Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 22
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Hobart, Tas
    Posts
    1,211

    Default The joy of discovering card scrapers

    I've read about card scrapers and have appreciated their utility, but for whatever reason they occupied the little pigeon hole in my head reserved for advanced techniques to get to one day.

    Well, after struggling with some large pieces of timber with little bits of reversing grain that tore out rather badly, I was either going to have to hand plane the area down another mm or so with my #4 and hope I didn't induce more tear out, or have a crack at this elusive card scraper wizardary.

    First the card. I picked the worst of the batch of dodgy panel saws I bought a while ago (the ones where the teeth had been sharpened like a knife) and cut out a couple of cards.

    For the burnisher I had a broken carbide end-mill bit, which I whipped up a handle for with a spokeshave.



    To sharpen I followed Derek's tutorial http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Woodwor...29Scraper.html.

    It took a couple of attempts before I got proper shavings, but wow, it was so much easier than I had thought. I only wish I had given it a whirl a long time ago.

    I will need to order a proper set of cards though, as the pitted saw plate doesn't give a very clean edge. And given the cost, it is certainly one of the cheapest tools that can be purchased new!



    So thank-you to everyone who had contributed to discussions about card scrapers on the forums, and documented their techniques and trials.

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Bundaberg
    Age
    54
    Posts
    3,402

    Default

    They are handy little things aren’t they! After a bit of use on bigger surfaces though you’ll find your thumbs getting very hot and your hands getting tired maintaining the bow. The next step is to use a scraper holder; Veritas make a great one but it’s a simple enough thing to make yourself.

    Anything bigger than a small coffee table would be best hit with a cabinet scraper like the Stanley 80. This uses a slightly thicker blade but it is sharped to a 45 degree bevel, no hook is usually needed. An even better toy is a Stanley 112 scraper plane, this uses a similar 45 degree sharpened blade as the 80 but you have the ability to adjust the angle it sits in the plane.

    Going back to your hand plane generating tear out, try putting a big 10 degree back bevel on a spare iron; that effectively turns your 45 degree plane into 55 degree plane like some of the old English infills. For my 50th I treated myself to a Luban low angle jack plane with a spare iron ground to 50 degrees (62 degrees all up), this will plane curly redgum with zero tear out and gives a similar finish to that achieved with my 112 scraper plane.
    Nothing succeeds like a budgie without a beak.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Hobart, Tas
    Posts
    1,211

    Default

    You’re not kidding about thumbs getting hot! I will definitely keep a card holder in mind if I need to scrape a large piece.

    This particular tear out was odd. I have learned to control tear out very well with a sharp iron, lite cut and close set chip breaker. This tear out however was only in one board of Tasmanian Oak, with several spots where it pulled large fibres to about a 2 mm depth. For lack of a better term, the wood felt mushy in those areas. Had it not been racked in my shed for the past six months, I would have assumed it was wet. I’m chalking this one up to a really bad piece of timber. In fact, even my table saw which normally leaves beautiful glue ready cuts left a furry edge when ripping.

    With regards to the scraping plane... yes, that would be lovely, however I will need to do a lot more scraping to justify that expense. Even second hand they seem to fetch a good price. Perhaps if a bargain pops up on Gumtree.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    US
    Posts
    3,075

    Default

    I may be particularly persistent about using the cap iron, but if you have an area that you can plane, your lowest-effort version of this will be as follows:
    * set the cap iron of your plane so that it straightens out a fairly thick shaving that you're intending to take
    * once you've planed out all of the scuzz, back off the shaving until it's very light, and take a few more passes, and

    then

    Use your card scraper after that if you need to - especially if you're going to sand where very minor changes in wood density will look like tiny white patches that might attract stain or colorant if you'll use it

    One of the best things I've ever used for a scraper is a washita stone. There's various tutorials about setting up a scraper for finish work, but they often include many steps after a file. soft arkansas and washita stones here in the states will impart a perfectly fine edge on a scraper and remove any file work from refreshing it because they are known as fairly mild cutters, but they will cut saw temper steel very fast.

    File, washita, burr - freehand. far easier than a progression of stones, and due to the softness of the cards, just as durable and just as fine of a finish.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Brisbane (western suburbs)
    Age
    77
    Posts
    12,093

    Default

    Agree with all the Chief posted. Discovering card scrapers 40-something yeas ago has saved me from frustration, many $$s on sandpaper and allowed me to get a decent surface on what must be some of the most recalcitrant woods in the world!

