At this point, I switch from the sharpening station to my scraper set up that I have described in a recent previous post. That rig has been working for around 40 years and still going strong. 

It pays off to first use your burnisher (you can read about what I use from a few posts ago) to push and stroke the flat side of the scraper. Keep the edge as close to flat as you can, without being totally in contact of the full width. It is really only touching near the edge. Go back and forth several times with moderate pressure. 

Finally, it is time to burnish the edge you will use for scraping. As seen in the photo below, the scraper is securely clamped with just a short amount exposed. The burnisher is pushed and/or pulled the full length of the edge with moderate pressure. 

I find it very helpful to move across some of the length of the burnisher as I push or pull it. I find this creates the scraper’s cutting edge better. 

It is important to set the angle and keep it consistent throughout the stroke. But at what angle? I have changed over time, back and forth, and realize there are many good choices. 

I think about 5° is a good starting practice, and is what I generally prefer now. Note that as you go more steep, the scraper must be held and worked at a stepper angle to cut the wood. That starts to reduce your scraping ease and hand power. 15° is the maximum practical angle. 10° is overall better. I have seen as little as 1-2° recommended.

I set my angle at the beginning with my Wixey angle gauge. The real key is to be consistent throughout the burnishing stroke. This will make the scraper yield a consistent cutting effect for the width of the scraper as you work.

After using the scraper for a while, you can resharpen it by just redoing the final steps (i.e., what is in this post). No need to redo the sharpening stone work. Use the burnisher to flatten the curled edge by compressing against the flat side of the tool. The burnisher is held just a trace less than fully flat against the flat side of the scraper.

Then burnish the edge as you did before. You can even readjust the angle. After about three times, redo the whole routine again. It will be easier than at the start. 

I hope this has been useful to support, alter, or even begin your work with this very handy tool – the cabinet scraper. It is not a mysterious or difficult tool to prepare and use! Happy woodworking! 

We well start from the beginning. 

The edge is made flat, straight, and very smooth at 90°. This can be filed first, though I generally find this unnecessary because all can be readily done with sharpening stones. If you prefer, use a smooth mill file and a piece of wood to hold it square to the scraper edge. 

I start with my 325/45µ DMT diamond stone, using a simple block of wood to keep the scraper edge square to the stone while consistently moving it to different spaces on the stone as you scrape it. 

I do the same next on the 1200/9µ diamond face. Then I finish on the next finer step that I have available: the 8000/~2µ Kuromaku stone. To stop at 1200 is not bad but there is not much extra work to finish finer. Even 4000 is pretty good if that is what you have available. 

Next, the same general process is done to the flat face. Here, however, there is no need to take forever doing the whole surface. Just a short width – say 1/8” or so – needs to be treated to meet with the edge.

The easiest way to do this is the same general method developed by the late master David Charlesworth for the general sharpening step of the back of a blade. He used a thin strip – I like a .020” strip of plastic – under the blade on one side of the stone, while the other side the blade only contacts the stone with a very narrow width. For scrapers, I again use a simple block of wood to keep the edge contacting the stone flat and straight. Thus, only the most outer small fraction of an inch gets sharpened, and it is much less work.

Just like the edge work up, I go through 325, 1200, and 8000. I usually like to use grippy, waterproof gloves for this work on the wetted stones. 

I find that a little bit of back-and-forth between the edge and the side faces cleans things up nice and neat. And now you are done with the hard work!

Next, we will do the burnishing work.

Now let us consider tuning up the hand scraper. Despite what you may have heard, read, or viewed, this is not a difficult task. What makes some demonstrations and discussions confusing is not presenting a simple understanding of exactly what you need to do with the scraper steel. Most demos do not clearly state what the actual task is for each step.

In the next post I will show and discuss the actual tasks being done. In this post, I will state what is done to the scraper metal at each stage. 

First, the sides and the skinny edge must be made flat and smooth. You do this because the steel is not manufactured smooth enough. That is ok. They should also be approximately square to each other. The surfaces should be honed to at least 1000 stone grit. Better is about 4000, even more. 

Second, compression should be applied to the side faces, just near the edges. Push hard on the steel repeatedly. 

Third, the edge itself should be burnished at an angle – to create the hook which is used to cut wood – scraping.  

That’s it. Done. There are variations and alternatives to achieve each step. These steps are not fully repeated for every sharpening. Every three or so sharpenings, however, require going back to some of the earlier steps. 

