# Cabinet Scraper (Veritas Variable Burnisher)



## USCJeff (Apr 6, 2007)

I have owned a cabinet scraper for a while now and it has collected dust as I couldn't get a good burr without a burnisher. Bought a typical rod style burnisher and now I understand how handy scrapers can be. I was thumbing through my Lee Valley catalog and saw their "Vertias Variable Burnisher. It costs a little more than a nice rod style burnisher, but if it works as advertised, I want one. Anyone use one of these? I wish I saw their scraping set (4 scrapers, file, variable burnisher, holder, and jointer) for $70 before I bought some of the stuff a la carte.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

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.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

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


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

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


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

An old chisel works well (round part).


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## bbrooks (Jan 3, 2007)

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.


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## Duckarrowtypes (Sep 17, 2007)

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.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

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.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

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…


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## mot (May 8, 2007)

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


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## USCJeff (Apr 6, 2007)

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.


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

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


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

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


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## brunob (Dec 26, 2006)

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


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## cajunpen (Apr 9, 2007)

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?


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

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


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

I have a cheap 212 clone from Woodcraft. It works well but I still wind up using a card scraper for a lot of work. And Bill…......You ain't that old.
Tom

Wayne always shows the best from LN.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Just easier to get on from LN than find a photo of an old one. Besides we need to keep LN's sales up so they can continue to build us classic tools. The 212 is really a handsome plane. It is a smaller tool than the 112.


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## Radish (Apr 11, 2007)

Wayne, you are gonna get arrested for internet (wood) porn one of these days. Much more of this and I'll have to dose up on Quinine to abate the LN fever before logging on.

I bought the LV scraper burnisher, and the card scraper holder and I'll agree with the group. Save your cash. I also have the Woodsmith scraper filing jig, which is somewhat helpful in truing a scraper and getting a file burr going. Once you get the drift, though any of the low-tech methods out there work well and are cheaper in the long run. 
Lee Jesberger's trick of using a magnetic business card stuck to the thumb side of the card is genius! No more hot thumbs. Another good trick is to rub the side of your nose with your finger and then rubbing the card edge with that finger before drawing out the burr with your burnisher. The skin oil helps to avoid galling the burr as you are drawing it out.

A great way to check if your burr is right is to check it on your thumbnail. You'll be able to tell if it will be a functional tool pretty quickly. Any tool you can get that is as cheap as a card scraper and as functional as one is a blessing. Lee Valley has a super flexible card that is just the ticket for de-nibbing finishes between coats (I just had to say something nice about LV after slamming these two offerings. It is my favorite catalogue supplier of wood stuff and hardware and a model of how businesses should treat their customers).


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

I stand corrected; my scraper is a 112 clone. not a 212. Who cares; it works for a living.


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## USCJeff (Apr 6, 2007)

Yeah, Wayne has a little hadn tool fetish if no ones caught on. I gotta watch out cause I'm sarting to hear his gospel! I hated them all up until a month or so ago when I really took the time to tune a $20 block plane and got my first actual shaving with it. Felt very nice. Card Scrapers are just way too handy not to use (even if you're addicted to power). I'm a router guy myself, but sometimes a plane is just the better (or more efficient) tool. 
I'm going to get 2 more hand tools and I think that will shake the bug for a while. I really want either a plane or scraper to shape seat bottoms or such. The planes and scrapers designed for this both seem fairly straight forward. I also want to replace my POS block plane with a solid low angle block plane. I'm leaning towards the Veritas or Stanley (w/ Hock blade). My Stanley doesn't have an adjustable mouth, so I get some chatter on some pretty light cuts.
WAYNE, do you use a jointer fence like the one Veritas sells with your planes? Just curious. They seem handy, but I bet there's a dozen ways to so without it.


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## Dorje (Jun 17, 2007)

Shaping chair seats, eh? Don't forget an adze! I know, it's a bit more rustic…but it's definitely a hand tool! Here's the Gransfors Bruks...


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

Jeff. I use a shop made jointer fence that attaches to my #7 with magnets. It's made of poplar and took abiut an hour. I didn't have the $43 or so dollars that LV gets although theirs looks pretty nice. That can be my project for today.
Tom


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

I've not tried one. Just use a machinest's square… Also, if your jointing edges to glue up panels. Put the two edges together and joint them at the same time. Easier than trying to plane each to 50 degrees.


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

Wayne's right about planing for glue up and don't forget to put a little spring in the boards. This makes truly invisable glue lines.


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## Iffy (Aug 27, 2007)

Jeff. I've got the variable burnisher. Wanna make an even trade? Serious.


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## Radish (Apr 11, 2007)

Wayne. I have seen that trick but forget how it works. Do you clamp them up with one flipped end over end from their final position in the glue up?


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

No Douglas, just take them out of the vise and put the two edges together. Any diviation in angle is canceled out. If you're doing multiple boards use a white charcoal pencil to mark the faces so you don't turn one wrong way up.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Beat me to it… :^ )

The point about spring is a good one too. David Charlesworth calls it a stop shaving I belive. Basically make the edge slightly concave (1-2 mil or so). I belive Tom addressed that in his plane fence post.


