Abstract: A process is disclosed for fabricating an extrusion die including providing hard brass stock, machining the stock to form a thick rigid machined die end dam having a sharp corner, annealing the machined die end dam, providing a die body having at least one open end and an extrusion exit slot, and securing the machined end dam to the open end of the die to form an extrusion die assembly, the sharp corner being adjacent one end of the exit slot. This die assembly is employed to form a coating on a surface of a substrate by establishing relative motion between the surface of the substrate and the extrusion die assembly and extruding a ribbon-like stream of coating composition from the die through the extrusion exit slot onto the surface of the substrate to form a coating layer.