Card scrapers steel and what's best for you?

[bridger]

I would be very surprised if it is not exactly the same steel and heat treatment. The reason I say this is that by and large saw manufacturers don't do the heat treatment but start with a pre-treated spring steel something like cs95. Neither would it surprise me terribly if the Clifton scrapers were not made by them but a nearby saw manufacturer ? (Just speculation)

Today I believe that this is completely true. This is why even cheap new saws are fine cardstock donors. Those miserable hardpoint saws? A few minutes at the bench grinder to remove the teeth and you have a good start on a first rate scraper. 100 years ago saw makers for the most part made their own steel, and the ability to produce a good sawplate was a matter of much pride and involved closely held trade secrets. Double taper grinding was common: today it is pretty much unheard of. Even the best sawmakers buy spring steel in large rolls, cut it to size and run it through a toothing machine. Truth is, that commodity grade spring steel stock is ideal for both saws and card scrapers. It's also cheap and readily available in a number of forms including drywall taping knives.