Has anybody out there tried or have an opinion about using a steel scraper or even a cabinet scraper to remove finish/clear coat for refinishing projects. I’m looking for alternative for stripping or sanding. I haven’t used one before so I don’t know what problems it yeild. Thanks for any help.
Replies
It beats sanding but you'll find old finish dulls a scraper pretty quickly.
I second Mangler. Really quick to remove old finish. I stripped an extensive butcher block kitchen surface in a couple of hours. I'd prepped three card scrapers. Also I cut down a scraper to about half an inch to work along behind the sink and that worked well too. I agree that it's hard on the scraper but all I had to do was push over the edge and redraw the edge.
Wear gloves though - those card scrapers get really hot quickly
Tim
Soon-to-be furniture maker
Port Townsend, WA
I wish I asked this question a while ago, my shop is a large shed (no ventilation) so I try to avoid chemicals which means I've been a sanding madman lately. Thanks for the replys.
Dread,
In general I try to avoid sanding. I plane and/or use a scraper to to finish. In most cases I think it is easer than sanding - certainly easier on the air in the shop. I admit it takes time a practise but not that much.Good luck.TimTim Lawson
Soon-to-be furniture maker
Port Townsend, WA
Dread,
An old timer who worked for many years in a Boston furniture house used broken glass to scrape off finishes. He'd take a scrap piece of glass, put it in a paper bag and drop it on the ground.
That guy stole my secret! I do the same thing with the broken glass. Wicked Decent Woodworks
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
If you have a great deal of scraper work to do, and you'd like to be kind to your hands, take a look at the Veritas scraper holder. Their scraper set is real nice too -- has a variable burnisher in it to enable you to put a perfect hook on the scraper.
Gadgets, I know, but helpful gadgets!
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
---I got the veritas mag the day I posted and was already considering it. I was also looking at the cabinet scraper... ..looks handy.
--I was showing my boss the veritas mag today, when he got to the page with the scrapers he sayz "I used to just use a piece of glass for scraping".
--I starting using a plane to see how well it works on finished pieces, but my skill level isn't very great and I tend to get a slight dip were I start the plane... .. so I grapped a piece of sand paper instead (its an old piece and I don't want to ruin it).
I too prefer to use a scraper whenever possible, but would like to re-iterate the quick dulling, and of course the inevitable sharpening, which is not that hard once you understand how it works.
Chemicals is messy business, and as the serious strippers generally have either serious chemicals or serious solvents, due diligence on the saftety side of things is required of course. Sometimes however, you got no choice.....
Scrapers can also be easily shaped to profiles of mouldings, or various curves etc
Eric
If you go into a paint store and get a Hyde tools scraper, the type with a large plastic handle and a wing nut that holds on a small metal two edged scraper blade.
These work really well if you sharpen them with a file to a fairly acute angle. Then angle the scraper when you use it so it gives a bit of a shearing action. It will cut very quickly and easily so be careful. And resharpen frequently. Get extra blades (they are cheap). Oh yeah, another thing, if you wear down the corners a bit more with the file, you have less of a chance of gouging your work - sort of like a scrub plane.
Sometimes - just sometimes, you don't need really expensive tools to yield really first class results. This is one of those times.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled