The Easy Way To Sharpen A Card Scraper

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Comment by Todd A. Clippinger~American Craftsman on February 19, 2009 at 10:01pm

I appreciate your input Alex.

I have been using my card scrapers for 11 years and they will be with me for years to come. When they wear out it will not be very expensive to replace them since they are only a few bucks apiece.

Many individuals have difficulty figuring out the burnishing technique and so they toss the card scraper into a drawer, never to be used. This would have been me if I had not tried using it straight from the file and found how well it works.

This method has helped many individuals to start using the card scraper. It works, and it works very well as the video shows. I have posted at this site a text blog covering the same topic with close-ups showing the fine shavings. There are some very fine curly shavings produce from the card sharpened with this technique.

Historically, it was more important to burnish the edge because random orbit sanders were not a part of the equation. Now it is easy to follow with the random orbital sander to finish off the work and it doesn't take much.

The edge holds for a satisfactory length of time and sharpening is very quick because it only takes a few strokes on the file that I leave clamped up in the vise. It works on all types of wood as I demonstrated in the video. I have a portfolio of high-end projects and this card sharpening method was used on all of them.

At the end of the video I do offer up that once the individual gets this far they may progress to figuring out how to burnish the edge. I openly admit that it puts a finer burr on the card and finer finish on the surface of the material. But ironically, the highest percentage of woodworkers will still finish out with the R.O sander anyway.

Comment by Alex Acle on February 19, 2009 at 7:31pm

offend "NO" one.......

Comment by Alex Acle on February 19, 2009 at 7:30pm

Greetings all,
I hope I offend on one, as I have in the past used this method (still do if in a hurry). But, like everything in life, you get what you pay for. Using a card scraper "sharpened" directly from a file has two drawbacks (not to mention the fact that you usually end up with a tapered scraper as mentioned in the video). First, the edge does not hold up anywhere near as long as preparing the edge using traditional methods. Second, your scraper will wear down to nothing very quickly. Old-time woodworkers were pragmatic. They would have used this method if it had advantages over the traditional methods of preparing a scraper's edge. Files have been with us a long time.
Best wishes,
Alex

Comment by Todd A. Clippinger~American Craftsman on January 23, 2009 at 5:13pm

Ron - Another success story! I am so glad that it worked well for you. I gave some more critical information for Wanda a few posts earlier that may be of continued help.

I love the Whitefish area. It has been a few years since my wife and I have been up there. I have been working in Ohio most of the last 5 years. Rita, my wife, and I went mountain biking in the area and around town. Good stuff.

You can see the house that I built in Ohio with my brother and the furnishings that I designed for it as well in my website.

http://www.amcraftsman.com

Keep in mind that this card scraper sharpening method was used on all of these projects and was very successful.

Comment by ron nail on January 23, 2009 at 4:58pm

Todd, thanks for the video on sharpening card scrapers. I have fumbled around for years trying to sharpen those things. Went straight out in my shop after watching the video and tried it out. I have been doing alot of work with hickory (hard as steel), it worked fantastic. I think you have just saved me hours and hours of sanding. Even on hickory those nice fine shavings just rolled off. Thanks again, Ron in Whitefish, Montana

Comment by Todd A. Clippinger~American Craftsman on January 23, 2009 at 12:02pm

Bill - The editors or their tech wizards might have an idea on the issue of no sound. I simply hosted it over at Bliptv. You can try accessing it here at this address: http://blip.tv/file/1620889
I hope it works for you.

Comment by Bill on January 23, 2009 at 10:47am

To be more specific, I finally got audio for the last 30 seconds, or so, of the video. I ran it back a ways (and started over again), and still had no audio until it reached that point near the end. Any thoughts?

Comment by Bill on January 23, 2009 at 8:08am

I'm not getting any sound on this video. All other videos from this site are fine. Has anyone else had the same problem? I'm very interested in seeing (and hearing) what Todd has to demonstrate.

Comment by Todd A. Clippinger~American Craftsman on January 22, 2009 at 2:48pm

Wanda- One more answer to satisfy your questions.

No, I do not use a stone on my cards at all. I can take a card scraper straight out of the package, sharpen it on the file, and start using it.

I also did a text blog that has still photos that may help too. You can find it here.

And one more thing, I prefer a larger file for sharpening. They simply provide more surface area and are easier to use.

Comment by Todd A. Clippinger~American Craftsman on January 22, 2009 at 2:33pm

Wanda -

I think that your file should be working fine. I have used an 8, 10, and 12 mill bastard file and all work. Some are just more aggressive than others and cut the card's edge down faster.

When you sharpen it on the file it will leave a burr that you can feel if you run your fingers down the face of the card. That is actually doing the cutting. For the more difficult sharpening methods you are actually honing this rough burr off and replacing it with a refined burr or hook created by the burnishing tool.

I don't use a jig to hold it at a perfect 90° and I am sure that I cannot achieve holding it at a perfect 90°. Close seems to work so we will assume that you are holding it close enough to the 90° sharpening angle to be effective.

The next thing that many have difficulty with is finding the proper angle to hold the card at. My guess is that many individuals actually have a sharp enough card and are not achieving the proper angle for use. I have used the scraper enough that I intuitively go to the proper angle and I think that you will too as soon as you figure it out.

Just a guess, but the biggest mistake I see is holding the card angle too LOW. It should be between 45° and 90° to the surface of the wood and I would suggest that it goes a little more towards the 90° than the 45°.

Don't forget to put a little camber or bow in it from the back with your thumbs. This will really focus the cutting area on the scraper. Just work on keeping it in the middle at first. As you get the hang of it you can start working the face of the card in thirds like I do. There are separate cutting zones that I subtly shift between; left, right, middle. This allows you to keep the card running cool and to use more of the cutting edge before sharpening again.

So you see there is really two potential problems with the card, the sharpening and the operation.

One more thing, is there anything magical about 3 to 4 strokes? The answer is "NO." I simply figured out the minimum number of strokes that would consistently get it sharp enough to get me back to scraping. This is a very rapid method of sharpening and it is easy to finish out with the random orbit sander.

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