Aargh! I'm going to chuck my cabinet scraper in the bin!

[Guitar]

That Veritas variable burnisher is a piece of crap. If anyone wants to buy mine and try their own luck with it, send a PM.

For me, life got a lot easier once I got a decent whetstone setup.
A face trued to 8000 grit produces a beautiful burr using a regular stick burnisher.

Also, I don't know what kind of luck others have had with China scrapers, but I use E Garlick & Sons and love them.
I don't have a Rockwell tester anymore, but they definitely exhibit more consistent hardness to the dirt cheap Asian units that come in multipacks with exotic shapes. I've noticed a meaningful, practical difference between the units I tested.

Carruth isn't lying when he says it takes time to learn how to do it right.

[mqbernardo]

I improved a lot after switching to harder scrapers (sandvik, in my case) - but i only use it on hardwoods. There's a nice vídeo by brian boggs on teh net showing his method that ( for me) works rather nicely. FWIW i take them to a 8000 naniwa superstone, but maybe 5000 would be enough? I'm only doing this for less than one year, though, so i'm still learning...

Cheers,
Miguel.

[ghenson]

Lately Ive sharpening mine with a belt sander. Im getting very nice thin shavings. Put two pieces of wood on each side of the scraper and set it on the sander. I go straight from the sander to scraping. Wear saftety glasses!

[Robert England]

I'd advise caution when using a belt sander on metal. I once tried to sand the "teeth" off a file to make a safe edge, and the sparks started the accumulated wood dust inside the sander smoldering. First time I ever discharged a fire extinguisher. Sander survived, with a hole burned through the plastic guard at the back of the belt, but the clean up was a chore. This was a much heavier "sanding" job than just squaring up a scraper, but still ...
Robert

[Alan Carruth]

Robert England asked:
"What are the actual dimensions of the "thick" and "thin" scrapers you are talking about?"

I made my first ones out of a power hacksaw blade, about 2.5mm thick. We've made them up to 6mm, but the ones he's making now are 3.5mm. Remember, these are fully hard tool steel.

senunkan wrote:
"In my country where they sell Traditional Chinese Medicine, they actually use broken piece of glass to do the scraping."

I had a friend who did the same thing. He'd toss a pane of glass on the ground and pick up the piece that was the right shape. For flat surfaces he liked to use glass microscope slides. This steel scraper works the same way, except it's not as sharp (nothing is as sharp as a freshly broken edge on glass). On the plus side, this is safer, you can sharpen it, and you can make one in the shape you want. The ones my friend is making have several different radii, as well as a flat edge, and they really work well for carving plates on archtops.

[Alan Carruth]

On sanders...

One of my students got apiece of A-10 air hardening tool steel to make a scraper out of. When he got it it was in the 'soft' condition, but you might not have thought so if you tried cutting it. After sawing and filing it to shape, he cooked it in my little furnace, and cooled it in air as fast as possible to harden it. Then he took it home to remove the scale dress the faces on his belt sander. He turned the machine on, and leaned on the piece of steel. There was barely a scratch on the metal, but he said the sanding belt was a smooth as a baby's bottom. He ended up wearing out a diamond sharpening stone leveling that one out.

[ghenson]

I'd advise caution when using a belt sander on metal. I once tried to sand the "teeth" off a file to make a safe edge, and the sparks started the accumulated wood dust inside the sander smoldering

True indeed. It helps to not keep the metal on the sander very long. I doesnt take much to grind it down and the edges are fairly sharp with sanding only.

[Guitar]

FWIW i take them to a 8000 naniwa superstone, but maybe 5000 would be enough? I'm only doing this for less than one year, though, so i'm still learning...

Cheers,
Miguel.

It probably would be just fine.

I go to 8K because my stones go to 8K but say I only had stones up to 2K, I wouldn't feel overwhelmed to buy the higher grits, solely for facing scraper blades.

Sharpening chisels, on the other hand, I might.

[David Schramm]

It should only take about 20-30 seconds to create a really sharp scraper. I've been using this jig for nearly 20 years and I get a perfect edge everytime: http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2003741/1501/woodsmith-scraper-sharpening-system.aspx Beginners don't need a learning curve. If you follow the instructions you will create a razor sharp edge on your first try. It's fool proof. No need for fancy methods. I keep it by my bench and when I need a fresh edge it takes me less the 30 seconds to square the edge and a few swipes to turn the bur and be back at my work with a razor sharp edge.

I forgot that I had this tutorial on my guitar making course web site http://onlineapprentice.com/scraper.html

[AdamX]

David, that scraper jig is pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Winterdune]

So are you saying, David, that all the polishing with 5k or 8k stones is a waste of time? The jig you link to goes straight from mill file to burnishing rod.
Thanks
Sean

[Trevor Gore]

I've used all sorts of brands of cabinet scraper and ways of sharpening them (turning a burr) and have a pretty foolproof method now. First thing, is the metal the scraper is made of. I've heard all sorts of stories about using cut up old saw blades, extra hard steel etc. but what really seems to matter is having a scraper where the metal is fairly soft, but work hardens really quickly. If the metal starts out hard, there is no way you will easily turn a burr on it as it will be harder than the tool you try to do this with. So by far the best brand of scraper to use is Sandvik/Bahco depending on what brand name they use in your part of the world.

Assuming the scraper has been used, to re-sharpen, the first thing to do is to remove the old work-hardened edge. This is done with a medium cut file. When you start filing, the scraper metal is so hard that the file has a tendency to skim over it. File that hard surface away until you reach soft metal (you can tell by the feel of the filing) then change to a fine file. File the scraper to a square, smooth edge. De-burr the scraper by rubbing both flat faces on a fine honing stone. You now have a soft metal, reasonably polished, square edge on your scraper, which is soft enough to turn a burr on, but the metal work hardens as you do this to produce an edge that is almost as hard as a file. My tool of choice for creating the burr is the Veritas variable burnishing tool. Use as per the instructions that come with it (or immediately with an angle set) and you will get a really good edge.

The success if this technique is entirely dependant on the quality of the steel the scraper is made from and the only brand that works for me (having tried many) is the Sandvik/Bahco brand. With a good edge, your scraper shavings should look much like plane shavings.

Scraper Shavings.jpg

[David Schramm]

So are you saying, David, that all the polishing with 5k or 8k stones is a waste of time? The jig you link to goes straight from mill file to burnishing rod.
Thanks
Sean

Yup, that's what I'm saying. I'm not saying those other methods don't work. They also produce a fantastic edge for scraping. The less burnishing you do the sharper the scraper. 1-2 swipes on the burnishing pin is enough. I also agree with Trevor about the Sandvik scrapers. Those work great!

[sthugh]

Never mind then.

[Guitar]

You don't 'sharpen' scrapers like you do a knife.

You use a burnisher to create a 'burr' from the squared steel edge.