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scrape away

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scrape away

#1

scrape away

janderr

>as i type this i hear the click of my thumb callous on the spacer bar of my keyboard. i cant help but notice the lack of scraping threads on the hand work site. i work with figured wood to pay the mortgage, without a wide belt, and in most situations my smoothing planes remain in their cabinate and the sanding doesn't start until the 400-1000 grit polishing.

i can remove all the revolution marks and flatten with my stanley 80's, and then move to finessing the surface with card scrapers. i find it faster than sanding and less frustrating than the hand planing i thought i'd love, not to mention the money i could have saved. my scrapers probably cost me less than three hundred bucks, my planes; sheesh.

Re: scrape away

#2

Re: scrape away

Jack from Maine

>I just started exploring the world of scrapers. I hardly ever use sandpaper anymore. Most things I used it for are unnecessary after scraping.Also I found that I could create simple molding profiles with them. Once I learned to sharpen and burnish my card scrapers I started depending on them more for all kinds of work.I still haven't sucessfully used a scraper plane. That will be another lesson another day.---Crackerjack

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#3

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Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Scraping can certainly give a good finish on hardwood. But it doesn't give a better finish than achieved by a handplane. Scraping tends to leave a matt surface behind, smooth yes, but still not see-through and silky as achieved by a good handplane. Of course we are talking about smoothing down tricky hardwood, aren't we? You cannot use a scraper on softwood.

Scrapers are not replacements for handplanes - or vice versa - they are adjuncts for one another.

Regards from Perth

Derek (with a two #80s and a #112 plus numerous card scrapers to fall back on)

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#4

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Tony Z.

>Several weeks ago I posted a request for scraping info/clarification, and the replies were very few. Anyhow, after an email to Tom Lie-Neilsen and his follow-up reply, I'm becoming more satisfied with my card scraping results and am nearly ready to try a scraping plane (hints will be dropped for either birthday or father's day for the LN #85).

Now to the point of this post: I have a Stanley #80, and picked up some A2 tool steel, 1/8" thick. After cutting a new blade blank for the #80, I ground 45 degree chamfers on opposite sides and heat treated it (it's nice having a business that has a modest mmachine shop!). I experimented with this blade WITHOUT a burr and am getting some real nice shavings! The downside (if there is a downside) because of the thickness, I can no longer bow the blade. It would be nice to a longer sole on the #80 to register on the work, however, that's what a scraping plane will take care of for me!

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#5

Jim in Burlington Ont.

Re: scrape away

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>Card scraping is a aquired taste it takes a while to get used to all the little nicks you pick up. I use cards the LV version of the stanley 80 but what truely impresses me on curly maple is the LV scraping plane. I put a small hook on the blade and between the thumb screw and the tilting action you can get some milage between sharpenings.

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