scrapers

[Ianphot]

Great reading for a Monday morning! - Looks like Chris needs to do a Youtube video demo on preparing and using scrapers? Not sure why it is but my inherited woodworking tools (Dad was issued them in 1946 on a woodworkers retraining course for ex-soldiers) keep their edge much better than my modern sharp tools (excepting prized Japanese chisel). He showed me how to prepare a scraper about 50 years ago and Chris's description is spot on - I'll be looking in the old toolbox for the burnisher - now that I'm reminded what it is for! All his old scrapers are flat blued steel.
In Vietnam woodworkers make great use of old hacksaw blades - narrow and wide- for veneer knives, scrapers and anything else that needs a sharp or hard edge. They can also use their feet as a vice when working wood, but then they can squat down much lower than I ever could!
Ian

[Ancient Geek]

When I was taught to scrape it was a bit of steel -old sw blades were always quoted filed square and rough with the round bit od a srewdriver drawn across the top to creat the burr.

[JohnK]

Old hacksaw blades are good - they bend to follow curves. And, at the risk of annoying the Health & Safety Executive, shards of glass from broken window panes are excellent. But only if you carry out a complete risk assessment first.

JohnK

[Ancient Geek]

The woodworkers who hold things with their feey use saws that cut on the pull not the push si is not quite the work of foot dexterity (MB what is?) that it appears!

[chris]

The utube idea has set me thinking...

Talking of old tools: buy an old wooden plane for a few pounds and the blade will make a great scraper once youv'e prepared it. The chances are it's made of cast steelset into a mild steel iron. you may be able to see a brazed joint where the cast steel section is about half the thickness of the whole blade and about an inch long .

I particularly like the older Sorby chisels - some actualy say cast steel on them ( there's also an image of a kangaroo whereing a hat, or something) It's a little harder to get the keenest edge on them but it lasts a long time.

I expect most older tools seem 'better' because alot of modern tools availabe are not of the best quality. You get what you pay for and in many cases the quality of the steel for the blade is compromised.

Japanese saws are superb tools. I like them a lot. They cut effortlessly as they are very thin and so are not removing much wood (pulling a thin blade keeps it true wheras trying to push a thin blade would buckle it), they leave a very good clean surface, dont tear up fibres on ply, are very sharp and most have a replaceable blade, and will do curves within reason. But like humans their teeth fall out before they go blunt! Cutting on the pull stoke is easy to get used to.

[Garry R]

Go to youtube from google and put in "sharpening a scraper" or "sharpening a chisel" in the search box. Hours of happy watching there for you.

[Michael Brigg]

Good to hear from you Garry!

Haven't Lidls got anything for scraping!?

[Garry R]

They did have a vibrating scraper on several occasions but I reckon that it would be a right rough piece of kit.

Lidl have the answer to problems that haven't arisen yet - like the Irish doctor who has the ultimate cure for no known disease!!

[Rupert]

Before everyone gives up on removing paint with anything but broken windows or scrapers passed on from their great grandfather, I'd just like to add a little real life to all this...I have a fairly modern triangular scraper made by Harris, with a nice comfy rubber handle, which I sharpen with a bog standard file, also purchased from a DIY superstore. It seems to do the job excellently, and as the cvrda was set up to show that everyone can do they old boat thing, I think we can go too far down the old hacksaw blade sharpened with the hide of a rare mogolian Yak route...

[Ed]

here here!

eib

[Ianphot]

There are two types of scrapers - one used for the rapid and rough removal of paint by heat application and the other can be anything from a simple piece of metal to an expensive cabinet makers scraper plane. If used properly scrapers give a better final finish to wood than other smoothing methods prior to varnishing or painting. It is the latter type that requires the black arts of sharpening and burnishing. Now off to try the Yak skin method!
Ian

[Nessa]

I'm not sure we have Yak in Cambridge, but I know we have recently welcomed some konics. Would they do?




Thank you for the positive responses!

[Ancient Geek]

One more plea for walnut shells so much quicker and if the timber won't take that it has no place in boat!
As to Yakskin, my Grandfather a sculptor of some repute used sharkskin (Obtainable only from a very specialised art shop in places like Florence, or that wonderful old fashoined ironmonger in Soho.) to polish his marble stuff finishing it with dust and his hands, yes they were very rough!

[Nessa]

We have a walnut tree in the garden. Am I meant to scrape with the walnut shell?

[Ancient Geek]

Surely you haven't missed this topic, you hire a blaster from the shop that hires them and instead of sand you use dry walnut shells strips the inside of a wooden Dragon in two hours.
Like a jet wash to use and like a jet wash you think of all sorts of things to use it on, I have a vintage car too and we cleaned up the springs etc wonderfully after they had done the three Dragons they were turning into new stiffer boats than tupperware ones a lot prettier too.
Would do Agamemnon a treat too!