carbide blank to make an engineer scraper

[ali27]

Hi guys. I want to buy a carbide engineer scraper, but they are too expensive. They cost
about 50 pounds.

Buying a carbide blank is much cheaper, but I need to place a minimum order of 100 pound/euro/dollar and even
more at some sites.

Can anybody help me get a carbide blank? Size is about 1/4" x 3/32" x 1" rectangle.
Or if somebody has one carbide engineer scraper that he isn't using, I would like to
buy it.

Thanks

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Are you sure you really need a carbide scraper? The ones I know of had replaceable carbide tips, since sharpening them enough for scraping work needed some specialist kit. You may do it with several grades of diamond lapping paste, but it's not that easy.

Everybody I know uses carbon steel scrapers, which are fairly readily available from engineer's merchants in several shapes and sizes. They take a better edge than the carbide ones, and are far easier to sharpen - any woodworker's sharpening kit will work, but finish them on as fine a stone as you can lay your hands on.

If your workpiece is too hard for a steel scraper, you may be better off using successively finer paper-backed abrasives, or lapping pastes on small rotary disks.

 

[Bod]

What do you want to do with it?
Decorators supplies have carbide bladed scrapers.

Bod

 

[ali27]

Hi guys. I want to use the scraper to flatten plane soles and other stuff. I can get
a very flat sole by using sandpaper, but I like to learn scraping.

I had a HSS blade from a mujingfang plane that I used, but it needed sharpening every 2
minutes or so and was no fun at all.

 

[Bedrock]

Keep an eye out at second hand tool dealers. I bought one from Penny Farthing Tools when it was in Salisbury, and the other, I think from the place in Yapton, West Sussex. They weren't dirt cheap - c£16=18 = IIRC, but were a worthwhile buy.

Otherwise, grind off the grooves on a worn out file from a decent Sheffield maker, curve the blunt end and polish, probably a diamond slip is best. You are not going for a final finish here, just something to remove the worst high spots.
Someone did an article referring to this in F&C some years ago- David Charlesworth? If nothing else, it will get you used to the technique, until a carbide one comes along, if that is what you have set your mind on.

Mike

 

[Bedrock]

Sorry on reading that again, the scrapers I bought were engineers carbon steel, not carbide.

Mike

 

[bugbear]

I've flattened a plane sole to half a thou without needing carbide; just a sequence of SiC, files, and vintage (cheap!) engineers scrapers in carbon steel (not even HSS).

BugBear

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

If you are set on using carbide, might I suggest using a carbide insert from a CN machine tool? They come in all sorts of shapes and all you would have to do is make a holder out of a piece of mild steel, with the hardest part of that process drill & tapping the hole to hold the insert.

With that said, here in the states, scrapers are still available from catalog companies such as MSC or McMaser Carr. I have several (different shapes) made from HSS and are fairly cheap.

 

[RKrush]

Is this what you are looking for? Faithful make them in different guises. If it is what you want then search 'Faithfull Engineers Hand Scraper'

 

[ali27]

If you are set on using carbide, might I suggest using a carbide insert from a CN machine tool? They come in all sorts of shapes and all you would have to do is make a holder out of a piece of mild steel, with the hardest part of that process drill & tapping the hole to hold the insert.

With that said, here in the states, scrapers are still available from catalog companies such as MSC or McMaser Carr. I have several (different shapes) made from HSS and are fairly cheap.

Yeah you guys in the US have many good companies to buy. I have to place a minimum order or I can't buy
from them. C2 Carbide blanks the size I need are like 5 dollars or so.

I will look for the carbide inserts. THanks

 

[Normancb]

USD 5 is about GBP 3 and you are not likely to get cheaper than that, though minimum order is a problem. You could try Wealden tools - they sell replaceable tip router cutters. Alternatively may be worth a call to JB Cutting Tools in Sheffield - they are at most of the engineering shows with all sorts of odd carbide cutters.

Greenwood Tools sells inserts for the Sandvik carbide scraper but the price will make you wince!

As others have said, most scraping is still done with carbon steel tools

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

I would suggest finding a local (UK) machine shop that uses CNC equipment. Find out what they do with the worn out carbide cutter tips. They may be too dull for motorized metal working, but will be perfectly to use for fabricating a metal scraper.