Heating or not heating the leather edge paint is one of the most frequently asked questions. But first what is the leather edge ironing?
The hot ironing is a process used by a lot of leather crafters. This operation takes place through the use of a leather edge fileteuse or other heated craft tools, and it is carried out during the final step of the leather edge finishing (sometimes also during the intermediate stage). The purpose of this operation is to get a completely smooth and free of imperfections leather edge.
The ironing operation is very common when using acrylic-based paints. Since the only sanding or brushing operations are not sufficient to remove all the imperfections from the leather edge surface, this operation is very suggested also because acrylic paints structure is not so much influenced from hot temperature.
Should I use the hot ironing on the MAXMATT Leather Edge Paint?
The hot ironing is not a required step when using MAXMATT leather edge dye. In fact, they have been designed precisely to avoid this step, and reduce the number of operations required for the leather edge finishing. This makes the job leaner and faster, while at the same time increasing the final quality of the item.
However, you can proceed with leather edge heating over MAXMATT paints, although we always recommend to not exceed with the temperature, in fact we recommend to stay below 80 °C (176 °F). This because high temperatures may damage the structure of the leather edge paint, compromising then the technical performance such as elasticity and resistance to mechanical stress.
So the choice is up to you but if you need any support from us, the Advisors are always available and happy to help you.
