paint scraper used to remove mill marks *LINK*

you may find a stanley 82 useful

David Weaver

They have a hard carbon steel blade that can be rolled (as I'm using in this video) or just honed with no rolled edge (that's more aggressive).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjLATlAIrqw&ab_channel=DavidW

Scrapers to remove mill marks will leave evidence of the scraper and may tear out or split off some parts of various boards. I was just learning to use the scraper in the video posted above, but only had a couple of hallways to scrape, so it wasn't going to be that much work in the first place.

I made a comment about not wanting ripples, but there are still some, anyway. It doesn't look tasteless, and going diagonal would cancel some of them out, but moderate to minimal sanding after the scraper is still going to leave some evidence of scraping. it's slower than planing, too, but in the case of a floor that's already uneven and may have staple tips left in it, it's easier to resharpen the scraper than it is to file scratch damage off of the edges of planes and rehone.

Floor scraper for large arreas

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

A paint scraper might be an option for a small area. I have a small and large Red Devil for some wood removal tasks when a plan won't do. But if scraping a large area, in my case several hundred square foot oak flooring, a floor scraper is preferred. Lee Valley sells one. Vintage Starrett scrapers are often seen for sale. Once you get the hang of sharpening them they will roll off shavings like a plane. For furniture I find 100 or 120 grit sandpaper adequate for removing power planer ripples and burnish.

Re: you may find a stanley 82 useful

Bruce Mack

That is a grand purpose-built tool. I had not known about it.

Re: Floor scraper for large arreas

Bruce Mack

Thanks, Bill.

Re: you may find a stanley 82 useful

William Duffield

More info on the #82, from Patrick Leach:

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan10.htm#num82

A Stanley (or L-N) #85 is another interesting scraper for floors. It looks like a bench plane, but has a tiltable knob and tote, so you can keep your knuckles out of the way while scraping right up against the baseboards.

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan10.htm#num85

And, while you are at it, check out Patrick's description of the Stanley #74 (for those of us with knee problems).

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan10.htm#num74

further testing

Bruce Mack

I have worked further with the Red Devil scraper and think it is superior to the card scrapers I have been using. As noted the blade is very hard, a tribute to the Taiwan facility that makes the scraper. When I turn a burr with the burnisher, I feel a distinct catch as I slide my thumb perpendicular to the edge. I feel no roughness and can see no burr. The micro burr cuts very well. I used it to remove the washboard surface on the concavity of a piece of pine resawn off a 2 x 6 which had cupped after resawing. I did a 12+ inch length of this, something I would not have tried with a card scraper. Without resharpening, I proceeded to remove Sharpie marks from a white oak story stick. This was surprisingly easy and left a smooth surface. The burr is still present on my thumb test.

The ends of the blade may leave tracks on a concave surface as, unlike a card scraper, the blade cannot be curved in use. I'll blunt them on a diamond stone and expect to be "good to go".

Re: further testing

William Duffield

On one of my card scrapers I've ground radii on all four corners. At first I did it to prevent leaving tracks from the corners, but later realized the round corners (oxymoron warning ) were also very useful for scraping coves, so I ground a different radius on each corner. You might try starting with 1/8", 3/16", 1/4" and 3/8".

Re: paint scraper used to remove mill marks

William Duffield

Another option is a Bahco 665 scraper. Because the blade is carbide, you cannot control the burr with a burnisher. (That's a disadvantage.) However, it works much better for scraping titanium oxide paint, since the white pigment is harder than steel, and you spend a lot more time resharpening than actually scraping.

An overlooked tool *LINK*

Jim Matthews

I recently turned to this tool for heavily figured Sycamore.

Once you find the favorable "pull angle", tearout is avoided.




https://imgur.com/gallery/nxLbKim

Re: further testing

David Weaver

I think you'd like the 82, but I'm not an expert on them and I think there's more than one type (there are definitely curved (which look like more modern paint scraper style blades) and flat blades for the 82. I like the curved, like the ones i used in the video in the other post.

The blades are hard, they're more like chisel hardness or maybe very slightly below and they hold their edges well and are easy to touch up without needing too fine of a stone to remove a big wire, and the whole apparatus is "man size", meaning it's a good match for an adult male while some of the paint scrapers are a bit smaller and more versatile to work on big and small stuff.

All that said, I find all of them pretty slow compared to just planing (and as you mentioned, card scrapers don't do that well to remove planing chatter or sawmill marks, and especially, they're a bit sluggish and slow and uncomfortable for continuing through the compression that's just below the chatter).

If you like that type of thing, though (the paint scraper/box scraper type), no clue what 82s go for now, but I think you'd find one very useful at $50 if you can find one. The curved blades may not be too common, but one or two of them would be a lifetime of project work.

always poor recommendations!!

David Weaver

It looks like there are at least two different 82s, some of the earlier type have bad reviews on the stability of the joint holding the head, and the later type appears to be the kind I like..

....and they're more expensive now.

I also went on a tirade knowing that I will soon be scraping far more floor in the house, and bought a bunch of the scrapers of the type bill mentioned. I don't intend to get a hand scraped finish on the floor, but like using the scraper after coarse sanding most of the finish off of the floor so that I can come up a bit short with the former and save floor thickness. After the scraping, finish can go directly on said floor or after a very light sanding at 100 or 120 grit (it cuts out the need to do a lot of heavy sanding or middle sanding and rent a sander *or* use floor thickness that I want to save).

Safe to say on floors at least, though, even sitting and pulling as I showed in my video will leave parts of your body hurting, and the *on knees* bent over type scraping that the more typical floor scrapers require would be much more taxing yet. Not going to scrape 1000 square feet in any given day, but you could scrape it over a period of days and start to be in good enough shape by the end to do it with fewer breaks and less soreness - just in time to have no more of it to do.

The sound

Winston

Thanks for sharing that video. That looks really useful, cheap, and easy to use and sharpen. The sound would drive me crazy though! I wonder if it's possible to do something to it so that it makes a different sound.

Re: The sound

Bruce Mack

I am a dilettante and can’t vouch for the usefulness in real work but this photo shows the curls that come off of white oak. My thumbs would have been on life-support had I used a card scraper. Today I flattened the back of the blade on a diamond stone and repolished the bevel before turning a burr. I put the back of the tool on a surface to support it and used some mineral oil to avoid galling before applying pressure on the burnisher. I may not be able to do this again so I wanted to show off.

Winston- the sound is awful at times but can be mitigated by pressing one hand directly over the blade, pressing down while pulling with the other hand. In my limited experience, a really good burr makes no squeal.

Re: always poor recommendations!!

David Bassett

"...and they're more expensive now. ..."

Disclaimer: everything I know about these is looking at pictures on Patrick Leach's and Lee Valley's sites.

LV has two models of scraper that look similar to the 82 picture. The "Veritas Ball-Joint Scrapers" take 2" or 3" wide blades too and start just over $50. The "Veritas Chairmaker's Scraper" looks to be more delicate and starts at $65. If vintage versions have gone up, I wonder if these would be suitable alternatives?

Re: always poor recommendations!!

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I finished straight off the scraper. I could only withstand 75 sqft a day. Forearms suffered.

Re: always poor recommendations!!

David Weaver

I had or have the chair scraper. It's a bit small. If the other one has a wide blade, it may be a better choice.

I got my two scrapers out yesterday and three other types of older floor and box scrapers. The 2nd generation 82 is definitely king of all of them. The head is cast and the joint between the head and handle has strong cast detents but also a heavy spring under the head.

The orientation with the curved blade makes it easy and relatively comfortable to use.