To follow up on what Jerry said, edge treatment is one of the small things that adds huge amounts to the look of a finished product. An alternative to binding the edge can be rounding the edge. In some areas binding isn't an option, but you may still want a finished looking edge.
The following tools are cheap and easy to use, and go a long way to the professional look of a leather item.
The edge beveling tool is used to trim off the square edges.
I then dye the edge, using a good quality dark brown dye, applied with a Q-Tip.
I then wax the edge with beeswax, and vigorously rub the edge with one of these grooved edge rounding tools (of which there are many designs). This gives a properly finished edge, even if you don't do a rolled our bound edge treament.
I hope this helps a little. Some pre-finished or oiled leathers will not allow you to do this edge polishing very well. Works super on veg tanned and tooling leather.
Folks like James Rogers most likely have even better processes than mine, but this is what has worked for me so far.
God Bless, Marc
