This one is a video. BTW, has a great soundtrack and the fellow is quite witty. Stick around for the closing credits.
I've not heard of the "file edge only" method of scraper prep. Anyone use this or have any thoughts?
Jim
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"Why is it that I loathe washing dishes, but I absolutely love sitting out here in the shop washing parts with kerosene?"
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I compiled a list of 14 different techniques for sharpening this rectangle of steel that have been published since 1875. All of the 14 techniques basically agree that there are three steps to sharpening a scraper: Filing the edge of the tool, removing the file marks with a sharpening stone and then creating the hook (sometimes called the burr) with a hardened rod of steel, usually called a burnisher.
My take is that the guy in the video is using the file as a burnisher. There has to be a hooked burr.
EDIT - I don't mean to imply that there is anything wrong with that. It looks like it is easy to get a consistent short burr that way.
I have done a lot of scraping the last two weeks. I now just use a flat diamond plate and burnisher. No file. I found that I was wasting time and material with the file.
My procedure:
Clamp card in vise
Flatten top and sides with 600 grit diamond plate
Burnish to make hook
Flip to do other side
I have been making 6 inch long curls over an inch wide and thin enough to see through.
Probably should mic one to see exactly how thick, but i haven't had time to mess around.
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I meant to tell you, Mors Kochanski said "thats a spoon made by an expert" -BR-
In my experience removing finish with a card scraper the burr tends to gum up with the finish making it hard to scrape. Having a small burr or no burr at all might be an advantage in this situation. I'll have to give it a try.
Is this not the same concept as the Stanley #12, 12 1/2, etc scrapers? They don't have a hook and you just use the 90 or 45 degree edge to do the work.
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"It'll last a lifetime if you die when you're supposed to." Arval Woody, Spruce Pine, NC
I've found the best way to pull a burr on a scraper is to use a strip sander with the plate pulled back. If you get sparks you get a burr. I haven't burnished or used a diamond plate in years since I learned this method. I get the same quality of burr in less than 5 seconds.
I show all my chair guys this trick because it is the only good way to sharpen a gooseneck scraper.
Good Luck,
John
__________________ Keeping the Hokie Spirit Alive!! Remember 4/16/2007
First known case of the dreaded "Woodguy Disease" and is highly contagious. Stay away.... stay away! Warning! Not liable for excessive tool buying, drooling, or the sudden urge to spend large amounts of money.
the wood whisperer does a nice little card scraper vid were he says to rip a dado into a block of hardwood just wide enough for your file and then stick it in. once you've done this you can use the hardwood edge as a guide and your scraper comes out perfectly square every time.
i use this little trick now and it works well. i keep the block and file with my scraper set to keep it handy when i need the card sharpened. www.thewoodwhisperer.com then check out his videos.
I usually just use the file for glue scraping, but for leveling and finishing, a nice hook that shaves as Mike describes will last longer and do a nicer job. The squared file edge is all that is needed for scraping glue and finishes off, but for surfacing the wood, all it does is burnish it.
I use a Nichols 6" slim taper mill file (one with the parallel diagonal teeth, not the cross hatched) and stoke it lightly across the edge, eye-balling flat. A 10" will work, but produces a rougher surface. I hold the file at about a 30 degree angle to the card which gives a little better angle for the teeth to cut smoothly. If you are a degree or so off, it will not make much difference. This is fine for glue and coating.
For wood, I then hold it vertical on 1000 grit for about 5 pushes back and forth, and then roll the edge (two strokes flat drawing it toward the edge, and then three to four strokes for each side angling over for the hook) lubed with WD-40 or rub it alongside my nose or in back of my ear. Although it takes maybe a minute more to roll a hook, I will last a lot longer on raw wood and take less effort/stokes to get it flat/smooth.
I actually made one of the file holders mentioned above, and found that running the file straight in-line along the edge was more difficult, as the teeth are at a more perpendicular angle, and produced a rougher edge due to the chips causing their own gouges (the metal was torn more than shaved). I also found that getting anal about removing all the previous hook all the way to the corner was just added work for most applications. The center third is where all the work is getting done.
JMTCW
Go
__________________ "The three hardest things to make in your shop are time, space, and money" - Buz Buskirk (quoted in Woodworking Magazine, Spring 2009)
I think there is flexibility in card scraper sharpening technique and it depends on the application. When I was cleaning some finish off the sides of my bench slab and also knocking down the aprons, I used a scraper often. To sharpen the scraper quickly, I held it in my left hand and grabbed half the file in the other and made a couple passes with the flat of the file along the card's edge. I would then run the file's tang along the scraper's edge to make the hook/burr. The tang which is really hard worked fine as a burnisher. It was quick and it worked.
Interesting. Seems that there are a bazillion methods when it comes to sharpening these things.
But, I think I get it. The "file only" sounds more like a coarse application, while burnishing (whole 9 yards) is better for surface prep and dare I say "fine" work or wild grain smoothing.
This is helpful to know, as I found it annoying to do so much work on a good hook to then strip paint.
Now I'm gonna go play some more of that Perez Prado Mambo No. 8 .
Jim
__________________
"Why is it that I loathe washing dishes, but I absolutely love sitting out here in the shop washing parts with kerosene?"
Roger Welsch, Busted Tractors and Rusty Knuckles
Must learn to sharpen mine too. Must add I love this old stanely I recently found in an antique store in Wisconsin! Go Packers.
Using a veritas toothed bevel up jack plane and this scraper on the wild area of my mahogany bed posts, though this is the to be head board...
the wood whisperer does a nice little card scraper vid were he says to rip a dado into a block of hardwood just wide enough for your file and then stick it in. once you've done this you can use the hardwood edge as a guide and your scraper comes out perfectly square every time.
Could you not do the same thing using a woodworker's wooden clamp?
09-11-2009, 07:34 AM
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