Scraper Blades

[Nick]

I use an old set of Sandvik scrapers, mostly the rectangular one but the set also came with a swan neck which has various radiuses in it's shape & it's this one I use for my archtop recurves.

I also got a cheap set from LMI, it has several different shaped scrapers in it of which I really only use one...an elliptical shaped one(which also gets used during recurve of my double backs as it has a nice tight radius at each end). I was a bit dissappointed when I received them because it didn't state the thickness in the listing at that time, I see they have since rectified this, but they are just a bit thicker than a piece of paper! hence why I don't really use them.

[liam_fnq]

Al, I'd never heard of a card scraper til I started researching my first build and I must say using one for the first time was a revelation, for my thumbs especially. I bought a German made one from toolsforworkingwood. I use old electricians screwdrivers as burnishers. Be aware though that the first thing in my tropical workshop to go rusty is my scrapers, followed closely by chisels, planes etc.

I have seen some that just smash an old louvre in a box then use the pieces of broken glass as a scraper. When it goes dull just break a bit off to make a new edge.

[auscab]

With the burnisher ,the harder the better, I reckon a lot harder is better than a bit harder,I have heard of using smooth knife sharpeners , and seen lots of average attempts with the screw driver and the back of chisels, like Waddy says, about the knife sharpener " It's awesome. That said, a screwdriver shaft works just fine"

The first time I saw a triangular file used, the fellow that converted it ,ground the grooves off and did the rest on his oil stone, kept it as hard as it came, but its a bit of work.

Annealing is a bit of fun ,its amazing how soft it becomes, compared to how hard it was. one way I do it is get red hot with the oxy and poke it in to a container packed with the finest saw dust, make it air tight and put it outside, it takes hours to cool,the saw dust goes to charcoal arround it for an inch or so ,when cold its easy as mild steel to work and polish, then heat it up to bright red and quench in water, swirling it arround, next time though I will be trying the brine after learning more about that here in a previous post.

I ended up doing burnishers and scrapers because it was the fastest and cheapest way to get a set of good tools to a new apprentice or tradesman, fast and cheap because I had the tools, the angle grinder and the linisher. the oxy is just a bonus , the wood fire works well
after years of hoarding ,steel and wood it's all sitting there . obviously going out to get any of this for one job costs, so way cheaper to buy one ,or the free valve or knife sharpener.

cheers Rob