Need a bowl scraper recommendation

[Randall Mack]

I am looking for a bowl scraper recommendation. It will be used with a negative rake. I understand that the burr does not last long and that some steels hold up better. Should I go with a Thompson? Does the 5/16 thickness matter compared to the usual 3/8 of M2 scrapers. Would a D-way be another option? Or should I stay with a basic M2 scraper like from Packard and sharpen it more often? Should I get one that is 1.5 inches wide or would a narrower one work ok? I was thinking of getting a scraper first for use inside bowls. I don't have a lot of experience yet and want to make wise choices. I get the feeling woodturning requires a lot of tools most of which see little use. Thanks.

[Jamie Straw]

I am looking for a bowl scraper recommendation. It will be used with a negative rake. I understand that the burr does not last long and that some steels hold up better. Should I go with a Thompson? Does the 5/16 thickness matter compared to the usual 3/8 of M2 scrapers. Would a D-way be another option? Or should I stay with a basic M2 scraper like from Packard and sharpen it more often? Should I get one that is 1.5 inches wide or would a narrower one work ok? I was thinking of getting a scraper first for use inside bowls. I don't have a lot of experience yet and want to make wise choices. I get the feeling woodturning requires a lot of tools most of which see little use. Thanks.

Randall, I'm still officially a newbie, but I have 4 scrapers, 3 of which I use regularly, 2 of which are negative rake -- it's become a favorite topic recently. My NRSs are 1/2" and 3/4" -- both are reground Benjamin's Best round-nose scrapers -- one of the chapter members ground them for me. The third scraper is a 1" side-ground (left side) Woodriver. Obviously, none of these are super-high-quality, they're just what I had. What I've found, as far as size goes, is that between the NRSs the 3/4" is the most controllable inside bowls. The 1/2" works, but I'm more likely to make a mistake with it (read: groove). I will use it mostly on small boxes. How big are the bowls you're turning? I suspect a 1.5" scraper would be pretty tricky going through curves inside a bowl, even if it's a big bowl. Look forward to hearing what others say. D-way is always an option (Dave is great, member of our AAW chapter), his tools really hold an edge, but don't know how much work it'd be to grind a NR profile on his steel. Yes, woodturning is money-sucker, and it pays to learn from others' purchasing mistakes or successes!

[John Grace]

My personal feeling is that the quality of a tool purchased (with respects to costs) is relative to the frequency of use and what it's intended for. If you use a tool frequently or put 'high stress' on the steel itself then the better quality tool and steel the better. A tool that's pulled out for a few seconds a week you may be able to get by with the less expensive version if dollars are precious. I have two of the Extra HD Packard brand scrapers and find they do an excellent job. I chose them specifically with a view to size and mass relative to how I use my scrapers...another consideration for you to consider. I don't rough with my scrapers...I prefer a really good gouge for roughing and truing. Once trued-up, however, I like doing much of my shaping and clean-up with one of my scrapers. There is a relationship between size of scraper with whether your roughing or shaping and then with respects to the power of your lathe. Basically...I've found a bigger scraper requires more power to 'plow' through a piece when roughing whereas my gouge 'cuts' the wood. Finally...you didn't mention it but what are you sharpening on? I just recently upgraded my grinder from traditional stone wheels to two new CBN wheels (a 180 & 350), using the 180 for my scrapers. The change has been nothing short of fantastic and my perception of what is 'sharp' is now permanently changed. Per comments from Robo Hippy, I recognized that too 'fine' a grit on a scraper create a too fragile burr whereas the 180 does appear to be or close to the sweet spot for creating a long-use burr on my scrapers. Kind of rambling, my apologies but I hope this helps in some way.

[Reed Gray]

Doug makes a 1 by 5/16 inch scraper that is pretty good. Not to big, not to little, just right. If you have one NRS, then I would go for a round nose profile, which would be good for inside bowls, which is where I use them most. The scrapers come with a square nose, so you have some grinding to do, or take it to a saw shop. 36 grit makes short work of shaping a nose like that. For roughing out scrapers, I don't think you need more than 1 1/4 by 3/8 inch. That is a lot of metal that can go into the wood very suddenly. Dave makes some nice scrapers as well, but the one I have of his is 1 1/2 inch wide. For a NRS, they need to be sharpened after about 10 seconds or so of cutting, way more often than I would have thought, so metal quality is not as important as it is for roughing.

robo hippy

[Randall Mack]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I plan on using the scraper to cleanup tool marks on the inside of bowls, and possibly use on the outside depending on the profile of the scraper. I have a 1" Packard round nose 3/8 thick scraper that I plan on putting a bevel on the top to make it a NRS, but I read on blogs such as Cindy Drozda's that M2 is not the best for NRS, so was considering a Thompson or D-Way. I get most of my turning education from forums like this and youtube. I don't have a cbn wheel yet but it is on my list for the future. I have several Thompson bowl gouges and like them but have nothing to compare them against. Tomorrow night is the local turning group meeting so I will solicit the input of a few others also. Thanks again.

[Jamie Straw]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I plan on using the scraper to cleanup tool marks on the inside of bowls, and possibly use on the outside depending on the profile of the scraper. I have a 1" Packard round nose 3/8 thick scraper that I plan on putting a bevel on the top to make it a NRS, but I read on blogs such as Cindy Drozda's that M2 is not the best for NRS, so was considering a Thompson or D-Way. I get most of my turning education from forums like this and youtube. I don't have a cbn wheel yet but it is on my list for the future. I have several Thompson bowl gouges and like them but have nothing to compare them against. Tomorrow night is the local turning group meeting so I will solicit the input of a few others also. Thanks again.

You might want to drop Dave Schweitzer an email and ask him what he thinks about M2 vs. M42 (or any other formula) for NRSs -- he's an expert on metals and turning, and I think he'll give you an honest opinion.