HELP! Veritas variable burnisher???

[jim hedgpeth]

I recently received my Veritas card scraper set, and am having trouble. I have tried to follow the instructions, with dismal results. Then I found a video on you-tube, same result.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAYST--mtNo
It looks simple enough, but when I try, nada.:confused:

I don't know if I am using improper technique burnishing or in use but all I get is powder. Also I have read that the "hook" is very sharp, yet mine feel like a bur, not as sharp as I have heard.

Any tips for the variable burnisher, or scraping technique would be appreciated. I am at a total loss on this one.

On a good note, I am loving both BU planes I received in the same order, simply amazing.:D

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Jim

[glenn bradley]

I remove the old edge with a mill file. I will sometimes stone the faces as well so that I have a very clean square edge. I pull the burnisher across the edge 2- 3 times and that's about it. A mistake I made early on was to burnish an edge too much; 2 or 3 strokes is all it takes. I run a mild angle on one long edge (both faces) and an aggressive edge on the other long side. I land somewhere in between for both short edges.

If you subscribe there is a good article here: http://www.finewoodworking.com/ToolGuide/ToolGuidePDF.aspx?id=2143

and a video here: http://www.finewoodworking.com/subscription/skillsandtechniques/skillsandtechniquesarticle.aspx?id=29750

[Tim Put]

Quoting myself complimenting the very same Glenn whose post precedes mine in this thread: "Thanks to Glenn for giving and actual useful answer about how much pressure to use.
I figured it out for myself only after much difficulty because of vague descriptions like "light but not too light" or "moderate pressure".

We now have Glenn's apple slicing, Schwarz' buttering toast, and Kirby's (I think?) concrete four ounces."
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=1160757#post1160757


It took me a long time to learn just how little pressure is needed. It's very light. It feels like you aren't doing anything at all to the scraper.

[David Gendron]

I think also that the scraper have to treated like a plane blade: that is polished on the two faces(only about 1/4" from the edge up) and also a nice polished edge! It did a great deal of improvement on my scraping!
David

[Mark Roderick]

You didn't mention what kind of wood you're trying to scrape. If you're trying to scrape pine, forget it. Try it on Cherry, which scrapes very well.

[David Gilbert]

I really like my scrapers and over the years I've perfected my burnishing technique. I prefer longer, round burnishers and the methods above are very much like what I use.

I saw a Chris Schwarz lecture about scrapers a couple of years ago and his favorite was the Veritas Variable Burnisher. As I remember it he thought it was the easiest and best way to burnish a scraper.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32633&cat=1,310,41070&ap=1

Good luck. My experience is that practice will make it work a lot better. ( I don't worry about perfect.)

[jim hedgpeth]

My test peice is a scrap chunk of plywood ( pine), so that may be my problem. I take it pine does not scrape very well? I dont have any cherry, but I will try a peice of walnut when I get home.

Thanks
Jim

[Mark Roderick]

Heck, forget about scraping a piece of plywood!

Any hardwood would be better, including walnut.

The truth is, if you're generally following the procedure outlined in an online tutorial or something along those lines, you're probably doing the sharpening right.

[Marc Casebolt]

Jim,

If you are just starting to learn to sharpen and use a scraper, Don't be in too much of a hurry to get it perfect right away. My experience was also pretty dismal at first, also using the LV 'auto burnisher', and eventually I tossed it and now use a burnishing rod, which works much better for me.

The advice above is good, and I will only add that you need to wipe a bit of oil onto the edge before you burnish which will make it go much smoother.

Good luck, and take your time,

Marc

[Terry Beadle]

I use the LV Variable Burnisher, set to 10 degrees. I use a firm, not hard, not lite, just firm stroke. Usually about 4 strokes per side.

I've found the variable burnisher is not necessary by any means but it does reliably repeat the burr generated.

The most important part of scraper prep is to get the edges exactly 90 degrees and super smooth ( just like you would prepare a plane blade edge ) before the burnishing. Like all rules, the exception is when you are just wanting to touch up the edge or want a burr for roughing out the surface quickly, then you can shorten the sharpening process. However getting to as close to 90 degrees as possible is still a prerequisite to good blade performance. To get the 90 degrees, I use a perfectly square piece of cherry that moves with the scraper edge across a diamond stone ( fine grit ). Then you can burnish that edge right then or take the edge to higher sharpening processes ( water stones in my case ) .

If you want to use the scraper to scrape a finish ( say to remove runs or airborne grit ), I recommend sharpening the scraper to a fine polish on all six edges ( length wise ) and then set a 5 degree hook burr. Works great on lacquer.

Happy curls...

[jim hedgpeth]

I tried it again today, no idea what I even did different, held my tongue right I guess.

First try, nice wispy shavings on walnut. Flipped and sharpened again, same result, excellent. Then I tried it on the panels for my computer desk (very swirly weird grain, but that's why I like it) that have been giving me problems. I didn't expect it to work there (pine and card scrapers don't play well I am told) but, swish... beautiful. To say I was confused is an under statement. I don't know what I am doing different, but it works now.
Sorry for the run on sentences, we should have a competition here some time. Guess I am a bit excited that I got the hang of it.

Jim

[Harlan Barnhart]

The woodwhisper.com has a nice tutorial on sharpening and using card scrapers.

[Robert Rozaieski]

Then I tried it on the panels for my computer desk (very swirly weird grain, but that's why I like it) that have been giving me problems. I didn't expect it to work there (pine and card scrapers don't play well I am told) but, swish... beautiful.

You certainly can scrape pine, as you found out. It's wood like any other so it will scrape IF your scraper is prepared well. I never used to be able to scrape pine, until I started putting more effort into preparing my scrapers. Honing the mating faces and edge more carefully is what helped me. Just like a chisel or a plane iron, the scraper needs to be extremely sharp to scrape pine well because it is so soft, and you need to scrape lightly to avoid digging the burr into the board. But when all comes together, it's nice ;).