{"id":412,"date":"2009-06-02T01:25:20","date_gmt":"2009-06-02T06:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/?p=412"},"modified":"2009-06-02T01:25:20","modified_gmt":"2009-06-02T06:25:20","slug":"three-scraping-tools-two-i-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/02\/three-scraping-tools-two-i-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Three scraping tools, two I use"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I find myself using only two of the three scraping tools<\/strong> pictured here. The odd one out for me is the #80-type cabinet scraper, with the spokeshave-like wing handles. While\u00a0there is a wide range of valid opinion<\/strong> on this subject, and\u00a0a legion of other scraping tools, here are reasons for my preferences.<\/p>\n

The humble card scraper is the ultimate in simplicity and utility<\/strong> in a woodworking tool. I use .024″<\/strong> thick scrapers for general smoothing, and .020″ scrapers for more delicate or focal tasks. I keep a .032″ scraper for unusually heavy work but find it too tiring to bend for general work. I do not use scraper holders since they decrease the sensitive control of the tool in my hands. Since I am using the scrapers for finishing a surface, not dimensioning it, the card scraper works well on areas up to a small table top.<\/p>\n

All of these scrapers are hardened to about Rc50<\/strong>. Lie-Nielsen, Bahco, and Lee Valley are fine brands. I keep a few .020″ x 1″ x 2″ mini scrapers (from Lee Valley) that are very handy for touch up work in restricted places. I also keep some softer .020″ scraper stock to easily file into special shapes. Gooseneck and curved scrapers complete the set.<\/p>\n

The cabinet scraper\u2019s main disadvantage<\/strong> is its short sole. It lacks both the handiness of the card scraper and the control of the scraper plane. Despite skewing techniques, I find it is unreliable at the beginning and end of boards, and has neither the finger tip control nor the\u00a0steadiness to avoid occasional blade chatter<\/strong>. The one pictured is a fine quality tool that I\u2019ve owned for over 20 years, and the aftermarket Hock blade is excellent, but it now mostly sits idle. I\u2019ve briefly tried the Veritas model which has a slightly longer sole but it didn\u2019t fly for me.<\/p>\n

The folks at Veritas have, fortunately for us, a healthy obsession with scraping, and one product of this is their superb Scraping Plane<\/strong> which has a variable blade angle and the ability to bow the .055″ blade<\/strong>. I once owned a Kunz version but it lacked the ability to bow the blade. Lie-Nielsen makes a similarly large scraper plane, an excellent tool, but its much thicker blade is a different working approach which I found too fastidious to deal with.<\/p>\n

With the Veritas, cutting depth is controlled with a combination of the blade angle and the amount of bow<\/strong>. Varying each of these also alters the cutting feel, useful for different woods. The large sole keeps the work flat and prevents digging in, while the tool\u2019s mass helps avoid chatter.<\/p>\n

After much experimenting, I find it easier and more effective to prepare the blade\u00a0with a 90 degree edge<\/strong> (like a card scraper), contrary to the usual recommendation of 45 degrees for scraper planes. This seems to give a more solid, though less aggressive, cutting action, and is pleasingly reminiscent of a card scraper, but with the mass and registration of the big body plane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I find myself using only two of the three scraping tools pictured here. The odd one out for me is the #80-type cabinet scraper, with the spokeshave-like wing handles. While\u00a0there is a wide range of valid opinion on this subject, and\u00a0a legion of other scraping tools, here are reasons for my preferences. The humble card […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools-and-shop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":414,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}