Agate Burnishers

Description:
This professional pencil-shaped burnisher with polished genuine agate stone head, set securely in a wooden handle, is used for burnishing gold leaf. The pencil shape is ideal for burnishing leaf in sharp corners and the small details of raised gilding. Agate is a natural stone, consisting of a form of silica, similar to chalcedony, with colored bands of purple, pink or brown, shaped and polished for use as a burnishing tool, particularly in edge gilding of books, raised gilding in manuscripts, and gilding in paintings and on picture frames.

Burnishers are tools used to impart a mirror-like polish to gold and other metal leaf. They are made of metal, agate (quartz), psilomelanite or hematite set in handles. The hematite type is the best and also the most expensive. Burnishers are generally available in variety of shapes, but there are three basic shapes--flat, toothed and pencil. They are relatively delicate tools and chip easily if handled roughly; they may be kept smooth and in good condition by rubbing them on the flesh side of a piece of leather coated with whiting, or, if too rough to be smoothed in this manner, by rubbing them on a zinc-lined board coated with a small amount of flour or emery mixed with machine oil.