as possible amidst battling stains here and there.
The easy way, on the other hand, includes using a leather edge paint roller – that can help you finish your edge painting task on time and accurately! With a high-quality edge paint roller, you’ll be able to cover the edges of your leather articles with an even coat of paint a lot faster than you would be with all the other improvisations you’d use.
