how do you resharpen cabinet scrapers
- Thread starter Gill
- Start date
I was taught to drag the side edge of a chisel along the length to create a burr which is the actual edge used when scraping
With a file held in one of THESE then you can put a burnished hook on it with one of THESE.
Whatever you use to burnish them its got to be very hard to do a good job.
Those Veritas tools are very good and the stuff I have from them have always come with comprehensive and in depth instructions.
If your going to use their stuff you might as well go the whole hog and get their scrapers as well which are that bit harder than others.
Whatever you use to burnish them its got to be very hard to do a good job.
Those Veritas tools are very good and the stuff I have from them have always come with comprehensive and in depth instructions.
If your going to use their stuff you might as well go the whole hog and get their scrapers as well which are that bit harder than others.
flat or curved? you just need to recreate the crisp edge by rubbing down the rounded edge. a lot of cabinet makers make a jig to sit over their oil stones or belt sander
Have a look there: sharpening scrapers You don't want to use a sharp corner on the edge of your scrapers as it make them all ragged like a sawblade instead of the smooth sharp edge you can obtain with a proper burnisher.
Long time since I have had to do it, but I used to file it in a vice then use the round shaft of a hefty screwdriver to turn the burr - probably not a completely kosher method.
This's all great stuff. Nice one Gill for asking and everyone for the tips.
Didn't know you could get jigs and the likes.
A pal of my dads showed me how to sharpen one - took a blunt scraper out my hand and put it back about twenty seconds later with two glorious edges on it using the bottom inch of a chainsaw file.
Five years later I'm still none the wiser. I get "almosts" and "nearlys" and "great for an inch" and "good but wrong angle"............
It's a black art worth learning though. Cabinet scrapers are a joy to work with.
Didn't know you could get jigs and the likes.
A pal of my dads showed me how to sharpen one - took a blunt scraper out my hand and put it back about twenty seconds later with two glorious edges on it using the bottom inch of a chainsaw file.
Five years later I'm still none the wiser. I get "almosts" and "nearlys" and "great for an inch" and "good but wrong angle"............
It's a black art worth learning though. Cabinet scrapers are a joy to work with.
You can also use a chainsaw Guide Bar Dressing Tool to hold the file in place but you still need to burnish the edge properly.
I use a spanner to turn the edge when I sharpen scrapers, it is very smooth and the chrome is hard too. I use the section just where the handle blends into the socket on the end of the spanner. Also I dont use very much pressure. My scrapers are old plane irons which I sharpen as normal up on a 4000 grit jap stone, then turn the edge. I do them as a batch. It works every time. I used to mess around trying to get a square edge on a normal cainet scraper and got inconsistent results at best, in fact exactly as grooveski describes so succinctly
.....I find scrapers work at their optimum if they are VERY sharp and you use light pressure-IE 6 light cuts instead of 1 heavy one, this gives the finest finish.
Dont forget glass works well too, even if a tad tricky to hold safely. Our ancestors used flint to make cabinet scrapers (or bow scrapers as in your case) I once stripped and refurbed an entire oak table using nothing more than glass shards as a scraping tool....
.....I find scrapers work at their optimum if they are VERY sharp and you use light pressure-IE 6 light cuts instead of 1 heavy one, this gives the finest finish.Dont forget glass works well too, even if a tad tricky to hold safely. Our ancestors used flint to make cabinet scrapers (or bow scrapers as in your case) I once stripped and refurbed an entire oak table using nothing more than glass shards as a scraping tool....
Use oil or ear wax to lube the burniser before you draw the edge. Its easier to show than explain.
where do you get that in ready supply.
