Card Scraper Sharpening and Use – Ask Matt #16

Card scrapers are some of the most useful tools in woodworking but although they’re really easy to use, it’s notoriously hard to learn how to sharpen them.  I struggled with sharpening these for a long time until I made one modification to my sharpening technique and that was to apply very light pressure with the burnisher.

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1-hook

The final result of the sharpening process is to turn a sharp corner (left) into a hook (right).

2-filing

The first step it to prep the edge of the scraper with a file.  This levels the surface and starts to form a nice crisp corner.

3-polishing-1

Next is polishing the face of the scraper.  I start with a 4000 grit stone.

4-polishing-2

On the same stone I’ll polish the edge of the scraper.  I like to do this freehand but you can also use a block of wood here as a guide.

5-polishing-3

I can next repeat the polishing steps on my 8000 grit stone

6-polishing-4

7-polishing-5

8-burnishing-1

Now comes burnishing.  The first passes are with the burnisher held square to the face of the scraper. I use light pressure here.  Only the weight of my arms is pressing the burnisher down.  I do 4-5 passes.

9-burnishing-2

Next to roll the hook, I tip the burnisher a bit and repeat the burnishing passes.  Again, only applying light pressure.

10-scraping

Now the scraper is ready to be used.  I sharp scraper will produce really nice wispy shavings.

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3 Responses

  1. Hi Matt,

    I enjoyed watching your video of how to sharpen card scrapers. Could you at some point show how to sharpen, shaped card scrapers, I have yet to see anyone explain how this is done.

    Thank you,
    John.

    1. Thank you John! I actually decided to split the curved and shaped scrapers out from this video for the interest of time. My next Ask Matt will be on the curved scrapers so look for that soon. Thanks again! Matt

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