Coming up, I will show how I do it. There are other equally good methods and helper jigs to achieve the same principles.  

When you see – and understand – what is going on, you can alter the methods and probably come up with some of your own.   

Here are the dozen hand-blade scrapers that I use. In upcoming posts, I will discuss usages, techniques, and how to sharpen them. 

These are all steel in the hardness range of Rc 48 – 52. Most are Lee Valley. Lie-Nielsen and Bahco are similarly very good. Thickness dimensions are inches/mm.

Top photo, left column, top to bottom:

Sizes approximate. Widths vary from initial purchase due to honing wear.   

1.  .020”/.50mm  6” x 2 1/2”

2.  .024”/.60mm  6” x 2”

3.  .024”/.60mm  5” x 2 3/8”

4.  .032”/.80mm  6” x 2 2/8”

Top photo, right column, top to bottom, curved models:

1.  .024”/.60mm  concave-convex

2.  .024”/.60mm  double convex with different radii

3.  .024”/.60mm  gooseneck 

4.  .016”/.40mm  two mini scrapers 1” x 2” (1” parts sharpened)

Here is the simple storage block (4” wide x 3 1/2” long x 1 3/8” high) with angled slots sawn:

In the photo below, are three concave and convex small scraper combinations, 3” to 3 1/2” overall diameter. I find these very handy. I do not recall the brand name.

I store them in the simple thin leather stapled wallet:

So that’s my crew. I have left the cabinet scraper out of the discussion for now. More scraper discussion is on the way, including how to prepare, sharpen, and work with them.

I wrote about this tool a few years ago, having used it for many more years. It is used for scraper sharpening but it is derived from a saw sharpening device detailed in the book: Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking, Book 1, 1979, page 16. My design is significantly different and used entirely differently. 

This holder makes scraper care easier and more comfortable. I will show and detail the uses for sharpening and flattening scrapers in future posts. Now let us look at the construction of the holder.

Start with two 8” x 8” pieces of 3/4” plywood, each with a top bevel of 45°. (There is a vertical slot and horizontal rim in each piece of the Frid that are not used in this one.) The two pieces are joined by a pair of metal hinges at the bottom edges. 

At the top of each angled edge is a pair of hardwood jaw ends, each about 3/16” thick, to improve their grip. Note the tiny gap that is largest at the center of the jaws, and also the tiny gap at the lower edge of the jaws. These improve the grab contact of a scraper by the jaws.

To tighten them closed, the jaws have two 5/16” button head screws (using free holes), washers, and star nobs that are placed 6” from the bottom and 2” in from each side.  

Attached to the inner jaw is a 14” long piece from a good 2 x 4, trimmed to 3 1/4” wide, with the top planed smooth and flat. The attachment is 4” from the bottom of the jaws and centered. Use three strong hex head screws and washers.

Now let’s see how it is securely held in the tail vise of the workbench. Attached with wood screws at the inner end of the 14” rod is a piece of sturdy 1/2” plywood. It is a trace less than 3 1/4” wide. For length, you want about 1” available to reach below the full thickness at this area of the bench’s tail vice. 4 1/2” long works well for my workbench.

Now, use a direct way (hold it, then clamp it?) to mark where to screw on a horizontal “hook piece” of hardwood about 7/8” tall x 3/4” wide x 3” long. (See the right side of the top photo.) This hooks under the work bench construction.

Finally, screw on a piece of hardwood to extend outward of each side (see the next two photos below), about 5 1/2” long  x 7/8” wide x 3/4” thick, to the top of the 14” rod about 1/2” behind the front of the workbench.

Here it is entirely gripped by the workbench and the bench’s tail vise:

One more thing. Note the three 5/8” diameter x 3/4” deep holes on the platform area. These allow wooden pegs to prevent sliding for burnishing scrapers flat. The center hole is to work with cabinet scraper blades.

This construction makes the vise helpful and strong for burnishing a scraper. It is well held by the workbench. It also has a convenient area for flattening, avoiding medal debris on the workbench. The structure is not difficult to make.

More to come on the topics of scrapers and scraping them.

I enjoyed some instruction classes in the mid-1980s by the late, great Tage Frid at the old Woodcraft store at 313 Montvale Avenue in Woburn, Massachusetts. 

