Chris Knight
Established Member
If you use a scraper and you don't have one of these http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=262341 you are really missing something. I use scrapers a lot and thanks to a Bruce Luckhurst finishing course I attended a few years ago, I learnt to sharpen it in the time-honoured way and got good enough that I can sharpen one in about two minutes from start to finish. The trouble is that two minutes starts when I have navigated my way from my work bench to an adjacent shop where I keep all my sharpening paraphernalia. The result is that when my last scraper is blunt, I persist with it longer than is sensible.
No more! I saw this gadget at the Axminster show last year and have only now got around to using it. I left it in my drawer so long because it was being sold alongside the usual snake oil and quick fixes that always intrigue me but usually disappoint and I fully expected this scraper to be more of the same - I only bought it because I am a sucker for a good salesman!
However, this little tool is a delight, I can now sharpen four edges of a scraper in 10 seconds - quite literally. Just grasp the scraper in left hand, one pass on the edge to be sharpened with this gadget (that now lives in my back pocket) and I'm ready to go. A really light touch is all that is needed otherwise one turns a really big burr that can be fragile.
I find that I can raise a burr on the same edge about five or six times before I need to "consolidate" the edge with the tools round carbide section prior to resuming the bevel raising operation. I only need to hone the edge on a stone every twenty to thirty bevel raisings.
Axminster are now selling the thing at £17 wich is lot more than I paid at the show (£12) but nonetheless, I reckon this would be one of the best £17 you will ever spend on a tool should you get one.
No more! I saw this gadget at the Axminster show last year and have only now got around to using it. I left it in my drawer so long because it was being sold alongside the usual snake oil and quick fixes that always intrigue me but usually disappoint and I fully expected this scraper to be more of the same - I only bought it because I am a sucker for a good salesman!
However, this little tool is a delight, I can now sharpen four edges of a scraper in 10 seconds - quite literally. Just grasp the scraper in left hand, one pass on the edge to be sharpened with this gadget (that now lives in my back pocket) and I'm ready to go. A really light touch is all that is needed otherwise one turns a really big burr that can be fragile.
I find that I can raise a burr on the same edge about five or six times before I need to "consolidate" the edge with the tools round carbide section prior to resuming the bevel raising operation. I only need to hone the edge on a stone every twenty to thirty bevel raisings.
Axminster are now selling the thing at £17 wich is lot more than I paid at the show (£12) but nonetheless, I reckon this would be one of the best £17 you will ever spend on a tool should you get one.
