Scraper advise.

[Bluegum]

I am in search of some advice. With the coming Brisbane wood show I am in the market for a couple of scraper and I was looking at a square and and a curved scraper. I have used a s square scraper before but never the curved version. I was wondering am I better off buying a 3/4in round nose or is the curved just as effective. Apologies if this has been discussed before. I am turning a few more boxes and bowls rather than spindle work

[nz_carver]

Hey there I have about 6 scrapers I have had square ones but ended up rounding them.
hands down the Robert Sorby 8008LH Heavy Duty Scraper is grate even on small work

[Pat]

Like NZ, I started with all straight scrapers, but have rounded all bar 1, 1/2". I find that the thicker the bar, the better for finish, but minimising the vibration. Try and find scrapers with 8mm thickness for 12mm - 19mm wide and 10mm thickness for larger. Gary Pye (http://www.garypye.com/Turning-Tools/GPW-Turning-Tools/Sets/GPW-2Pce-Heavy-Duty-Bowl-Scraper-Set-p817.html) had a set, half rounds for bowl finishing, otherwise, P&N are my go to toys. I do have a big thumping Marples HSS 38mmx10mm for larger work.

I find that with scrapers the more you flatten the top of the steel and the finer you stone it, the better edge and finish.

[orraloon]

My go to scraper is a 5/8'' or is that 16mm P&N curved nose. I have a 1'' chineese hss rounded on the left side to do the inside of bowls and a couple of home made from files about 1''. One strait and one rounded on the left side. This gets me by but I am quite prepared to change the profile of a scraper to suit the work. I also use the parting tool sometimes to scrape small bits and even the tip of a skew.. As others have said thicker the better is the go with scrapers. My other observation is if your lathe is 1 hp or less the really wide(over 1'') scrapers will bog it down or even stall it at times. Scrapers made from files are hard steel and brittle so be aware they can shatter when placed under load so I am not advising you make some. Mine came with my first lathe and I have held onto them as they take a very nice edge .
Regards
John

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I don't have any 'wide,' round-nosed scrapers.

I don't have any straight edged scrapers wider than 5mm.

My favourite scrapers are all as thick as they are wide and either round- or bull-nosed. (Apart from one v-point, but let's not go there.)

I find that I either wear just one side or t'tother of the cutting edge from doing heavy, 'sweeping' cuts, or only cut with a narrow arc of the tip for accurate finishing cuts. (But I have my choice of which arc, so I can 'spread the wear' & shorten trips to the grinder. ;))

The 'tighter' the radius of the tip, the finer the shaving you can take... but you can also take a deeper cut with little more effort to remove material as fast as a gouge.

If the shape of the scraper ever comes close to a 'good fit' to the profile I'm cutting, then that scraper is too big and I switch to something with a tighter radius.

:think:

I should also point out that I almost invariably shear-scrape, too.

[NeilS]

I find that with scrapers the more you flatten the top of the steel and the finer you stone it, the better edge and finish.

:2tsup:

[Bluegum]

Thanks for the responses guys, I am currently using a 12mm sorby scraper that came with the set I bought last year. I am only a a novice turner and don't want to waste money on tools that may not get used. However my wife did tell me as it was my birthday recently I could buy what ever I wanted ( one hell of a can of worms to open there):U

[Paul39]

I like thick and heavy for all, slight curve for outside and bottom of bowls. Tighter curve for smaller bowls and transition from bottom to side of larger bowls.

My favorite is a 3/8 X 2 X 12 inch re purposed high speed steel planer blade.

You don't need lots of horsepower to take off the thinnest shaving with a wide scraper.

[robo hippy]

