anything other than a burnisher to burnish with?

[Jeffrey Larsen]

I have been in the process of rehabbing a couple scrapers--a stanley 12 and an 80. the 80 is pretty new and doesn't need much. However, the blade is ground at a 90 degree angle. the one on the 12 was very rusted and I have cut it down several mm and then sanded and polished extensively. Long and short of it, I don't have a burnisher; Anything laying around I could use today as a burnisher until I can order or buy one?Jeff

[Jim Shaver, Oakville Ont]

I have been in the process of rehabbing a couple scrapers--a stanley 12 and an 80. the 80 is pretty new and doesn't need much. However, the blade is ground at a 90 degree angle. the one on the 12 was very rusted and I have cut it down several mm and then sanded and polished extensively. Long and short of it, I don't have a burnisher; Anything laying around I could use today as a burnisher until I can order or buy one?Jeff

I have used a 1/4" carbide spiral router bit, use the smooth shank to draw the burr

[Dick Latshaw]

Long and short of it, I don't have a burnisher; Anything laying around I could use today as a burnisher until I can order or buy one?Jeff

I use the back of an old Marples 1 inch chisel.

[Bill Houghton]

If you've got one of those knife steels in your kitchen drawer, and if it's got a smooth section down near the handle, you could probably use that.

[Joe Meazle]

I use the back of a HSS 1/4" spindle gouge.

[Jeffrey Larsen]

Thanks! will search around the house and see what I can come up with. What angle should the blade of the scraper be ground to before using the burnisher? Do you take the burnishing device and run it from the back to the blade toward the front (with regards to the front of the scraper)?

Thanks again

[Rob Luter]

I use a hardened dowel pin of the type used in tool and die work. They are cheap and can be found in about any industrial supply or fastener store. They are hardened to about 60-62 on a Rockwell "C" scale and ground to a very precise diameter with a smooth surface finish. I took a 1/4" x 3" pin and sunk it in an oak handle. Works great and it was almost free. :)

[Mike K Wenzloff]

...What angle should the blade of the scraper be ground to before using the burnisher? Do you take the burnishing device and run it from the back to the blade toward the front (with regards to the front of the scraper)?

Thanks again
Depending on the scraper's thickness and purpose, it can be from zero to an angle of whatever degree (often up to 45 degrees).

Here's a link to Schwarz's article which ran in PopWood a few months ago:
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/articledisplay?id=14549

Take care, Mike

[glenn bradley]

Pretty much anything smooth and harder than the scraper edge. I've even used a good quality screwdriver shank.

[Ian Welford]

Decent brand pozi screwdrivers that have chewed ends and are no use for screws make excellent burnishers!

[Ian Welford]

Forgot to add they also mae excellent bradawls- grind the end to 3 facetted point so they cut the wood fibres rather than just split them!

[Jeff Craven]

I've been using a valve stem from an engine that gave up.

[Derek Cohen]

You think that is a burnisher? THIS is a burnisher!!!!!!

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Sharpening/Card%20scraper/Newscraper1.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Ken Werner]

You think that is a burnisher? THIS is a burnisher!!!!!!

too funny.

Crocodile Dun Derek?

Ken

[Bill White]

I made my burnisher from an old motorcycle engine wrist pin. Turned some handles. Voila! only cost was the elec. for the lathe. Using up junk to make something useful---priceless.
Bill

[Mike Null]

I use the tang on one of my files.

[Justin James]

Valve stem from a WWI airplane engine, just like the one Grandpa used; he gave it to me in '72

[Michael Schwartz]

Back of a buck bros chisel from Home Depot because the steel is tempered excessively hard.

Any peice of mettal that is smooth and harder than the peice you are trying to burnish will work just fine
.

[Derek Cohen]

I was recently given a thin carbide rod to use as a burnisher. This is about 1/2 as thick as my Crown burnisher. I tried it out on the LN iron in my Stanley #112 (which I grind at 30 degrees, not 45 degrees). All I can say is WOW! It made an effortless burr and this translated into superb shavings (in Cherry).

I need to test this theory some more, but I suspect that a thinner burnishing rod will apply greater downforce, which translates to greater ease in creating a burr. If so, there should be a hefty difference in this regard between a rod like this and a (broad) chisel back.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Dixon Peer]

The smooth section of twist drill bits will do the trick. But you can buy burnishers from most any mail order woodworking site on the internet, and they're cheap. So...

[Michael Schwartz]

Does anybody use an actual "burnisher" you know, the kind that is marketed and sold as one :rolleyes: