Deciding if ironing the leather edges or not is alway a tricky decision, because paints are not all the same. But first what is the leather edge ironing?

The hot ironing is a process used by a lot of leather crafters. Usually to do this operation you need a leather edge fileteuse or other heating craft tools. These tools should be used during the final steps of the leather edge finish process.

What do I get from this operation?

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 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 are not very influenced from hot temperature.

Should I use the hot iron on  GIARDINI Edge Paint?

The hot ironing is not a required step when using Dense and Semi dense leather edge paint. In fact, they have been designed precisely to avoid this step, and reduce the number of operations required get a great leather edge without imperfections. This helps speed up the process making it easier too. 

However, if this is a step you want to do, you can do it even with our paints, although we always recommend to keep a low temperature. We recommend to stay below 80 °C (176 °F). This because high temperatures may damage the structure of the leather edge paint, compromising 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, just get in touch!!