Help with Cabinet Scraper

[Wei Yang]

Wei,

Yes, IMO you should use a real burnisher. Put a little oil on it. William Ng has an excellent video on prepping a scraper.

I don't think the 45° bevel is really that critical you need a jig. At least I've never used on. On another note, I've often wondered why it is even necessary. Perhaps someone could enlighten me on that.

I say this because it seems to me the plane body is holding the blade at an angle pretty nearly the same you would a freehand, and there is no bevel on those at all.

Regardless, my point was what is critical is the angle of the hook to the flat face of the blade. Since the approach angle is set by the scraper, you can't microadjust the angle like a card scraper, so the hook angle has to be just right.

That said, my other point was a scraper will not take the place of a hand plane. You can either find an old Stanley or better yet, the WoodRiver planes sold by Woodcraft are the best buy out there IMO. I believe a #4 is well under $200.

When you say hook angle, are you talking about the 10-15 degree angle that's referenced in this diagram? How do I make sure I keep that right since it I'm just free handing when using the brunisher?


The Woodriver #4 is $199 before tax so not quite well under $200 https://www.woodcraft.com/products/w...-hand-plane-v3