Cabinet Scraper (Veritas Variable Burnisher)

I never was impressed with mine. I’ve owned it for 6-7 years. If its the same as the one you saw.

At a finishing class I took with Jeff Jewitt he used a plain old screwdriver shank that is not plated but a just plain shaft and used it to turn the edge. It works great. I’ve also used a valve stem from a truck engine about 12” long and a 2.5” head. They are truly hard steel.

-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I’ve got the variable burnisher as well and not too excited about it. If your looking to invest, I suggest dropping $20 on Chris Schwartz’s new handscraper video. It very clearly shows how to sharpen, burnish and use card scrapers. I got this last week and watched it over the weekend. Good video.

http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/AV18-D.htm

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

New and improved seldom is. I’d suggest just learning to use the regular burnisher or any other rod that is handy.
Tom

-- Thos. Angle, Jordan Valley, Oregon

An old chisel works well (round part).

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

What about for filing the edge, just use a regular file? I tried a scraper once, I guess it was not burnished correctly. It just gave me a little dust was all. Not like I have seen those guys online. So I have been avoiding the scrapers for the sander instead.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

I bought the variable burnisher and I like it just fine. This is the thing that I bought: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32633&cat=1,310,41070

I’ve never tried anything else but this one has been very nice for me.

-- Custom Daguerreotypes from your images and more: www.shinyphotos.com

Bill change the angle that you hold it to the wood. One angle you get dust, and another angle you get shavings.

The angle on the burr can change from one time to another so the angle is not always the same. Just change it and they will appear.

-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Here is a long post that describes how to sharpen a scraper. According to Chris Schwartz there are at least 15 different published methods.

http://www.inthewoodshop.org/methods/wwc07.shtml

I really do think the video I referenced above is worth the money…

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I use the LV burnisher for turning scrapers. As for cabinet scrapers, I use the old fashioned way and use a screwdriver shank.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Good to know. Might hold off. I tried the screwdriver shaft method and it didn’t do a ton for me. Could be technique, but I read up a good but on it and think the metal might not be dense enough. The burnisher made all the difference and I get a nice burr if I hold it around 15 degrees. I normally just use the side of a sharpening stone and a drop of oil to joint the edge every 4 or 5 burnishings. I haven’t tried to joint and sharpen my concave scraper. I imagine there’s more room for error. I’ll need to soon as I’ve been using it a ton to strip spindels on 6 dining chairs. One of those times a concave spokeshave would be nice to have.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Bill, take a piece of ply or wood and run a kerf in it about 1/2 inch deep. Find a file that fits in the groove and cut the board to length. You now have a 90 degree scraper filer. File it past square and then start burnishing until you get what you want. It will make a great finish and your fingers hot and your arms tired and your shoulders ache and your back sore.

Tom

-- Thos. Angle, Jordan Valley, Oregon

Or you could buy a scraper plane Stanley #12, #80, #112, #212 or clone and not get your fingers hot.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I also use a screwdriver as a burnisher. Works fine. Also, old handsaw blades make great scrapers.

-- Bruce from Central New York...now, if you'll pardon me, I have some sawdust to make.

I can see that all of this hand tool talk is going to cost me even more money. Can you get too old to try new things? If so, I ain’t there yet :-)).

Wayne, you have me hooked on trying hand planes – and now scrapers too! Does the Stanley scraper planes that you referenced above take the place of the card scraper?

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Yes, basically they provide a holder for the scraper and they range from basic #80 to complex #112/212.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov