Scraper

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bftobin
Posts: 64
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2014 12:27 pm

Scraper

Post by bftobin »

I learned about scrapers back in the early 1970's from the Bill Lewis luthiers catalog. I was really impressed with all the things it can be used for. Truly a multi-tasker. When my son was over recently, he saw me do a quick 're-edge'(?) on a scraper I was using and said-Hey, wait a minute. I realized something I'd been doing for many years, wasn't taught in most of the instructions I've seen. IF you've done a proper sharpening on your scraper to start with, you know that you use your burnisher to to form a burr that actually does the cutting. So, when the scraper gets 'dull', It's just the burr that's rolled over. Instead of going through the whole filing, stoning and sharpening routine again, you can lay the scraper flat, put down a drop of oil, and use your burnisher to flatten the burr. Once all sides are done, you can reform your cutting burr. This is the same principle as using a 'steel' on a chef's knife. You're not actually sharpening the knife, you're straightening the cutting burr. With a scraper, you should be able to re-form the cutting burr a few times before before having to resharpen.
Lastly, remember, a meticulously clean and perfectly well ordered workshop is a sign of a deeply disturbed mind.

Brent
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Scraper

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Thank you for the information Brent.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Scraper

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Brent

what I have found is that you can do that about 3 or maybe 4 times before polishing the faces and edge and starting over. Good tip

Ed
Ed M
nkwak
Posts: 650
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: Pittsburgh PA suburbs

Re: Scraper

Post by nkwak »

Thank you for the description. The scraper is one of my favorite tools as I hate sawdust and the "scray sharp" method tends to get tedious. Ironically, just 5 minutes ago my wife asked me how to use the knife sharpener.
~ Neil
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