sharpening fancy scrapers

[AndyBoyd]

I am in the process (rather a long one I must admit ) of making a tall kitchen cabinet inspired by the work of Duncan Gowdy.
http://duncangowdy.com/artwork/2541431_ ... Panel.html

Mine is a 2.2m tall, 1m wide cabinet with 3 lower drawers and 2 doors, and the branches are painted black as opposed to opaque as he has done them.

I have projected the photos of trees in winter on the whole piece then drawn them in, carved them out initially trying with my carving chisels and then giving in to the ease of power carving tool (my weapon of choice being the Proxxon one with Flexicut chisels)

Now all is going reasonably well, I have bought some super Logitier rifflers to help me smooth out the carved areas (after trying the cheap chinese ones and throwing them away) then have been using the Thomas Flinn new scrapers to finish the grooves off before carefully painting in the groove with blackened gel stain
http://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/aca ... r_Set.html

Now I know these scrapers are only 7 quid a go but I was wondering how on earth the sharpen then?

I have a Veritas burnisher device thing which does straight scrapers extremely well but I have always struggled using a old fashioned burnisher , never mind attempting it on these small round areas of these splendid scrapers. It just seems a shame to give in to the disposable society and order new ones each time one looses it's edge

Any pieces of advice would be gratefully received

 

[GazPal]

Carving slips - as used with gouge chisels - work well when establishing and polishing a square edge on this type of profile and then you either burnish as you would a rectangular scraper blade or simply use the squared edge. Slips may or may not fit the radii in question. You could use flat sharpening stones, but it's tricky and can take an age to get curves just right, but I'd - instead - make a softwood block with a set of grooves (Half the contour depth) laid into it by using the scraper edges in question. The grooves can then be lined with various grits of emery paper and used in the same way as you'd use carving slips.

 

[AndyBoyd]

ah I see , good call GazPal I'll try that - thanks