Card Scrapers Made Simple!

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Do you use card scrapers on your projects? Let me know!

[@michaelwillson6847]

I use them on certian things at least after a sharpened it back up after my wife set about taking paint off a door with mine.

[@b.scarpia7159]

Been using card scrapers since back in the 70's when introduced to it by a Tage Frid article. Back then you just laid the card flat and stroked the flats a few times to remove the dull burr with the burnisher and then set each side a few mills over the edge of the bench and made a few slightly angled passes with the burnisher all four sides. Done. Then Frank Klausz a few years later introduced the use of the file and the stone before laying the card flat, etc. Well done. And that's what I've done for 40 years. But after a move a few years ago when I lost track of my 1970's Sandvik scraper I despaired of ever getting more than dust from all the replacements I tried. Sandvik had packed it in, or so I thought. Turns out they merged with Bahco and their two sizes/thicknesses are back under the Bahco name and available from Highland Woodworking. As much as I scoff at all the fancy A2 - O1 Bevel up Bronze nonsense that's driving internet sales (my $60 bought-at-Home Depot just before they went to plastic handles Stanley #4 can beat up your Lie-Neilson); for scrapers, there's a BIG Worthwhile Difference. Frustrated by dust no matter what method you try? Get a Bahco Card Scraper, $12 each size, and, believe it or not, a $29 Crown (it's not what it used to be for most things) Burnisher. Oh yeah, the above video is the most well thought out and prctical I've seen. I subscribed.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Thanks for the kind words and sharing your experience! For a lot of tools, they just don't make them like they used to!

[@zstewart123]

Great video. Learned more about card scrapers than I have in past 4 yrs

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Awesome!

[@brunomarcato4591]

I have a tool that is really quite similar to a card scraper, and that is a 立ち鉋 (tachiganna). It's basically a Japanese plane blade placed at 90 degrees on the wooden body. I generally just sharpen it normally, keeping the back and the bevel as flat as possible, and polish/deburr on a fine grit stone. Just to make sure, it's a natural stone, so it's a LOT softer on the steel than a diamond plate. Because I sharpen it like a normal blade, it doesn't really have much of a burr, but still makes for a beautiful surface. Also, if I take it out of the body and scrape with the edge, it makes some really good curls. Thanks a lot for the video! Comparing what european and japanese woodworkers came up with is prettu fun :D

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Neat, thanks for sharing! It's really interesting how somethings are done very similar but have these subtle differences!

[@kmcg2609]

I’m new to this. This was a great video! Thank you!

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

You're so welcome!

[@temjiu9915]

Card scrapers are amazing, and really need to be in the toolkit of every woodworker. Any place where you would use a sander you can use a scraper instead, and not only do you get a much better surface, but no sawdust. I repeat, that stuff you get is small, but it's not sawdust, it's small shavings that will not get into your lungs (unless you snort them or something, but in that case I'd recommend a therapist, not a dust collector). Yes, some of it looks like dust, but that's not the stuff that kills your lungs. It's the small particles that look almost like smoke that drift through the air for a long time after you sand that's dangerous. It's even better then Sanding on finishes. scrape each layer of finish and brush off and your ready for your next coat. No vacuum or water or extra work to try and get dust out of the pores. because there isn't dust. it's much faster and easier then sanding in that context. Did I mention the addictively smooth surface it leaves? The only real concern I tend to get from people is the worry that they won't have a completely "flat" surface due to how the scraper only scrapes a portion at a time. But this isn't a prep tool, it's a finish tool. It's what you use after your plane to get that little extra smoothness. Or when you want a dust free surface for a second or third coat of finish. the actually amount of wood your taking from the surface is so minute that the human eye and finger won't notice it at all, especially with a finish on it. What you get from a planed or scraped surface after finish is a smooth surface that still exhibits the grain and wood fully, not being hidden by thousands of microscopic dust particles filling the grain (and yes, this is still there even after water wipe and vacuum when you sand. it hides much of the pores of the wood. If you want that surface hidden and covered, then sanding is what you want. But if you have that figured wood, or even just an amazing piece of walnut or ash or mahogany, the you want to plane and scrape so you can feel the wood as much as look at it for a lifetime. Veritas sells a great kit for sharpening the scraper that preps your scraper in about 1-2 minutes including pulling it out of the drawer. definitely worth the price. Rob Cosman also sells a kit that uses your current sharpening stones and is just a different approach, either one is great, very fast, and worth the price.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

I haven't tried the Veritas sharpeners, I'll have to look into that. Thanks for watching!

[@JL-wi9bd]

I've never used a scraper, however now I'm interested in giving one a try

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

It can be tricky at first if you've never done it! I hope the method and tips I showed in the video helps! If you still have questions just ask!

[@tgahan01]

Excellent presentation. Thank you.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Shujashaher]

One of the best scraper sharpening video👏👏👏

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Thank you!

[@fabricedemonaco6886]

merci

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

👍😎🇺🇸

[@DancingFox6]

Nice tips. Thanks.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

👍😁

[@Rebel9668]

I remember using those back in high school...if the piece of wood was narrower than the scraper they seemed to work fine, but if the board was wider than the scraper it tended to leave marks all over the board from the corners of the scrapers that were difficult to get rid of unless you sanded or planed the board afterwards which to me seemed dumb when I could have just planed and sanded the board in the first place. Have never had the desire to bother with the things since and didn't even know people still actually used the things until I started watching youtube, lol. It was tools like these, those wooden screw clamps that back then we called parallel clamps (though nowadays that's an altogether different clamp) that always had to be fidgeted with because they were almost never parallel after you clamped them onto something, bench planes, jack planes, block planes, etc. that completely turned me off of woodworking for years. I used to try to sharpen drill bits and could never get the angle right, could never get the blade in a plane set right, etc. etc. and to this day when a drill bit gets dull I throw it in the trash and buy another because it isn't worth the frustration. Thank God for power tools, lol, the only exception being a hand crank drill for certain jobs where I want to go slower.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Sometimes we come back to these kinds of things years later and it all just works or we finally figure it out! I did the same with scrappers. Couldn't figure it out years ago, then gave it another try and was amazed!

