Bench chisels turned into turning scrapers?

[Glenda Marais]

Hi All. We have limeted resources in South Africa for turning tools and because of the exchange rate, they are very exspensive.
I need a side cutting scraper and was wondering if I can take a Stanley bench chissel’s blade and grind it to have the corect profile and then put it in a longer handle to turn with.
It will be used for light scraping just to smoove out, already formed work.
What will the dangers, pros and cons be of doing this.

your advise and comments will be apreciated.

[George Guadiane]

You should probably make a handle for it that will work better for turning, but if the tang seems long and sturdy enough, I don't see a reason that you couldn't do it.
I have used old carbon steel screwdrivers for making various kinds of custom detail scrapers.

If it seems SAFE, it's worth a try (In My Opinion)

[Mike Golka]

Done it, and they work just fine. Make sure the handle is long enough to give you good control.

[Glenda Marais]

Thank you George. Yes I will definately turn a much longer handle. I like to turn with my handles tight up against my body, I have more controll that way.

[Richard Coers]

I would suggest that it may just be dangerous. The body will be thin and vibrate, that may result in a snapped off tool. Turning chisels are softer in the tang area so they won't snap. When hardened steel snaps, shrapnel will result. I had one friend epoxy pieces of files onto cold rolled steel back in the day. (Before it was easy to get woodturning equipment)

[Reed Gray]

Well, your bench chisels are not the same steel, they are a harder carbon steel, and not high speed steel. Grinding one to shape would be difficult without over heating the steel and losing the temper of the steel. The tangs on most are designed to slip over a tapered handle, and this may or may not work for making an extended handle. I have hears of using auto leaf springs, but don't know about for sure about that type of steel. It may work though.

robo hippy

[Olaf Vogel]

One of my best scrapers is made from a normal chisel. However its very long, with a longer metal pipe handle on it.
For roughing, I've used high speed blanks (http://www.mikestools.com/3005B-Sherline-LATHE-CUTTING-TOOLS-HIGH-SPEED-STEEL-BLANK-1-4-SQ-Pkg-Of-5.aspx) like this. Most metal shops will tell you where to find them locally. Normally $5 here in Toronto.

Find a metal bar of desired size & length, drill the end out and fit a set screw or two. You might need to buy a tap, but its well worth the investment.
Grind the blank round enough to fit in and tighten the set screws (buy a bunch. They can fall out when sharpening bits and bounce into the next pile of chips....)

Its a small cutting surface, but will still rough out big areas very quickly. The blanks are cheap, easy to replace and can be ground to many different angles.

[Curt Fuller]

Glenda, there used to be a guy that posted often here that lived and turned in Peru. His name escapes me right now. But he was faced with a similar situation of it being hard to get tools. He made scrapers from old car leaf springs. If you have access to a junk yard you could look into something like that too.

Just remembered his name.... Jim King.

[Glenda Marais]

Thanks to all for contributing. I had some of the exact fears that was raisedhere and that is why I posted. It helpsto get another’s perspective before you go off and do something out ofignorance.

[Brian Finney]

Olaf,

The alternative to your set screw is CA glue. Heat will break the CA glue bond when you want the tip out.

Brian