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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Upper Hutt, New Zealand
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    215

    Default Card Scraper Question

    As a relative newcomer to this invaluable tool, there is one thing that puzzles me. When watching YT videos of other users, many/most of them curve the scraper using thumb pressure in the centre of the blade or even make holders with thumbscrews that perform the same duty.
    My question is why bother? The scraper seems to work just as well without this effort. Or am I missing something?
    Pete

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Adelaide
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    768

    Default

    I understand that the curve prevents the corners of the scraper from digging into the work.

    Regards
    Keith

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
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    Brisbane (western suburbs)
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    Default

    Woodhutt, if you are getting wide rolls of shavings from a straight card scraper blade, you are managing something I've not been able to do in 40 or more years of using card scrapers. Putting a curve in the blade with thumbs stiffens the thin blade so it can make a decent cut without chattering. And apart from keeping the corners out of the way, as Keith said, it also produces a (very shallow) dished cut, which reduces overlap marks. Similar principle to putting a slight convexity on a smoothing plane blade.

    As you'll quickly discover when scraping a large area of hard wood (rule of thumb: the harder the wood the better it scrapes), this puts a lot of strain on the thumbs. The scraper also gets very hot and adds even more to the discomfort. So the first time you need to scrape a large area, you'll start thinking "there has to be a better way!"

    There are a few "better ways". One is to use one of those flexible fridge magnets between thumbs & scraper. This works pretty well & minimises the loss of flexibility/sensitivity because you can still vary the bend easily. But it's still hard on the thumbs.

    The next "step-up" is to buy or make a holder which puts a curve in the blade, relieving your thumbs of that chore, & also keeps them away from hot metal.

    Scraper holder.jpg success.jpg

    It's not a perfect answer, my version is a bit awkward to hold & not as flexible & maneuverable as the bare card. It also gets tiring to hold at the best attack angle after a while, but it has saved my bacon on a couple of jobs where the "big gun" couldn't be brought out, for various reasons.

    The big gun is a Stanley 112 scraper plane (or the Veritas clone, in my case): LV scraper Myall wood.jpg

    If your work/hobby requires a lot of hand-scraping, something like this can be invaluable, & there've been times I've been very pleased to have it. I did use it a lot when I first got it but I've since got better at setting up smoothing planes to handle contrary woods and my need for the scraping plane has diminished considerably over the years (I've also learnt to avoid really hard, gnarly woods as much as possibel! ). It's one of those tools that spends 99.9% of its life in the tool cupboard, but occasionally it's the only one that can manage the job....
    Cheers,
    Ian
    IW

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Upper Hutt, New Zealand
    Posts
    215

    Default

    Thanks to both Keith and Ian for the advice. The prospect of the corners digging-in had occurred to me but I thought - why not simply ease the corners of the blade? I see now that is a simplistic solution.
    The reason I was trying to avoid having to apply thumb pressure is because I have carpal tunnel syndrome in one hand which makes it next to useless for anything except holding. I can see now that a holder is the way to go.
    Pete

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by woodhutt View Post
    .....The reason I was trying to avoid having to apply thumb pressure is because I have carpal tunnel syndrome in one hand which makes it next to useless for anything except holding. I can see now that a holder is the way to go....
    Ooh yeah, I hear you bro. I don't have CTS, but increasing arthritis in my fingers, particularly the thumbs & index fingers makes long sessions with a bare card scraper rather uncomfortable these days.

    Nothing inherently wrong with easing corners on your scraper - they are such handy tools for all sorts of smoothing jobs, so modify/make them any way you see fit. I do like to keep some scrapers with sharp right-angle corners for getting into blind corners etc, but I have scrapers of all sorts of shapes & sizes. I have several very narrow ones for getting into the tight areas of saw handles, for example. When you use small scraps of scraper plate on rounded surfaces, you don't need to flex them, they are stiff enough to cut with little or no chatter over the short area of contact.
    Cheers,
    Ian
    IW

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    South Australia
    Posts
    4,470

    Default

    Have CTS surgery you will never look back and wonder why you waited so long

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Upper Hutt, New Zealand
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    215

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by China View Post
    Have CTS surgery you will never look back and wonder why you waited so long
    Thought about it China but elective surgery is a non-starter at the moment given the strain on the health service and frankly, a hospital is the last place I want to be near under the present circs
    Pete

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    McBride BC Canada
    Posts
    3,543

    Default

    I always knock off the corners of my home made card scrapers. A gouge from a corner is really hard to repair.

    Think about the geometry of a bent scraper being pulled along the wood.
    The edge is now skewed a little for a slicing cut instead of a butt-nosed push into the wood.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Caringbah, NSW
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    81
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    385

    Default

    A question from someone who has never seen, let alone used, a card scraper. Does anyone use them for finishing the surface of bowls? Just wondering

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Jersey CI
    Posts
    215

    Default Card scraper Question.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gary H View Post
    A question from someone who has never seen, let alone used, a card scraper. Does anyone use them for finishing the surface of bowls? Just wondering
    Hi all.
    When my Grandfather and Father were in Business they used to cut all

    their own glass for windows and doors. The kept all the off cuts and used
    them for scrapers. We used to make different shaped ones if needed.

    Martin

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
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    Default

    Here y'go then Gary.

    I don't know much about bowl turning, but I've certainly used my "goose-neck" scraper (the one on the left in the pic I linked to), for concave surfaces of all kinds, like large mouldings, etc, so I see no reason they couldn't be used in a largish bowl. The 'goose-neck' is more of a clean-up tool, but you can actually make mouldings with scrapers, held in a simple L-shaped handle, but now it goes by the name of "scratch-stock". This one is making a simple quirked bead, but you can make quite elaborate mouldings with them. not needed.jpg

    For short sections this method is surprisingly quick & efficient, and you can follow profiles that are impossible or extremely awkward for a 'lectric router to manage...

    Cheers
    IW

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