    I also have found there are some of our woods that simply will not respond to planes, no matter how high you raise the cutter or how well you set a cap-iron. Most will, but some just will not co-operate. I tend to avoid the really nasty woods (why fight them when we have some of the nicest cabinet woods in the world up here in sunny Qld? ), but on those occasions when I'm forced to tackle one of these horror woods, I have a little routine I follow. I start with the 'easy' weapons, i.e., 45 degree planes, and at least get the bulk of the levelling & straightening done with these. But if my best-tuned 45 degree smoothers fail at the post, I try my 55 degree (with a cap-iron) or my 60 degree (single-iron) . It's unpredictable which one will do the better job, or indeed if they'll do any better than the 45* planes, but often enough to make it worthwhile trying, one does (and yes, it could have much to do with which blade was more recently sharpened, but I'm not sure that's the only explanation by any means). If both 'big guns' fail me, it's over to a scraping plane as a last resort. But for final tweaking of the surface, I nearly always turn to a card scraper, they are far & away the best tools for tidying up those last, stubborn areas. I've yet to meet a wood that defeats a sharp & well-burnished card scraper, but no doubt one day I will....

    Cheers,
    IW

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Hobart, Tas
    Posts
    1,211

    Default

    Well I finally got around to turning a handle for the 6 mm carbide rod I purchased several months ago. It cost $10 from memory.

    Using a scrap of firewood, I split it close to size with an axe to get straight grain.



    Then turned on the lathe...



    And finally finished with boiled linseed oil.



    I'm keen to give it a whirl, but if I've learned anything from making tools, is to add a finish and let it dry before rubbung my dirty hands all over it.

    This is the first handle I've turned, and am rather chuffed with how it turned out.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    6,973

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by LanceC View Post
    Well I finally got around to turning a handle for the 6 mm carbide rod I purchased several months ago. It cost $10 from memory.

    Using a scrap of firewood, I split it close to size with an axe to get straight grain.



    Then turned on the lathe...



    And finally finished with boiled linseed oil.



    I'm keen to give it a whirl, but if I've learned anything from making tools, is to add a finish and let it dry before rubbung my dirty hands all over it.

    This is the first handle I've turned, and am rather chuffed with how it turned out.

    An that won’t be the last handle no doubt?
    This tool making business you just can’t shake it,
    Very nice handle.

    Cheers Matt.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Dandenong Ranges
    Posts
    1,865

    Default

    I agree with Matt. I believe it's called a slippery slope for a very good reason

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Qld Australia
    Posts
    175

    Default

    Just a quick question, when and how is a burnisher used?

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Bundaberg
    Age
    54
    Posts
    3,402

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ed.. View Post
    Just a quick question, when and how is a burnisher used?
    A burnisher is used to "sharpen" a scraper by turning a minuscule hook on the edge. There are thousands of articles on the subject online; HERE is a typical presentation by Woodgears that pretty much explains everything.
    Nothing succeeds like a budgie without a beak.

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    US
    Posts
    3,075

    Default

    Ed - there are two steps to get the most out of using a burnisher:
    1) burnishing the flat face of a scraper which starts to flatten a burr, possibly work harden the edge a little bit and draw out metal to be laid over in a burr.
    2) somewhere around 70-90 degrees from that orientation, roll over the burr that you just drew out from the edge.

    you can go straight to step 2, but it works better if step 1 is done first.

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Millmerran,QLD
    Age
    73
    Posts
    11,095

    Default

    Nice job Lance.

    I have always meant to make up scraper but I never have. I have plenty of suitable material as far as the scraper blade goes.

    I am surprised at how many new threads I miss. Only saw this one from you today .

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  14. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Qld Australia
    Posts
    175

    Default

    Thanks for that.

  15. #14
    Join Date
    Jul 2017
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    37
    Posts
    53

    Default

    Good work!
    I use a card scraper a lot in my shop, couldn’t live with out them -saves me a bunch on sandpaper also.
    If the card scraper gets too hot when working you don’t need a fancy veritas jig, just use a flexible fridge magnet and place it on the back of the scraper you’re using. Works great and cost nothing.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  16. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Hobart, Tas
    Posts
    1,211

    Default

    Fridge magnet! That's very clever. I'll throw a magnet in drawer so that it's there for the next time.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Where to buy card scrapers?
    By MattB2085 in forum WOODWORK - GENERAL
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 8th September 2019, 08:07 PM
  2. How do you sharpen Card Scrapers?
    By Thewoodbasher in forum SHARPENING
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 8th June 2019, 06:42 PM
  3. A question on card scrapers
    By section1 in forum HAND TOOLS - UNPOWERED
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 24th February 2015, 08:51 PM
  4. Sandvik/Bahco card scrapers - Where to buy?
    By Fuzzie in forum HAND TOOLS - UNPOWERED
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 20th March 2014, 10:52 PM
  5. I'm sold on card scrapers!
    By Craig Gordon in forum HAND TOOLS - UNPOWERED
    Replies: 18
    Last Post: 21st September 2004, 05:25 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •