Need advise on a heavy duty scraper

[Joel Sauder]

I need a heavy duty scraper for finish work on bowls, I am thinking about one of the 3/8in thick versions. But what I can't make my mind up about is if I can get by with full round scraper (say 1.5inches wide), or do I really need a pair of radiused bowl scraper to work both the inside and outside effectively?

Anyone have any personal preference/advice they would like to share?

Joel

[Mike Vickery]

Round scraper is only realy ggod on the inside. For the outside a scraper with a straight edge. I like the ones cut acorss at angle seems for shear scraping(think a scraper that is cut like a skew).

[Dean Thomas]

Joel,

Why would you want to use a scraper on the outside of the bowl? Most of the time (really large percentage!!), you can get a much cleaner surface with a good clean gouge cut than you can with your best scraped cut.

If I could only have one scraper based on your described situation, and if I was doing bowls that were larger than 4-5 inches in diameter and/or depth, I'd probably opt for the radiused scraper and I'd try to get it wide and thick. You can do smaller work with a larger tool, but it's really really hard to do a bit bowl with an itty bitty scraper.

If I could buy two, I'd buy it's square brother for doing the bottoms of plates, again, wide and thick. That can be done by using a skew on its side as a "negative rake" scraper, too. It's a good thing to have a longer straight cutting edge for large flat surfaces.

The thick part is to keep the tool from chattering when it's extended a fair distance from the tool rest.

[Dick Strauss]

Joel,
I know I'm going to hear about it but I suggest you get some heavy duty files and make them in four shapes to use as scrapers. While you are using these files mounted in a handle, you don't want to rely upon the tool handle for strength. The file tangs are very small and will break easily if given the chance (while extended off the toolrest significantly). I suggest you grab them with most of your hand on the file and a little bit on the handle.

The first shape is the traditional rounded one for inside bowls. The next would be a slightly rounded flat edge scraper. I also have ones that are pointed to the left and right for getting near the bottoms as needed while mounted in the chuck.

PennState (Benjamin's Best brand) offers heavy HSS scrapers 1 1/2" wide by 3/8" thick for $22.50. Go to their site and do a search for the LX130 if this is in your budget

[Bernie Weishapl]

Joel I don't like scrapers on the insides or outsides of bowl. If your tools are sharp you don't need one. I use on the inside either a 3/8" or 1/2" P & N bowl gouge with what I call the traditional grind. I saw Mike Mahoney use them on a bowl he did and it was smooth with no tear out. So I just keep them sharp and use them for the last pass or two. On the outside I use a Irish ground bowl gouge and use a shear scrap or vertical shear scrap for the final pass as done by Bill on his DVD of bowl turning. Really gives you a smooth surface. Never have used a scraper on a bowl since.

[Robert McGowen]

Just to make things fun, I don't use anything but scrapers on a bowl. I have a 1" flat scraper, a round nose that is mostly ground into a left sided scraper, and a Sorby scraper that is at least 1/2" wide by 1/2" thick with a flat tip. If you hold the side ground scraper at a 45 degree angle to the tool rest and make light cuts, you get a really fine shear cut that is very smooth.

It is hard to get a flat bottom with the round nose scraper, for me anyway, so I would recommend a flat nose scraper and a side ground scraper at a minimum. Good luck.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ding! Ding!......the end of round one!:D


I use an Irish grind bowl gouge as indicated by Bernie and Bill G. on the outside and the inside.

But....sometimes if I'm having trouble getting a good line on the inside sidewalls of the bowl....I use my HUGE Sorby Super Duty (1/2" thick IIRC) scraper on the sidewalls and I have a flat scraper I sometimes use if I have a dimpled inside bottom.:o :rolleyes: :D

[Robert McGowen]

Hmmmmmm........ so Ken uses a scraper to fix everything the gouge messed up........ Hmmmmmmm :rolleyes:

Ding! Ding!...... the end of round 2! :D :D

[Kim Ford]

During intermission, before the start of the next round, do either of you, Ken or Robert, burnish your scrapers or is it just a single bevel grind?

[Reed Gray]

I prefer the scrapers for all of my roughing work on bowls, both inside and outside. I have a Raffen one that looks kind of like a skew, a round nosed one, an inside and an outside scraper (inside and outside are ground to look like half of a swept back gouge, kind of quarter round on the tip, and swept back on one edge, inside/outside only apply if you mount the bowl with the base towards the headstock and turn it all without reversing). I prefer the inside scraper for almost all of the roughing work (both inside and out), the Raffen is my second choice, and the round nose is my last choice. The outside one works best for evening up the top of the bowl while it is on the faceplate/chuck facing the headstock, and you are turning the bottom of the bowl before reversing. Try as I may, I get a better cut with the gouges on both the inside and outside of the bowl than I can get with any scraper, held at any angle. I do use the scraper, some times flat, some times skewed on the inside of the bowl. For reasons beyond my understanding, I can never get the inside of the bowl as clean/smooth/bumpless as I can the outside. So I use what a friend calls a whisper cut on the inside. The scraper just barely kisses the wood, and removes the tinyest of shavings that hang in the air like 3 micron dust particles. This does save on some sanding, and there is almost no tearout.
robo hippy

[Ed Scolforo]

John Jordan has a double sided shear scraper that he claims gives excellent smoothing cuts. I also saw someplace where a thick firmer's gouge was ground to be used as a bowl scraper with good results.
Ed

[Robert McGowen]

Kim, single bevel om a Jet wet grinder for me.

[Dean Thomas]

John Jordan has a double sided shear scraper that he claims gives excellent smoothing cuts. I also saw someplace where a thick firmer's gouge was ground to be used as a bowl scraper with good results.
Hey Ed,

One of the turners here in the KC chapter bought one of Jordan's tools. It's really, really heavy, and it's short. It does a very nice job, I have to admit. Great on flat bottom plates. My friend's last project was making drink coasters out of bamboo flooring scraps for his kids. He really needed the flat bottom that it helped provide. He loaned it to me for a cut or two on my own project. Hefty chunk of steel that doesn't move much.

One other tool that's pretty neat for this, and works well on the outside, is what seems to be called a shear scraper. I think the one that I'm remembering is a Sorby tool. The shank is square to give really good contact on the tool rest, but there is either a carbide edge bolted on, or the tool itself is sharpened so that the burr addresses the wood at a 45º angle. That's what produces the shearing action. REALLY smooth cut.