How to prep stock.

[tom mesa]

I got some ornamental sheet metal from the hardware store that's pretty thin and flexible. They all carry the same selection from KS Precision Metals. One brass 4x10 .010 and one aluminum 4x10 .016. I hope to try them out as a scraper for curved surfaces.

Scrapers need to be steel to hold a proper edge. The best Ihave ever had were made from stove pipe material. You can cut it with good sheetmetal shears to any shape.

 

[IanH]

Plate glass is plate glass.

Brass and aluminum doesn't make good scrapers any more than good knife blades. You need spring steel with a properly filed, polished, and burnished edge.


Long, smooth flakes driven off of a chunk of obsidian make good scrapers, too, they just don't last very long.

 

[IanH]

Scrapers need to be steel to hold a proper edge. The best Ihave ever had were made from stove pipe material. You can cut it with good sheetmetal shears to any shape.

Ya beat me to it. R-panel works too, cut it with a pair of resharpened/polished compound Wiss shears and it's ready to go.

 

[sj_anderson62]

Get and learn to sharpen a scraper. That’s all I use anymore, for a plain working gun. Less dust in my nose and way less expensive.

When I was hot and heavy into building before my divorce and subsequent remarriage 20 years ago, I gave up sandpaper for my scraper, and burnished with a deer antler. Used denatured alcohol to raise grain. No water as it swells the fibers. That said, where could I find another scraper and sharpener? I looked a bit before work and couldn’t find one.
Thanks
Scott

 

[rp77469]

I have heard that shark skin was used in antiquity but do i know? No.

48 years ago I was told the same thing while visiting the Gunsmith's Shop during my first long trip to Williamsburg.

 

[rp77469]

I use card scrapers and scraper planes for woodworking. My favorite card scrapers are my Sandvik, which have not been made for 10-15 years. They were not too cheap, but were worth the money. I've made some from handsaws that work well. Since I rehab and restore old hand tools, I try to sacrifice only more modern saws (plastic or laminated wood handles) to make scraper and arrowhead blanks. Those 100 yo handsaws are just too lovely to break up.

Never tried stovepipe, but certainly worth an experiment. Thanks for that tip.

 

[deerstalkert]

When I was hot and heavy into building before my divorce and subsequent remarriage 20 years ago, I gave up sandpaper for my scraper, and burnished with a deer antler. Used denatured alcohol to raise grain. No water as it swells the fibers. That said, where could I find another scraper and sharpener? I looked a bit before work and couldn’t find one.
Thanks
Scott

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQMZ9C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Relic shooter]

Back when I was building I used a set of French Curve scrapers similar to this set.

https://www.amazon.com/Fulton-Burni...efix=french+curve+scraper+set,aps,184&sr=8-10