That store then was still the only Woodcraft, having moved north from Boston in 1968. Woodcraft started as a one-room shop in Boston’s North End in 1928 and later expanded. Around 1990, the company started to expand nationally. Much later, the Woburn store moved to its current location, also in Woburn. Woodcraft is now 67 stores nationwide. 

It was at the original Woburn store more than 40 years ago where I bought my Ulmia workbench that I still use. From then, I no longer had to use my own rigs. I had built my first bench in 1971. Before that, the first bench I used was inherited from my grandfather.

https://www.rpwoodwork.com/blog/2022/08/23/the-first-workbench-i-built/

Now back to the main topic! 

Even more fun and instructive was talking with Frid years later when I randomly saw him shopping at the former woodworking store in Cambridge, MA. (It became a Rockler but closed a couple of years ago.)

As I searched the tools around the store, I saw Frid doing much the same as I was doing: managing ideas. Understand, this was the renowned Tage Frid! The man who, probably more than anyone else, brought and taught the skills of woodworking to America. To see him searching at the store much like I was, and then have the privilege and joy of talking with him, really struck me.

Recognizing him still learning and thinking about woodworking, helped me understand that what I too was doing was healthy and creative. Searching, thinking, trying – woodworking. 

Of course, as a woodworker, I am just a small fraction of a Frid. Yet, I hope you happily read here and it benefits you. It is meaningful and, ultimately, joyous.  

A burnisher to sharpen scrapers is widely available from many manufacturers in several variations. What works very well for me is one that I developed. As far as I know, this is unique.

The rod was made of carbide in sub-micron grain size at my request by Innovative Carbide Inc. in Pennsylvania. The hardness of this material is rated 91-92 in the Rockwell A range! This is significantly harder than a 70 at the top of the C range. C is used for tool steels such as chisels, plane blades, and scraper burnishers, all usually about 59 – 64 C. 

This hardness allows easier pressing on the scraper steel which is typically 48 – 52 C. 

The rod is 3/16” in diameter. This works very well. The narrow rod, especially at 91-92 A, more efficiently presses out an angled metal edge on the scraper. Less effort is required than using a rod that is twice the thickness and not as hard.

After 20 years of use, the rod shows no wear. If I built it again, I might choose 1/4” diameter for a little more control, but certainly not wider than 1/4”. Anyway, the 3/16” works well and is exceptionally useful in small curved scrapers. 

The 3/8” diameter, especially at the typical 60 – 62C found in almost all commercial burnishers, does not give as much effective power in pressing out the cutting edge.

The thin and very hard rod in my burnisher gives great contact and control in sharpening a scraper. 

The rod is actually 12” long, which is more than I needed. I used it with 5” in a wooden handle. I was never totally happy with the 7” of exposed working length. I changed to 4” of length in each of two small wooden handles. This leaves 4” to work with. Perfect.

I can push the tool at an angle and move down the range of the angle. This is very effective in making an excellent edge in the scraper. It also works well to flatten a failing edge over the side of the scraper in intermediate-stage sharpening.  

To make all of this work well, I have long used a vise based on what is shown in the 1979 book “Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking.” I added a platform setup to hold it all in the workbench tail vise. I will review my design features in an upcoming post to add onto an old post about that.

Burnishers I have found online, worth noting: Blue Spruce makes a two-handled burnisher with a 3/8” rod of “textured high carbon tool steel.” O’Skool also makes one with two handles. The 3/8” rod is 61C “chrome molybdenum.” The working length of the O’Skool is listed by photo as 2 11/16”, and the Blue Spruce looks about the same.

My scraper sharpening burnisher tool gives easy, comfortable, and very effective sharpening and flattening.

The previous series of posts showed and explained four ways to secure wood at the workbench to facilitate work. And there are at least a dozen more ways. It should be convenient to set up, work on, and take down.  

This key factor has been important since the first time you ever worked on wood, even at an early age. Yet often it is neglected or done poorly.  

So, why is it so important and deserves so much attention?

We woodwork with our hands. With good hand tools or machines, the hands ultimately choose and control what happens to the wood. While they are guided by sight, sound, mind, and time, and supported by the rest of the body, the hands make the final actions. 

What usually happens in early learning of woodworking, the hands cannot do there job because the wood is not properly set in place and stable. I think that is the most common confusion when developing woodworking skills and   retaining them. 

In practical summary, I suggest taking the time and trouble to set up the wood well. I bet your hands will do the job as they lead the tools to success.