Scraper burnisher

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Chris Knight

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If you use a scraper and you don't have one of these http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=262341 you are really missing something. I use scrapers a lot and thanks to a Bruce Luckhurst finishing course I attended a few years ago, I learnt to sharpen it in the time-honoured way and got good enough that I can sharpen one in about two minutes from start to finish. The trouble is that two minutes starts when I have navigated my way from my work bench to an adjacent shop where I keep all my sharpening paraphernalia. The result is that when my last scraper is blunt, I persist with it longer than is sensible.

No more! I saw this gadget at the Axminster show last year and have only now got around to using it. I left it in my drawer so long because it was being sold alongside the usual snake oil and quick fixes that always intrigue me but usually disappoint and I fully expected this scraper to be more of the same - I only bought it because I am a sucker for a good salesman!

However, this little tool is a delight, I can now sharpen four edges of a scraper in 10 seconds - quite literally. Just grasp the scraper in left hand, one pass on the edge to be sharpened with this gadget (that now lives in my back pocket) and I'm ready to go. A really light touch is all that is needed otherwise one turns a really big burr that can be fragile.

I find that I can raise a burr on the same edge about five or six times before I need to "consolidate" the edge with the tools round carbide section prior to resuming the bevel raising operation. I only need to hone the edge on a stone every twenty to thirty bevel raisings.

Axminster are now selling the thing at £17 wich is lot more than I paid at the show (£12) but nonetheless, I reckon this would be one of the best £17 you will ever spend on a tool should you get one.
 
Interesting stuff, Chris. I let my scrapers go too long between sharpenings too, so I'm always looking for the quicker solution. I must say I was a bit dubious when I saw these first, even though I'd already heard that carbide was the stuff to use as a burnisher. I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a burnisher, and such an ugly one too! Somewhere on the Tuit list is a plan to turn a handle for a solid carbide router cutter I have, and never use, so I was going try that. But after that rave review it's now it's a toss up which will happen first; £17 turning up or a Tuit. :oops:

Cheers, Alf
 
Hi Mike

I'm sure Dave will answer you more fully when he gets around to it (hint!) :wink: :) .

Yours

Gill
 
Sorry thought you would get it! :oops:

The saying is "I will do that when I get around to it"

I have seen a number of very nice roundtoits and more recently the down sized, cost reduced tuits, they are quite rare and will not breed as you can never get two together in the same place :wink:
 
Good God

I didn't realise, I've been breeding them for years. Help fumigation please :lol:

drew
 
Drew":1cdup0wp said:
I didn't realise, I've been breeding them for years. Help fumigation please :lol:

Quick you have your fortune made :lol: But only sell every other one, so even you still have some left :wink:
 
It's no good trying to remove the corners on a square one 'cos unfortunately you never seem to.....................................................
get a round tuit.
 
Oh deary me... I do apologise for unwittingly being the catalyst for such insanity. :shock:

As it happens Chris' review did prompt a Tuit to break cover, so I snapped it up and now have an ex-solid carbide router cutter in a newly turned handle. Time will tell if it's any use, but what's the betting I end up buying one of these fancy ones anyway? :oops:

Cheers, Alf
 
Alf,
Hope it works for you - though I think the secret is not the round sectioned bit of my tool but the "triangular" sectioned bit (it probably simply allows much great pressure to be exerted, hence the need for a light touch).

Meanwhile, if your round section doesn't work, good luck filing it to shape!
 
Chris,

I was think about the round section vs. triangular overnight, and I don't see how it would make a difference. Can you expand on that a bit, while bearing in mind I've forgotten most of the geometry I ever knew 'cos nobody told me it might actually be usefull? :? What might well make a difference is the quality of the carbide I suppose. Ah well, time will tell.

Cheers, Alf
 
Alf,
I doubt if the carbide quality would make much difference since it is so much harder than the steel of the scraper.

As far as the section of the carbide is concerned I think the following applies:-

The scraper edge is straight and where it just touches the round section carbide or the (very slightly rounded) tip of the triangular section, we have a point contact. However as soon as any pressure is applied, the steel of the scraper deforms and in the case of the round section, we now have a significantly greater area of contact than is the case with the triangular section. So the effective pressure at the contact is the applied force divided by the area of contact. For the same force therefore, the triangular section will produce a much higher contact pressure.

Imagine sitting on a banister rail versus sitting on a razor blade. Your weight has not changed - but I know which I'd prefer!
 
Hmm. I'm not convinced to be honest. Not convinced enough to order one at the moment, certainly! :wink: I'll have to try and remember to take a look at it when I get up to Axminster next month.

Cheers, Alf
 
Hum,
I've been doing some testing/thinking on the round vs trianglar burnishers.
Result- I can successfully ruin the burr on a scraper using either!
I bought the Veritas burnisher-it is pretty useful as you can't muck up the angle, but how much pressure-that's the secret I think!
Yours,
Philly
 
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