Well, scrapers are one of my favorite tools. Which ones depend on what you are turning, and how much horse power your lathe has. The only use I have for a square nosed scraper is for the lip on boxes, both the top and bottom. The long edge is ground back slightly, about 70 degrees so it will fit into the curve of the box, where a square one will always have a slight gap, the old square peg in a round hole thing. All the rest of my scrapers, probably at least a dozen have varying nose profiles, but all are rounded from ) to C, to U, and swept back. I have found that most of my bowl scrapers tend to be swept back to the left side. This gives a good nose profile for heavy roughing, and a long side edge for shear cuts (also called an inside bowl scraper. I have only one that is swept back to the right side. They used to be called 'outside' bowl scrapers, from the days when the most common way to mount a bowl was on a face plate, and you would do all the turning without reversing the bowl. It was better for the outside shape, and again, the shear finish cuts. I do prefer 3/8 inch thick, and no more than 1 to 1 1/4 inch wide. Some like the wider ones, and I don't understand, mostly because I can stall my lathe easily (3 hp 3 phase Robust American Beauty) with little effort with a 1 inch wide scraper. I am a bit of a brute when it comes to roughing, not much pretty about it except heavy wide shavings taking off through the air. For heavy roughing, any thinner than 3/8 inch, say like 1/4 inch, and it will start to chatter if you hang out much more than about an inch. I have a bunch of standard M2 HSS scrapers, and also a bunch of the V10 (Thompson) scrapers. The Thompson are my favorite of the manufactured scrapers because of better metal, and with the CBN grinding wheels, they take a great burr which is great for heavy roughing and fine finish cuts, which is not the burr you get from standard Aluminum oxide wheels. I did make myself a couple of scrapers (3/4 and 1 inch wide) using tantung on flat bar stock. They are becoming my favorites now. I don't understand the appeal of the carbide tipped scrapers which seem so popular now days. They are just scrapers. My dear departed Irish Grandma, who lived through the Depression would come back and haunt me if I used a tool with a cutting tip that was designed to throw away when it got dull. I use the scrapers as much flat on the tool rest as I do with it up on its side. I don't understand why they all seem to come with square edges instead of with a 1/4 round profile on the bottom sides. A round nose scraper will give you both an inside and outside scraper, but why stop at one... One can never have too many toys...

If you go to You Tube and type in robo hippy, I have a clip up where I turn a bowl with just scrapers.

robo hippy

[rsser]

Sometimes with cranky grain in a bowl a scraper with the burr left on will do the best job. I learned this from .

[Paul39]

Robo Hippy,

Before buying my first bowl gouge some years ago I had made a couple of Bedan looking tools from 1/2 inch sq. mystery metal and another from a 3/4 in. square chisel that a blacksmith had made from a file.

I can stall my lathes with either of them when hogging out a bowl.

In a weak moment I bought an Easy Finisher with the round carbide tip. I like it for dry locust which is quite abrasive. I did buy a second tip which is still unused, as I sharpen the original by placing it top down on a flat diamond plate and move it in small circles. I've been doing this for about a year and a half.

I use this for roughing and use HSS scrapers with or without a burr for final skimming before sanding. I sharpen scrapers upside down on the grinder to get a good burr. For some things I hone off the burr and hone the face.

What works on one wood sometimes doesn't on another.

[rsser]

Edge treatment is a whole other ballgame.

As you're starting out Dave, Richard Raffan's advice may apply: for bowl hollowing get a few scrapers with varying radius left side curves.

If you're looking at an overhang of about 10cm or more, get HD scrapers (around 9mm thick), though that becomes exxy, and the alt is to get a curved tool rest to support thinner scrapers.

Another option, which IMO falls into the intermediate turner class, is to get a tool with a replaceable tear-drop scraper. Those allow a shear-scraping angle and the cutting tip comes with varying radii.

[Bluegum]

Thanks Ern for your advise very much appreciated, I did end up buying a square scraper last weekend which was always intended to be a purchase, so I got 1 out of 2. But I agree with your comment and you can never have enough scrapers/ any other wood turning tool,

[rsser]

Pleasure Dave. Thanks for the feedback.

If you're interested in or into tool making, it's not hard to source HSS blanks and make your own scrapers. This brings a pleasure beyond that of turning and also provides insights into turning technique.

[Paul39]

Pleasure Dave. Thanks for the feedback.

If you're interested in or into tool making, it's not hard to source HSS blanks and make your own scrapers. This brings a pleasure beyond that of turning and also provides insights into turning technique.

I echo the above. Scrapers can be easily ground from bought high speed steel or an unused skew, or differently shaped scraper.

Many of us who buy used lathes will over time get duplicates or upgrade to a nicer tool. These are raw material for special scrapers, spigot & recess cutters, etc. If you need ideas of the possibilities look at this:

Packard Woodworks: The Woodturner's Source: Woodturning Tools (http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=tools)