Al;

Would a used but resharpened box cutted blade insert used by itself i.e. just the blade not with in the box cutter make a good scraper ?

A regular sharp knife blade can also do a scraping job but I would guess that one wants a perfectly strait edge and a square corner is useful where one wants a clean 90° transition from bottom to side wood on the inside of the scabbard.

So one would want a rectangular piece of hardened steel sharpened on one long edge ???

Hi Jean,

Jean Thibodeau wrote:

Al; Would a used but resharpened box cutted blade insert used by itself i.e. just the blade not with in the box cutter make a good scraper ? A regular sharp knife blade can also do a scraping job but I would guess that one wants a perfectly strait edge and a square corner is useful where one wants a clean 90° transition from bottom to side wood on the inside of the scabbard. So one would want a rectangular piece of hardened steel sharpened on one long edge ???

Have a look at the URL I posted in my reply to Greyson.

What you want on a scraper is an extremely crisp 90-degree angle with a burr on it rather than a knife-sharp edge. The burr on the edge of the scraper acts like a tiny plane blade. You can scrape with a knife edge but the effect is very different. A properly set up cabinet scraper will take curls of wood off like a plane will, whereas a sharp knife will just scrape dust off the surface of the wood.

This url gives instructions on how to sharpen a cabinet scraper: http://members.aol.com/illinewek/faqs/scraper.htm

They don't have to be rectangular, though the curved ones can be a bit of a pig to sharpen properly :\\

Hope this helps.

Al;

Thanks and very informative.

Sort of like the wire edge you get when sharpening a knife, except that you want this wire edge: With a knife the last thing you do is strop away the wire edge because it dulls the blade when it folds over.

So, if I understood the wire edge is on a sharp but very obtuse 90° edge: makes sense as this would be a strong wear resistant edge.

More of a theoretical discussion for me but very good info for Greyson. :cool:

Scrapers are also useful tools when making a bow I believe. :?:

In earlier posts, Jean Thibodeau provided a link to Highland Hardware, and then Greyson Brown said that he found Luthiers finger planes in the online catalog. I found that Highland Hardware also carries cabinet scrapers. I have never used either of these types of tools before (even though my grandfather was actually a cabinet maker!), so this is very interesting. I am looking forward to trying these things out!

Thanks for all the info and links. I think I will try to find some material suitable for making a small scraper. I'll probably pass on the finger planes if the scraper does what I want.

-Grey

Hi Greyson,

Greyson Brown wrote:

Thanks for all the info and links. I think I will try to find some material suitable for making a small scraper. I'll probably pass on the finger planes if the scraper does what I want.

I'm not sure if you've worked this out from the discussion so far, so my apologies if I'm pointing out the obvious.

Finger planes are a stock-removal tool (albeit a fairly small fine one) and scrapers are really a finishing tool. They do take material off, but they do it in such tiny amounts that they're only really useful for finishing and fine-tuning. They are *excellent* for fine-tuning the fit of a slightly tight core though.

You probably could shape an entire core with scrapers alone, but it would take a really long time :)