[@BeachsideHank]

It has been good practice to knock off the sharp outer edges of both plane blades and scrapers for this very reason, it does not take much, just a couple of licks on the stone and you'd be surprised at the improvement.

[@a9ball1]

I've got to say i love your stone technique. I wish more people would stop going back and forth on the same spot on the stone. I've seen so many at garage sales where they actually have a valley in the middle of them. Tip, when using the wood block on the stone, a wider piece of wood is easier to keep straight.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Yes, you want to keep the blade moving to prevent ruining your stone! Thanks!

[@janiceshrader4297]

Just out of curiosity, I have a knife set that came with a sharpening tool that I have never used. It is shaped remarkably similar to your burnishing tool. Not that I am trying to be cheap here, but could I use it as a burnishing tool. It’s just been gathering dust for 20 years. Why not make it useful. What do you think?

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

A knife sharpening steel isn't really a good option since they typically have grooves running the length of the steel and are not made from a hardened tool steel. A card scraper is made from much harder steel than cooking knives so it requires harder steel to form the burr. A card scraper burnisher is made of very hard tool steel and has a smooth, almost a mirror finish so you get a clean and not jagged burr.

[@MG-vo7is]

Thanks.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Welcome!

[@1deerndingo]

Could you cover intermediate sharpening. I've seen where a card scraper is give a quick touch up with the burnisher only. This is repeated a few times until a full sharpen such as you have shown is required.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

I covered it in the video, but only briefly. You just go back through the steps to draw out the burr and turn the hook. It's the exact same technique as doing it the first time. You can do this until the burr breaks off. At that point you go back to the file and stones. If you still have questions let me know!

[@4jmbl]

With the scraper used with a slight bend as you put pressure on it in the center, wouldn’t that create a valley in the wood?

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

A card scraper takes off very thin shavings, but yes if you keep using it in the same spot it can create a low spot. It's no different if you set a sander on the wood and didn't move it. You want to go over the entire surface of the wood to remove material evenly.

[@4jmbl]

@@biscuittreewoodworks pretty much what I figured. Thought I’d ask since I’ve never tried them. Didn’t know if the curve was severe enough. Thanks brother.

[@marvinostman522]

I have asked this question a few times and got no response. Maybe I am not too bright but this nags at me. You take such great pains to make sure your card scraper is perfectly flat and square then you flex it putting a bow in it. My question is why bend it? Using it that way you are putting a small groove in your work piece. If you aren’t getting a curl the full width of your work piece and or the scraper you are not ending up with a “flat” work piece. Could you explain that?

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

You can't get a shaving the full width of the scrapper because the scrapper is too soft and flexible. It would just chatter across the surface of the wood. The bow adds rigidity and a focal point for smoothing. The shavings are so fine you aren't going to get a groove in the wood unless you spend a long time in the same spot. These shavings are less than 0.001" thick. If you go up to a thicker blade, you now essentially have a cabinet scrapper. These also have a slight curve to the blade to prevent ridges from the corners of the blade digging into the wood. Even a properly sharpened hand plane blade will be sharpened so the corners are slightly higher than the middle of the blade to prevent these track marks from the corners. Hope that helps!

[@marvinostman522]

@@biscuittreewoodworks Yes it was helpful. I guess I had a card scraper and a cabinet scraper mixed up. As far as sharpening a plane iron so the corners don’t dig in is pretty minute. Most of the iron is flat. If the whole iron has a radius we are talking about a whole other animal. I was in a bind one time and needed a (now I will call it a cabinet scraper) scraper. I had 6” muddying knife. I took the handle off and did your sharpening process and it worked just fine. I had no chatter and had a glass smooth surface. I guess that is what made me ask the question. Thank you. I am more knowledgeable now. I hope you won’t be offended if I don’t put the handle back on my mudding knife or trowel which ever name you prefer.

[@liquidrockaquatics3900]

@@marvinostman522 to the point of keeping the scraper at 90 degrees to the abrasive surface when removing the old bevel and preparing the surface, you want the surface that the new bevel will be made from to be correct or any flaw would transfer directly. I saw another video where a gentleman bent his scraper in a slight curve when shaping the edge- no guide blocks because the curved shape ensures that it is perpendicular to the diamond stone(in that case)

[@carolwingert64]

This is amazing. I’ve never seen this.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Thanks!

[@mirandamom1346]

Here’s a business idea for somebody: if I could subscribe to a service that sent me a sharp card scraper and an envelope to return my dull scraper once a month, I’d pay for that. Until then, I’ll have to continue to live without a card scraper in my life.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Haha! I completely understand! I struggled with it at first, but once you get it, you can re-sharpen one in less than a minute!

[@michaelwillson6847]

If it helps try looking around for either a metal or woodworking shop there probably set up for sharpening and usually or least in my area they'll help u out with stuff like that worth try. A got my plainer blades sharpened from local joiner cost me £5

[@keithbrock6410]

Thanks for the video

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

Thank you for watching!

[@fungames24]

With all that maintenance, I don't want a scraper any more.

[@biscuittreewoodworks]

It's not that bad! Once you've done it a couple times you can get a fresh edge in no time at all!