Cabinet scrapers

[andee]

scrit said:

Just as long as it's harder than the scraper then you're smiling.

I think hardness is more important than polished finish, after all what you're trying to do is reform the edge of the steel. And in any case a solid carbide router cutter shank is probably ground to a very high standard and certainly to a finer grit than the "traditional" screwdriver shank. That's what I use, BTW
Scrit

Can a screwdriver shank really be harder than the cabinet scraper? My scraper burnishing improved considerably when I jettisoned the screwdriver for a proper burnisher


Andy

[modernist]

paulchapman said:

[quote author=robos board=hand thread=1191767141 post=1191777439
, that Veritas scraper plane is nice. Next on my list, I think (don't tell the wife ). I think it has an advantage over the Lie Nielsen in that you have the option of using a thin blade (which can be bowed, as in the #80) or a thick one. The LN only gives you the thick blade option.


Co-incidentally I have just taken the plunge and ordered the Veritas tonight from Classic Hand Tools. I thought long and hard about the LN but came to the same conclusion as you that the advantage of the bowable blade was just that and you have the option of a thick blade too.

I've got some wild cherry awaiting it's arrival.

[paulchapman]

modernist said:

Co-incidentally I have just taken the plunge and ordered the Veritas tonight from Classic Hand Tools.

Do let us know what you think of it when you've had a chance to try it out

Cheers

Paul

[modernist]

Will do with pleasure. I downloaded the article from FW and this also favoured the Veritas over the LN owing to the choice of blade type and bowing thumbscrew

Brian

[dennyk]

Hi Scrit
I have 3 of the old scarston scrapers, they do a great job, I have had them since about 1965, the only problem I have is getting new blades for them, any idea where they can be purchased

Denny

[dennyk]

Talking about hard steel for using as a burnishing tool, I have a number of cotton spindles, I got them in the late 50's early 60's from the cotton mills that were being demolished in the Preston and Bolton area, I used them as drifts, when I was erecting the old steel office and factory partitioning, some I managed to get had a tapered end to them, this being caused by years of use , the spools of cotton moving up and down them, I got some of them that had been used for only a limited time in the cotton mills, they are about 3/8 inch in diameterand about 10 inches in lenght, I took one of the non tapered ones to a machine shop and asked could they put a taper on it, well the the machinist tried even with a diamond tip on his lathe, and he could not even mark it .

I have found it to be great as a burnishing tool. Do you want one Scrit

Denny

[Alf]

Denny, I think the Faithfull blades fit the Skarstens.

Cheers, Alf

[Scrit]

andee said:

Can a screwdriver shank really be harder than the cabinet scraper? My scraper burnishing improved considerably when I jettisoned the screwdriver for a proper burnisher

In short, yes. Scrapers can be just scraps of hacksaw blade, old saws, etc. In fact anything you can form a burr on. Many of the scrapers I've used are just cut-up silver steel (i.e. hand saw steel) and that isn't as hard as a properly hardened and tempered screwdriver shaft. I suspect that you are using "proper" hardened scrapers, in which case you need something just a tad harder.

These days I actually use the broken-off shanks from solid carbide router bits mounted in file handles as these are considerably harder than any steel

dennyk said:

I have 3 of the old scarston scrapers, they do a great job, I have had them since about 1965, the only problem I have is getting new blades for them, any idea where they can be purchased

Hi Denny

I've been struggling to find these as well. It appears that Skarsten have bitten the dust, however as Alf points out the Faithful scrapers are copies of the Skarsten designs (tahnk you, Alf!).

Thanks for your kind offer on the hardened rods, but I still have quite a few solid carbide shanks to work my way through as they do seem to last a looooong time


Scrit

[argus]

.

I've never found a screwdriver shank hard enough, though there must be one out there in the wild somewhere.

In my workshop I've used a 3/8" dia blank steel as a burnisher that was originally sold for making your own turning gouges.

They were sold with one end soft (the handle end) and the other end tempered. All you have to do was to identify which was which with a swipe along it with a file then fit some handles.

Very effective- works well.


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