1) Decide which bur to decommission from your bench. I like old ball burs.
2) Break off the head of the bur with a pair of pliers (I use a pair of needle nose that I don’t really care about marring the surface of) and leave approximately ¼” to ½” of the neck of the bur remaining.
3) Insert the bur into a flex shaft. Using a diamond file, press the bur against the file to shape the tip.
4) You are looking for a fairly acute slope with a dull end. Round the end of the bur, making sure to keep the nice slope you’ve filed already. You don’t want the end to be sharp (think of the back of an earring).
5) When you have achieved the shape you are looking for, you are ready to polish your burnisher! I use an AdvantEdge Plus Polisher starting with a course grit then moving to medium to smooth out the end of the burnisher.
6) Finish polishing with a dense felt buff using a polishing compound for steel, like White Diamond.
7) Test out the angle of your burnisher to make sure that it works for you! If not, you can start again, using the diamond file to achieve the height and angle you are looking for.
