Scrapers

[Brian William]

I was working on my Morris chair today.getting ready to steam bend the arms. An old cabinet maker with about 50 years experience dropped by.a neighbour He saw me working with a scraper. He kind of shook his head disappeared then came back with some 3x3 pieces of glass in his hand. Here try these. I looked at him and thought you have to be kidding. Ok.I'll give it a go. I have never seen such fine ribbons of wood come off those arms. I couldn't believe it. I had them done in 15 minutes. The glass was 1/8" thick and roughly 3"x3". I was a little concerned about cutting my self. But the glass is soooo sharp you hardly need any pressure what so ever. No more metal scrapers for me. As the old gent left he kind of scratched his head,making his hat go up and down,muttering to himself. These young guys don't now nothin. Gotta tell'em all the tricks. Oh the chair parts are as smooth as glass. Pardon the pun.

[Don Morris]

I was finishing up getting some milling marks off a piece today and went right for my scraper after my hand plane. I thought the scraper or sand paper...The scraper would be faster so I went for it. Came out just fine. I felt like a real woodworker. Now I don't know. Makes sense to me, the edge would probably be similar to that of a scraper, perhaps sharper. But I agree with you about cutting yourself with a piece of broken glass. If that could be done, I know I'd have multiple cuts.

[Maurice Ungaro]

If you are worried about cutting yourself, you should use some gloves.
I'm now REAL curious about trying out the glass method - thanks for the tip!

[Prashun Patel]

Glass sounds great. How to you raise and turn a burr on yours, though? ;)

[Gene Howe]

Glass sounds great. How to you raise and turn a burr on yours, though? ;)

Just use a diamond stone and a really, really hard burnishing rod:D:D
Push hard! Getting the curl just right is a PITA.:D

[sean m. titmas]

Just use a diamond stone and a really, really hard burnishing rod:D:D
Push hard! Getting the curl just right is a PITA.:D

are you serious? i know that you can use glass to scrape wood. that's how all those third world banana republics can produce such amazing pieces of carved wood art from their local hardwoods. but i thought the sharp edge came from when the glass was broken and not from a burnisher.

is it any particular type of glass ? or will any thickness work?

[Brian William]

the glass he gave me was 1/8" thick and seemed to be quite strong. I was a little concerned about it snapping while using it. But it didn't. Seemed to be fine. I have a glass cutter and cut some more pieces. Just use a rule as a guide and run your cutter along side to score it. Then snap it off over the edge of a table. I just used the sharp edge of my table saw. Nice clean sharp break. But it may be a good idea to wear a pair of gloves,just in case. It sure does a fine job in getting rid of mill marks or little imperfections. Sure works better than the metal scrapers.

[Don Morris]

Another thought, was thinking why this hasn't caught on...just imagine, even with wearing gloves, if it broke while you were working with it. I don't think I'll look into that technique too much. One mishap and that could really put a hurt into your woodworking.

[glenn bradley]

I flex my scrapers but I'm sure you could camber the ends of your glass a bit to avoid gouging. Sounds like a good tip but, I'll just watch ;-)

[Karl Wicklund]

I haven't had a ton of experience, just a couple very amateur guitars and other small projects. But in my experience, glass works like a charm. I keep a box of salvaged window panes stowed in the garage. Not any more dangerous to me than a carving knife or a sharp chisel - don't be dumb and you probably won't get hurt.

[Tom Winship]

My dad showed me that trick when I was taking a junior high shop course over 50 years ago. I was about to be late on the project (as usual) and he was helping me. Hadn't even thought of it till I saw this thread.

[Marco Cecala]

I cannot remember where I read it, but glass was used for a scraper since it was invented. To "sharpen" just score and break the glass. My question is how thin a piece can you break off to renew the edge?

[Steve Hamlin]

For fine work I use snapped microscope slides.
It needs to be a fresh break for the ultimate edge, as it dulls with time (oxidizes or something)