Somehow, my turning tools arrived with 2 round-nose scrapers and no square scraper — customer keyboard error I’m sure. So, I thought rather than return one and wait for the square to arrive, I could simply grind the round-nose to a square, with a little supervision from Knots.
Near as I can tell by reading, a basic square scraper has a slightly radiused edge with a bevel of about 45 degrees. Any disagreement about this??
Thanks.
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
Replies
FG, I do not grind mine to 45 degrees. All you need is a small clearance angle say 2-3 degrees. Mine are typically ground straight across without a radius.
It all depends on what you are doing and what works for you though. There are probably as many opinions as there are turners.
Go ahead and grind what you have instead of waiting for a return.
Steve
The FWW article I found showed 3 basic style of scrapers, I figured for now the plainest one is what I need. I think I'd like a bit of radius, or at least eased corners, until I get my technique down. I've found another bit on scrapers that indicates very little bevel. It was this article by Richard Raffan, which I saw first, that indicated grinding at 45* Oh, these turning people, they are individualists, LOL. forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG, turners are indeed unique individuals.
Steve
I buy blanks and grind my scrapers as needed, thin, thick, square, various radiuses, angled, dovetail etc…. One thing to remember FG, turning tools are a consumable and if you turn much they get used up fast (I average one 3/8” bowl gouge a year at least) so don’t get attached or sentimental about them they are not fine hand planes! <!----><!----><!---->
"One thing to remember FG, turning tools are a consumable and if you turn much they get used up fast" Yeah, I'm finding that out trying to get a good cutting profile on my 3/8" spindle gouge! Too funny.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
The reason for a slight radius is so that the entire edge is not in contact with the wood. That's asking for catches. This is what Raffan argues in one of his books.
I agree with 3-5 degree bevel.
I made three scrapers from A2. I paid $60 for a 6 foot piece. I made a square nose, round and oval profile. I think the blank was 1/2" thick and 1 1/4 wide. The steel is easy to work before tempering. I do have access to a small milling machine, but it could be done using hand tools. Handles were made from whatever I could find laying around the shop.
Good luck and enjoy your new tools.
Bill
A thin cut-off wheel in a small angle grinder works well to cut and shape HSS rod or bar. The refine the bevel on a bench grinder.
Interesting reply to FG regarding scrapers. What's involved with the tempering process?Rich
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled