Card scraper thickness

[Screamer777]

After many attempts to get hold of a card scraper, I decided to make my own. What thickness is ideal for a card scraper, and what type of metal is the most suitable?

[Anson]

The one I have seems to be made of spring steel and about the same thickness of your average crosscut saw blade. Seems like an old saw would make a few good scrapers.

[Bob Rozaieski]

I have a range of thicknesses. Most card scrapers are made from 1095 spring steel; the same stuff that contemporary hand saw makers use to make saw plates. You have to be careful with old saws. Some are spring tempered cast steel, which in my experience seem to be more brittle than modern spring steel. Plus, I think that most hand saws are too thick to make good card scrapers unless you are looking for something for aggressive scraping.

I have a set of Clifton scrapers, which are the first scrapers I ever bought, probably 15 years ago. They work ok, but they art THICK (like heavy rip saw thick). I put a caliper on them last night and they are like 0.042" thick. They are borderline inflexible. They're good for aggressive scraping, but they tend to be more work to hone and burnish. They can be used for light, finish scraping, but they are very hard to flex, and so aren't ideal for the task.

I got another set of scrapers recently from a buddy who makes saw plates. These are 0.025" thick (like tenon saw thickness). They are much easier to flex, much easier to hone, and are, in my opinion, better for fine finish scraping. I have standard size and credit card size in the same thickness. I've yet to use the smaller credit card size scrapes, but they seem like they will be really nice for one handed use in tight spaces.

Finaly, I have a stainless steel scraper in 0.032" thick. This one hasn't seen much use yet, so I can't really make a good comparison to the others yet. It does flex ok, between the THICK and 0.025" thick ones (obviously). I think it will probably make a good scraper for more aggressive work, like the 0.042" thick one, but be slightly better for working an isolated spot since it can flex a little more to better focus on an area. Time will tell.

For a standard all purpose scraper, I'd go with the 0.025" thick 1095 steel. It's easy to file and hone, easy to turn a burr, easy to flex without making your fingers really tired, and is capable of leaving a nice fine finished suface.