Stewart MacDonald Ultimate Scraper

[Jim Tobias]

Like John, I have all 3 and they are the scrapers I reach for when the piece I'm scraping matters. Great control and comfortable to use(as John pointed out with the dished out center).

Jim

[David Utterback]

For anyone who wants a rigid scraper, then it might be worth trying the side of a regular non laminated plane iron.(not the business end though)
Just hone it 90 degrees with a wee block to keep square.
No drawing a burr, just go straight to work.

As a bonus it makes a good job of flattening the stone if you have hollowed it out.

Tom

Thanks for this suggestion which I immediately tried. Works quite well. Tips like this are one reason I love this site.

[Bill Winter]

Thanks Tom.

I've been using my own version of these for some years. The idea was given to me at least a decade ago by Philip Marcou, a planemaker in New Zealand. Philip described how you used offcuts of his D2 steel blades. I decided to try this with an offcut of an O1 blade. This blade is 3/16" thick, but 1/8" would work. Indeed, I have successfully used 2mm plate.

The scraper is sharpened by hollow grinding the edges. I use an 8" 180 grit CBN wheel ...




The result is magic! Think of it like a jack plane, which takes heavy cuts. Your card/cabinet scraper would bee the smoother.

Scraping in a curved drawer ...





Here is another illustration of the scraper in use. This time finishing the outside of curved drawers ...

Levelling up a set of 8 drawers ..



There is tearout from the small high angle (60 degree) HNT Gordon smoother. That just shows how difficult this Jarrah is ...



The thick scraper sorts this out ...



Now, if you want to see the difference between a fine scraper and a fine sanded surface ...

Drawer front hand sanded to 400 grit using abranet ...



The result from a cabinet scraper can be seen to the right ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

Pardon my ignorance. What is Wolverine?

[John K Jordan]

Pardon my ignorance. What is Wolverine?

The Oneway Wolverine is a tool platform and jig system that is used with bench grinders. The complete system has a couple of bases that fasten to the workbench (I fasten them to plywood) under the wheel, an adjustable tool rest on a short arm that fits into the base, and other attachments and jigs for sharpening various tools. There is a long arm that fits into the base which has a pocket at one end to hold various woodturning tools in handles and sharpening jigs. I like the Mini Platform and use the Varigrind jig to sharpen bowl gouges. I don't like their skew chisel sharpening method and I don't use the pocket on long-handled tools. I consider the Mini Platform the best for sharpening scrapers of all types.

The whole thing is very strong and stable, unlike the small tool rests that come with most bench grinders.

https://oneway.ca/Wolverine%20Grindi...g%20(complete)

JKJ

[Bill Winter]

I think I will go the CBN route. which grit is best with a 1750 RPM grinder?

[Bill Winter]

For anyone who wants a rigid scraper, then it might be worth trying the side of a regular non laminated plane iron.(not the business end though)
Just hone it 90 degrees with a wee block to keep square.
No drawing a burr, just go straight to work.

As a bonus it makes a good job of flattening the stone if you have hollowed it out.

Tom

Do you mean a plane iron such as one from a Stanley, Record, Bench Dog, Wood River, etc.?

[Mark Rainey]

One type of Ultimate scraper has a straight edge and a mild concave edge. How would you sharpen concave edge?