A cabinet scraper may be used to smooth hard timber with difficult grain that is subject to tearout or fiddleback. Would this work with card scrapers, I wondered? When the color is gone, the filing is done. Use 20 or 30 weight motor oil or the wood scraper sharpening jacket, not thin cutting wood scraper sharpening jacket you want to lubricate the scraper to be sure the burnisher slides smoothy with no chance of biting into it and tearing the cutting edges. All these rules apply to scrapers. But none of the accounts agree on the details. They're simply thin, flat pieces of steel, with straight or curved edgs that can be formed into tiny, high-angle cutting tools.

Card scrapers clean up a workpiece like no other tool, leaving a scratch-free, glassy-smooth surface ready for finishing.

To achieve this kind of performance, you must maintain a sharp cutting burr on the scraper's edge. Fortunately, doing that requires only a pair of common tools. Here's how. With the scraper lying flat on the bench, slide it back and forth against the file until you've made the scraper's edge perfectly straight.

Straighten the opposite edge, too. Do this for both faces on both edges; then remove the file from the vise. Using a screwdriver with a hard, steel shaft, press down firmly while holding it perpendicular to the scraper face—parallel to the benchtop. Stroke back and forth until you can feel a burr forming on each side of the edge.

Repeat the process from Step 3 to further roll the burr, as shown in the illustration above, to give it a more aggressive cutting edge. Stop when you can feel a burr that's about equal to the other side. Angle it forward and, when you feel the burr grab the wood, begin pushing forward while holding at that angle to produce light shavings.

After I milled some custom oak molding, then stained and finished it to match the existing woodwork Skip to main content. How to Sharpen a Card Scraper. Previous X of 6 View all Next. Scraper Card scrapers clean up a workpiece like no other tool, leaving a scratch-free, glassy-smooth surface ready for finishing.

File 1 Select a mill file that's at least 3" longer than your scraper, and clamp it horizontally in a bench vise. Lay the scraper on a firm, flat surface such as your bench, and wipe a liberal smear of heavy oil along the edge. Use 20 or 30 weight motor oil or the like, not thin cutting oil; you want to lubricate the scraper to be sure the burnisher slides smoothy with no chance of biting into it and tearing the cutting edges.

Bring the burnisher on flat, with your thumb bearing down hard directly above the scraper's edge, and stroke its full length fifteen or twenty times. This will make the surface smoother hence sharper , and both harder and tougher as well, so the tiny burr you're soon to create will be able to stand up to the kind of hard work you're going to ask of it. Apply eight to ten pounds' pressure; enough to feel firm without hurting your thumb.

Flip the scraper over and burnish the opposite side, then turn it around lengthwise and do the other two edges as well. We might be smarter to call this "forming the edge" to avoid confusion about what "burr" means. In this case, it does not mean the sort of torn, ragged cornice we're usually talking about when we use the word. On a scraper the "burr" is actually the clean, smooth and continuous cutting edge created by filing and burnishing.

You're going to use the burnisher very gently to push that cutting edge up to form a tiny, sharp hook that runs the full length of the scraper. The edge you're about to work on is sharp, which means there's very little steel right out at the cutting edge—which means it takes very little pressure to push it up into a tiny burr.

Applying no more than about 8 ounces of pressure, stroke the edge full length five to ten times. Now wipe off the oil and feel the results. The burr should hardly be big enough to detect; it should feel mostly just like a very sharp edge. A distinct, heavy burr won't work well at all, so if you've produced such a thing, use the burnisher to lay it out flat and try again. Turn a burr on all four edges, so you'll be able to do plenty of work before you need to start over.

As you use the scraper, its tiny edge won't last terribly long, and eventually it will begin making more dust than shavings. At this point you probably won't have to resharpen unless you've be doing something rough such as scraping glue squeeze-out, which might have damaged rather than merely dulled the edges.

Lay on a smear of oil and use the burnisher lightly to lay any remaining burr out flat. Now repeat the process of burnishing and turning the burr just as before. Often you'll be able to do this several times before the edges are worn beyond easy repair. Then it will be time to pick up the file and start from scratch. Scrapers may be pushed or pulled as you please. Pulling is the soundest way to scrape large flat areas efficiently. With eight fingers distributing pressure evenly behind the blade, lean the top edge toward you as you pull it along the grain.

To avoid creating a washboard effect, skew the scraper slightly, first to the left for a couple of strokes, then to the right, rather than facing it consistently perpendicular to the grain. Pushing the scraper, with your thumbs bowing the center forward, narrows the cutting area and allows you to work very precisely, removing material from a narrow line or a specific spot without disturbing the surroundings. The scraper's high cutting angle makes it generate a lot of heat; it doesn't take long for your thumbs to start sizzling.

A scraper holder, such as our Veritas model, lets you push or pull the tool as well as control the degree of bowing, without roasting yourself in the process. High Friction Finger Wrap Tape can also protect against heat buildup.

Many wood finishes, such as lacquers and varnishes, can be scraped smooth between coats faster, flatter and with more control than with sandpaper. Start by scraping across both ends of a piece; it's hard to start at the end without cutting too deep.

Then scrape full length, skewing the tool and overlapping strokes just as on bare wood.

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