a lot of new Woodworkers hear about card scrapers and they think great I'm gonna never have to sand again then they try one and it doesn't work out like they thought because they can't get them properly sharpened and prepped and so all they get is dust instead of the nice wispy shavings that you're supposed to get so the scraper ends up back in the drawer and they're back to sanding all the time I like card scrapers they really save me a lot of sanding and I'm not a fan of sanding so it's been important to me to try to teach people how to sharpen and use them and I've had my methods in the past but I learned a new one this came from Mike Taylor over at Taylor tools and I really think this is a game changer especially for new scraper users but even for those who like and use scrapers all the time I'm telling you this might make you love your scraper again it's a piece of plate glass with fine sandpaper on one side and finer honing film on the other you also get a little pack of Hardware so you can make your own wooden Vise and there's a little magnetic holder that you have to make and then there's a file and two ultra thin metal rules in the kit now there is a video on the Taylor tools website that shows you how to make the two little wooden jigs that you're going to need the hardware is provided in the kit for it you just make the jigs by providing your own scraps of wood I'll link to it below easy to make them you really should check it out but right now I want to show you how to use this stuff to prep and sharpen a scraper in two minutes or less that's how long it took me so first you've got to clean up your Edge it's probably going to be rough from the Machining process or maybe an old hook that's on there so I put the two rolls on the glass I slip the card into the little wooden Vise then I place it on top of the rolls this just helps me to quickly set the edge of the scraper just above the surface of my vise now I secure the scraper in there and I clamp the whole thing down I'm going to do it by slipping it in my bench vise if you don't have a bench vise simply make your little wooden Vise with a couple of tabs on it and then you can clamp that down to any bench top and you don't have to have a big Vise the point is you want to hold the thing in place as you run your file over the edge a few times until you see shiny new metal all the way down the length next flip it over and run it on the fine sandpaper side of the glass A few times until you remove the file marks from the edge then flip the glass over and polish it with a few Strokes across the extra fine film on that back side see how shiny that edge is with no file marks now you can take it out of the Vise and run a Sharpie down both sides of the edge this is just going to help you gauge your progress on the next step for that next step I'm laying one of the thin metal rulers on the extra fine honing film and I'm snapping the magnetic holder onto the edge of my card this helps me to polish the edge with just light pressure the rule holds the scraper at a slight angle so all the work is done at The Cutting Edge and it makes it a lot faster you don't have to get rid of all of the black Sharpie Mark but you do want to see a shiny strip all the way along the edge of the card then you can flip it over and do it to the other side the edge of my scraper is now perfectly smooth and it's square and I'm ready to roll the hook any burnisher will work for this but I become partial to this accuburb burn burnisher because I like how it's shaped in the center to form a burr on both sides of the card at the same time so I don't have to tilt it at one angle on one side and another specific angle on the other I just put a drop of oil on hold it parallel to the floor and with two or three Strokes using firm pressure I am all done I can feel the hook with my fingernails on both sides and because I took a little bit of time to prep and polish this Edge before I rolled that hook the hook is now going to be continuous and consistent with no chips or imperfections that means it's going to work properly and it's going to last a lot longer than it would on a poorly prepared scraper Edge this is what you want fine shavings not a bunch of dust if you're getting fine shavings you've got a cabinet scraper that will be easy to use Easy to maintain and you'll be doing a lot less sanding on your next project I have used a lot of different methods to sharpen scrapers I've shown some of them in videos on the past they all work but this has to be the fastest and most consistent way to get great results that you just can't mess up and like I said it took me less than two minutes the first time I did it that's fast and easy enough that you're not going to dread doing it again also keep in mind that you can typically reform the hooked edge with the burnisher alone one or two times before it gets weak and breaks off and then you have to go back through your filing and honing process so if you prep both edges of a couple of scrapers at the beginning of your project you might be able to avoid resharpening them for the whole project so use the links below to check this kit out you could probably assemble it yourself from stuff you have around the shop and that'd be perfectly fine I just want you to try the idea but it would be a lot easier for a lot of you to just get the kit from Taylor they're a great family business that's worth supporting they come up with good ideas like this and they don't charge an arm and a leg for them I'll also put a link to a couple of inexpensive but really high quality scrapers in case you want to try those out without breaking the bank and I'll link to another video I made a while back about how to use a card scraper in your shop to save you some sanding see you next time
