Ahem... GLOAT!

[admin]

Howdy;

I've been sitting here at the computer, and, due to the weather I elected to tinker with something that had arrived from Amazon.com.

I ordered a six piece set of card scrapers and a burnisher. Cheap, but nice enough to let me get a feel for them. Once I've used these a bit I'll move on up.

Shop Fox is the brand of the scrapers, and a Crown Burnisher. I've spent the past two hours jointing the edges and getting through the hardened edges. Right at the edge was very jagged and very hard, the first I picked up was rather soft around the edges, but the others, OY, harder than Japanese Geometry. I filed the edges first with a mill bastard file (I've heard that the appropriate spelling is basterd, but the way it's engraved on the file is bastard. Nicholson brand file FYI).

My impressions and meager attempts thus far are promising. I used a small piece of poplar wood to try one out. With no burr turned, I was able to bring off a tiny shaving. I predict great things once I use Beamers method for turning the burr.

The scrapers are all roughly the same. Shaped differently, but all of steel. The pic displays one to be almost brass, that is not the case. The one scraper that seems rather unusual is the curved one, it has some interior curves that I do not know how to file. I'll figure something out.

I was pre-warned that they would be quite stiff. They are a little unwieldy, but I do think that I can handle them without much trouble. I'll get something figured out. For the square ones, I considered using a clamp to help keep them bowed enough, or making a wooden jig that will hold them to a bow. I'll have to do a bit by hand to get the hang of how they need to be bowed. But being able to bring up a shaving before even turning a burr, that seems like a fair first step.



That's the lot. I am not at my ordinary photo 'station' so I lumped 'em onto a table and took the pic, lol.

At the top is the burnisher. It's hard enough that I wasn't able to put a groove across the end with the Nicholson file. I was quite worried about having problems with the scrapers chewing it up, I don't think that will be a problem now.

Scrapers seem to be good steel. As I filed the edges to get the jagged stuff off, I didn't notice any oddly soft or hard spots that filed unevenly. From what I understand that is key to get a consistent burr; consistant netal.

Well, that's my gloat. I've been instructed on a method of turning the burr, and have read six other methods. It seems like everybody learns one persons way and then slowly develops their own way of doing it to suit their needs.

TJ.

[dburkhart]

good luck with them tj i like to use scrappers they save alot on sanding but they get hot on your finger tips

[tlcneeded]

ahhhh so them are your new toys. now you have pics it happen lol. not that i didnt believe ya but, you know the rules. now make something. and enjoy your new toys.

[Beamer]

Woohoo!!

I don't believe you had a shaving, though ... I don't see no shavings, sir!

[TDHofstetter]

Yessss!

You're gonna' love how those change your whole perception of life...

[Joe Lyddon]

TJ, nice bunch of stuff you scraped up! ;D

[TDHofstetter]

Here are two good writeups on turning burrs, just in case you'd like eight sources.

www.popularwoodworking.com/ar...rpen_Scrapers/
www.liutaiomottola.com/Tools/Scraper.htm

I won't stone my scrapers, as shown in the first. The second, while it's aimed more at luthiers' scrapers, gives better "why"s & "what's happening"s.

[sawduster]

Yeah, I've found I get a pretty smooth burr by draw filing and don't want to chance screwing up my good sharpening stones by trying to get a smoother burr on one of them.

[dcarter636]

I think that polishing the bejeebers out of the square edge prior to turning the bur is worth the effort. Like the other fellers I don't use my fine stones but do risk a 1/3 sheet of wet 400, 600, and 1000 grit sand paper ala scary sharp. Using a piece of wood, known to be sqaure, as a sanding guide helps to keep that edge nice and square.

[Beamer]

Agreed, Dave. I'm a honer, too. That super consistent smooth burr leaves the best finish surface I've found so far

[Leo Voisine]

Looks GREAT

I have yet to sharpen the set that I got.

I KNOW there are definate benefits to scraping - I just need to get there.

[sachbvn]

Nice TJ - glad you were able to get those. I need to get something to burnish my scraper and then this winter go to work using it - getting a feel for it. I started working on my skills with it - but then this led to that, and .... other things too precedence.

Nice score!

Zac

[admin]

Well fellas, I'm convinced. "of what" doth ya ask? That I'm dumber than a burlap sack full of dumbass berries.

I can't figure these little buggers out. I've got a miniscule burr going, it's not big enough to really see with the nekkid eye, but I can feel it by sliding my fingernail up the 'face' of the scraper, when I get the edge, it will stop my fingernail from just sliding over the edge.

