Me Sharpening a Card Scraper

[gee-dub]

There seem to be as many variations on this as there are woodworkers.  Someone invariably posts William Ng's video which is great as are many others.  For those with no special tools I started with some shop made stuff that still works fine.  I also show commercial products which I was gifted and am happy to have.

I cut a through slot in a milled block of wood with the bandsaw to act as a holding aid.  I cut a groove in another block to fit a mill file.

I was gifted the Veritas holder.  There are others that are just as good.  Benefits over the block of wood is the 45 degree reference surface for cabinet scrapers.

I still use the bandsawn block as a holder though 

I file until I feel a full cut being made; usually 2 or 3 light swipes.  I do all four edges as I find this useful.

I also stone my faces and edges.  Many skip this step and that is fine.  It takes just a few minutes and I get consistent results so it has become my habit.  I use a DMT 'fine' stone since that is what I have handy.

I use a squared block of scrap to assure I am at a good 90 degree angle for the edges.  This silly piece of ply has been around for longer than I can remember.  I don't know why it hasn't delaminated long ago.

I am not removing a large amount of material here.

My shop made burnisher is a HSS Forstner bit that got lunched (cursed screw).  I lopped the head off and set the shaft in a dowel-handle.  The Veritas Tri-Burnisher was another gift (ya gotta love Lee Valley's Wish-List sharing feature) and is my favorite.

I lube the burnisher with a bit of light machine oil, pull ALL the edges out with 2 or 3 runs of the burnisher, turn the hook with a run of the burnisher flat along the edge once and at 5 to 10 degrees twice.

And I get light, wispy cuts that roll into little curl-worms.

[Ronn W]

Very nice. Better than my results.  I don't have to sharpen mine all that often and I keep forgetting exactly how I did it previously.

[wdwerker]

I've got quite a few card scrapers ( around a dozen at least )straight and curved. I sharpen in batches so a sharp one is handy when the need pops up. 

[Coop]

Gee-dubb, apparently I’m slower than most. Where did the file come into play? 

[Tpt life]

42 minutes ago, K Cooper said:

Gee-dubb, apparently I’m slower than most. Where did the file come into play? 

“Jointing” the edge of the card. 

[Coop]

I thought that was what was being done in pic # 6? Was the file to speed the process and the fine stone to finesse it? 

[Tpt life]

19 minutes ago, K Cooper said:

I thought that was what was being done in pic # 6? Was the file to speed the process and the fine stone to finesse it? 

I assume yes. 

[gee-dub]

Sorry guys, I was out.  You've got it figured out without me.  The file is to quickly remove the previous edge.  The stone is to provide a finer edge treatment. 

[Coop]

Thanks. But you don’t use the file every time, right? 

[gee-dub]

8 hours ago, K Cooper said:

Thanks. But you don’t use the file every time, right? 

Actually I do but, this may be why it only takes a light stroke or two.  I am only removing the bulk of the old burr which is pretty weak sauce.  I use a small Simmons mill file and it really bites into the steel.  A couple light passes leave a clean, shiny edge.  I've been doing this for years and have plenty of card scraper left .

[wdwerker]

I use a cheap coarse diamond sharpening stone instead of a file. Same purpose to remove the hook and start flattening the edge.