It sounds like you may have made the scraper flat but the edges are not square. When you treat the edge of a scraper, (file or stone) you have to make sure that you’re doing it at 90 deg.
Leonard Lee’s book, “The Complete Guide to Sharpening” has very nice instructions.
When sharpening your scraper, start at the beginning! File the edge using whatever means you wish to keep the file exactly perpendicular to the sides of the scraper. Then use the edge of a sharpening stone to remove the file marks. Then flatten the scraper on your stones surface. From there, I go right to the burnisher.
Worst thing you can do (to a scraper that is) is round over the edge with either the file or the stone. If the edge is rounded it will be impossible to get a nice burr.
Keep after it! Once you learn it, it’s like riding a bike! Correctly used, scrapers are pure joy! Nothing beats them at what they do! Enjoy!
Mack
“WISH IN ONE HAND, S–T IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST”
Replies
Thanks. Will ensure the sides of the scraper are perpendicular to the edge. Just out of curiosity, how many passes with the rod does it normally take?
Jackjall your not alone thanks for posting this question. I believe that i have rounded over most of my scrapers.
Aaron
Jackhall,
There are more than a couple ways to successfully sharpen a scraper. The only wrong way is one that doesn't produce a sharp edge that lasts.
As to how many strokes with a burnisher, I learned the hard way not to use many strokes and not to bear down too much. I used to set the scraper upright and really press down to create a burr. Then I would turn the edge with several more hard passes.
I got edges I could easily feel with either my finger or its nail. My edges were sharp too. However, they cut nicely for only a swipe or two and then made nothing but wood dust. Mysteriously, I could still feel an edge.
What I was doing, of course, was creating way too much of a burr, and so an edge that was too big and too thin. An edge that is thinned out by too much pressure folds up in no time. So instead of being sharp the edge was rounded over; it was still enough there to feel, but it didn't cut.
These days it's 'easy does it' with the burnisher. I now lay the scraper down flat on the bench to create a burr. I run my burnisher along the flat of the scraper, for no more than five strokes, usually only three strokes or so, with not nearly as much pressure as before. This not only creates a proper burr, but also work hardens it.
Only then do I put the scraper upright and turn the edge. Easy does it! No more than two, or three strokes tops, with moderate pressure.
All this creates a longer lasting edge--not just because it isn't too large, but also because this method work hardens the edge on both sides. My hand scrapers and my Stanley #80 now make lovely little shavings instead of dust, and continue to do so far longer.
I hope this too-long post has something in it that's helpful.
Alan (once again going on and on)
For years I used hard pressure with the burnisher thinking that a big "hook" was desirable.
It isn't.
Many of us think that a big hook/burr is desirable. It isn't desirable and a big hook/burr won't cut as well nor last as long as a delicate hook/burr.
Try what I'm about to suggest. If it fails, you can simply revert to whichever other approach appeals to you.
Hold the sharpened scraper in you non-dominant hand so that the plane of the scraper is vertical. The two edges you will work on first are upward.
Hold the burnisher, whichever type you like/own, in your dominant hand.
Approximate a 45 degree angle betwen the edge you wish to work on and the burnisher. Lightly pass the burnisher once from the far end of the scraper toward you.
Try the scraper, feeling for the most effective cutting angle.
WilliamI make something, sometimes twice, each year.
I usually use three on each edge, increasing the angle a little bit on each stroke. Smear a drop of oil on the burnisher. Apply pressure depending on what you want to scrape. If you're scraping paint get yourself a heavy hook. If you're finishing a nice piece of wood use a gentle hook (less pressure). Almost every WWing book has instructions for sharpening a scraper and none that I've seen are too far off the track. By far the most important thing (IMHO) is to get those edges square. I don't know how much you've used scrapers but the first time you get one to work correctly it's almost a religous experience!! Patience plus perseverance yields skill! Pretty zen hugh!? LOL
Mack"WISH IN ONE HAND, S--T IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST"
To turn up a good burr on the scraper, the long edges need to filed to a sharp square edge. The edges should be knife sharp, if they're rounded, the metal isn't there to be pushed into a burr.
The burnisher works better if the radius of the bearing edge is a small diameter. A triangular tool with a slightly rounded edge applies the pressure on a much smaller area, and raises a burr more easily, than a 1/4 inch diameter rod. Use a little oil on the edge as you turn up the burr, the burnisher will slide easier.
A scraper with a very hard edge will be harder to turn a burr on, you might have better luck with a different piece of steel. You can clamp the scraper in a vise to steady it so that you can apply greater pressure, possibly using two hands on the burnisher. "Light strokes" may work for some, but I bear down with moderate force.
If you want to turn up an especially large burr, which is useful for removing old finishes, turn up a burr and then flatten it back down by running the burnisher down the side of the scraper, then go back a second time and turn up the burr. This can also be done to a worn burr to restore a fresh edge without having to file the edges square again.
I turn up a burr by starting with the burnisher a 90 degrees to the blade and increase the angle with each pass, working from the center of the blade out to the end and then reversing the stroke to do the remaining half.
Hope this helps, John
Something that's pointed out too seldom is that it's pointless to break out the burnisher and attempt to roll a burr on a scraper unless it's already sharp and square enough to produce shavings; if all you get is dust, rolling a burr is premature.
I've found that if the cutting edges (not the entire surface) are polished to a mirror finish, the burr lasts longer. Scrapers with visible scratches on the cutting surfaces don't seem to hold an edge for as long as highly polished surfaces.
I've found that I can tune up my scrapers in just a few minutes using an extra fine diamond stone, followed by an 8,000-grit ceramic stone. At this point, I can go straight to scraping and produce fine shavings. Rolling the burr just makes the cutting a little more aggressive.
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
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