But, I can't bring up a shaving. I can bring up little stringers of red oak about 3/32" but I can't get much more than that and a healthy dose of DUST. Now, I'm not yet bright enough to figure it out, but I've read that when you're bringing up dust, something isn't right. I've got the card tilted away from me about 25 degrees off of vertical, bowed slightly (Just enough to lift the corners so they don't dig in) and I'm skewing the scraper abit by having my right hand a litle ahead of my left as per other advice I've gotten.

I did have to put some pretty heavy force onto the burnisher to get a burr going. I've read that it takes some force, but the amount I was having to do seemed a bit more than I'd expected. White Knuckles...

So, what am I doing wrong? By what I've been told, it seems like everything I've been doing is dead on, but I still can't get a shaving brought up much more than tiny strings of Red Oak.

Thanks!

TJ.

[rhull]

Yeah, this is about the best I can get with my scapers too. I tried and tried many different things, but I simply couldn't get good results. I finally gave up.

[TDHofstetter]

It sounds like your burr isn't sharp, or isn't long enough. Let's start by removing the burr & go through the steps by number:

1: File off any existing burr, file FLAT on the face of the scraper:


2: Joint the edge flat, leaving crisp 90-degree corners:


3. Turn an "end burr", scraper lying flat (you should be able to feel this burr, and it should be sharp enough to catch your fingernail easily):


4. Turn that burr back to the face, scraper standing up:


5. Roll the burr a little:


Don't expect any 6" ribbons... but it SHOULD give you some nice flakes with very little dust.

[admin]

Well,

I've been in the shop abit today, and I have some findings.

First off, I hadn't ever Drawfiled before. After Jer mentioned it above, I went and googled it, and there for a little while I was almost giggling about it. Sounded sorta... unique. But, what the hey, there's one of the cards that seems a little bit stiff than the rest, and I don't particularly like that, so I figured I'd try it on that one. Then if it ruined it, I'd have not lost much. I honestly figured that it'd have no effect at all to be honest.

Then I tried it and was very impressed by it! It's almost astonishing getting such a nice surface finish with an ol' MB flat file. I've used surface grinders, and I'm pretty sure, that at least on the very edge of that card the drawfiling will hold its own on that front. Just shocking. And, it's not going to wear out the file quite as quickly as I can sorta divide the wear across the length of the file. Sure beats the famed filing jig (a block with a TS kerf and a set screw to hold the file) which will leave little stripes of wear for the length of the file!

I then burnished as per the above instruction. Tim, I gotta say, you love that Sketchup, and having seen how it allows me to see what it should look like before I'm in the shop, well, that's getting me to loving it when you have SU pics! I burnished the little stiff card, and gave it a whirl down my piece of red oak test wood. On the first time down it, I brought off a nice long shaving probably 1-1/4" long, and a whole bunch of dust.

This makes me think that now, since I can bring forth a shaving of respectable size, the loose nut is me. 'Bout the only thing I can figure is that I'm very slightly varying my pressure, tilt, or bow during the pass. Thus, it's ME... I don't like the sound of that, but it's still me. I didn't notice very much 'chatter', but about halfway down the board I did feel the scraper bounce over a small ridge.

So, from my perspective, I think it's just about practice and time using the scrapers. Since I've learned how to burnish fully I've just got to learn how to keep my hands in a certain position all the way down the 10" practice board. I did pick up a tip out of one of my many books. I scribbled pencil marks all over the board surface and then scraped 'em off. This is letting me see how my passes lap over each other and how I need to approach each area. Handy.

I did note that nearer to the edges, I can get some nasty looking tearout. That's odd, and it feels weird as the scraper digs in too deeply. Practice is needed, lotsa practice.

[TDHofstetter]

I love a success story!

Now - sometime - grab up that scrap oak & sand it with 220-grit sandpaper. Follow that with 320. Get it as nice as you can. Hold it up to the light so you can see some glare reflecting off the surface.

Now make ONE swipe down it with your scraper and hold it back up to the light. There'll be a REALLY SHINY band that shows you where that scraper's path was.

I couldn't believe it when I did that the first time... but I've come to believe it since.

[sawduster]

Since I didn't read the whole thread I don't know if this was mentioned or not. You might want to put a drop of oil on the burnisher before raising a burr and keep a little oil on it while turning the burr, as well. I keep Mineral oil around the shop to coat my tools and to mix with shellac for French Polishing, so I just use that. It doesn't affect the application of finish and since it is not a drying oil, you don't have the issue of spontaneous combustion you get from rags used to apply tung or boiled linseed oil.

Also, you might have to play around with the tilt angle of the scraper to get it just right for the burr you've turned.