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## TheGravedigger (May 20, 2007)

Back when I started using scrapers, I couldn't afford a lot of stuff for the shop. I took a rusty old triangular file, ground the teeth off, and rounded the corners. It made a great burnisher that I still use to this day (18 years later). Hey, if it works, don't fix it!.

By the way, for those that don't know, old handsaw blades make some of the best card scrapers there are. A dozuki blade will yield an incredibly flexible scraper that will still take a good edge - good for those difficult areas.

No point in throwing away good metal.


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## steph33 (Sep 5, 2010)

I was at Lee Valley yesterday to buy a burnisher for a set of different thickness cards I bought there a few weeks ago. They'd been unused because i was having trouble creating a good burr even with HSS steel drill bit shanks.

I was tempted by the Variable Burnisher rod and the jig type variable Burnisher. They were around $35.00 dollars each. In the end I bought the small carbide burnisher 05K20.30 for $7.50 and it works very well. The carbide rod end is short (3/4"), in a wooden handle and is apparently designed for irregular shapes. The rod surface is very smooth and they claim it will never nick or scratch.
Actually works incredibly well on the rectangles. A few slightly angled medium pressure strokes, over to the wood and curly, feathery maple shavings were floating down to my shoes within minutes. The maple surface quickly felt glassy smooth to the touch.
I was thinking about drilling a slightly angled hole for the rod close to the edge of a kerfed, palm sized piece of 3/4 maple. I'd use the tools' handle for support and draw the kerf along the card edge. If the hole is a tight friction fit then I won't have to glue it in and ruin the tool for handheld irregular shape burnishing. I'll try that today.


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## USCJeff (Apr 6, 2007)

My thoughts have changed since I posted this thread a few years ago. I've since been able to learn to burnish the edge using a traditional rod style burnisher. It took some practice. There's online video tutorials that are excellent. I know Marc Spag (WWhisp) had one on his site. There are plenty that follow that same method. It's a trial and error thing until it clicks one day. Don't skip steps.


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## LeeBarker (Aug 6, 2010)

Long threads like this are very educational. I appreciate all the input. The newbies need to be encouraged to keep at it because the scraper is valuable, period. We old guys have our ways, and our gizmos.

And here's a tip from a fellow woodworker: To alleviate the heat transfer using a hand held scraper, slap a refrigerator magnet on it. Clever, no?


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## USCJeff (Apr 6, 2007)

Fridge magnet?? That's a new one. I've seen a lot of holder's both sold and fashioned and a fridge magnet would do the trick cheap. I bought a wooden holder that does the trick, but I do need to hold it in hand for some uses. I've used painters tape, but will give the cheap magnet a shot.

I stilll wish I could ante up for the #80 Scrraper Wayne posted above. So pretty.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

I made my burnisher from an old engine wrist pin.
Bill


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## USCJeff (Apr 6, 2007)

I'm going to to have to claim my ignorance Bill. It would take me a long time to guess which part of an engine that is. However, any metal stronger than the scraper itself will get it done. I've heard some screwdriver shafts can work. Mine don't seem that tough, but most of them came in some generic set.


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## CoolDavion (Dec 6, 2007)

Woodsmith shop had an episode on planes and scrapers, their burnisher was a pice of wood with an angled piece cut off, and a drill bit mounted in it as a burnisher. Plans are on their web site.


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## Gofor (Jan 12, 2008)

USCJeff:

If the metal is soft enough that you can easily cut it with a regular file, then it is probably too soft to do a good job of burnishing. Doesn't matter where it came from or what its original use was. Key is smooth and hard. Most screwdriver shafts are not hard enough. The tips may be hardened, but usually the shafts are left soft to make them less prone to breaking. Smooth metal that is hard enough that it breaks rather than bends will be sufficient. Tool steel, like that used in drill bits and planer blades is an excellent choice. It you radius the edge or back of an old dull planer blade, it will turn a burr very nicely. Same goes for the shank of most drill bits (but I would stay away from those in the "econo" packs, especially if they bend instead of break off.) A burnisher does not have to be long to turn a burr on a card scraper. Dragging it off the edge will turn the burr more quickly, but is not a necessity. Slightly increasing the angle of the burnisher to the edge with each stroke will get the job done nicely, even if the burnisher is only an inch long. Best to use a little lubricant for a smooth burr.

JMTCW

Go


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## USCJeff (Apr 6, 2007)

Thanks Davion, I saw that one a while back. There are a few other similar videos and articles with the same method more or less. It seems most of the larger podcasts have had it come up at some time or another. There are some simple jigs to hold the scraper to square it as well as turn the burr. I will say, there is a little bit of a learning curve that kept it from being used much. The simple holder I bought kept it bent properly and took out that variable. Once I got the hand of it, I now see why it's on a lot of people's short list for best cheap tools. It does more than popping of glue blobs! The wood matters to I've found. Some are easier to scrape than sand and vice-versa.


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