Frank, your videos are so valuable. After all these years, I still pick up new details and nuances in technique by watching your demonstrations. I’m off to my shop now to try to master (or at least to improve) my cabinet scraper skills. Todd
I got one of these well over 50 years ago after the first day of hand scraping a maple floor that was about 1000 sq feet. I was bemoaning my lot in the pub that night and displayed the state of my burned thumbs when a fellow at the bar left, only to return a few minutes later with a #80. It cost me a pint of beer and I use it to this day! A contact at the pub also came up with about 50 lbs of hardened tempered spring steel which I have put to all sorts of uses over the years, but mainly for replacing back saw blades and scrapers. I have always known the burnishing rod as a 'Ticketer' .... from the sound it makes in use
Alright! At 10:20 you start yanking water . No fair. Bringing your son into the equation, training him to follow you in this excellence you teach; its over the top... it wouldn't have been so bad, but he is LOVING IT! Look at his face! He is energetic! Exultant! as he polishes that blade. What father wouldn't dream of his own son to follow his Dad in his footsteps like this? I guess this will need downloading and make an album labeled" This is how woodworking should be taught" Thank you for preserving the correct method of creating heirloom pieces of furniture even if there is no electricity!
Thank you so much for the kind words. I hope he sticks with it. He is really good at cutting marquetry on the frame saw, I should post a video of him doing that. His eyes are so much better then mine!
I've watched alot of vids on this topic and struggled with turning the edge. Finally you told us that 60 degees + - is the sweet spot. I ran out to my bench and followed your method and I ht it the first time. Your explanation is reduced to perfection. Finally, I know how !! Thank you Frank !! Would love to see your method for a fox wedged mortice and tenon by hand and a machined sliding tapered dovetail. You rock SIr .
Awesome! Glad it worked! I don't know of this machine tapered sliding dovetail you speak of, this is foreign! LOL actually it's so easy to do it by hand it would take me longer to set up a machine to do it!
Frank, waited til I had time to sit down and watch. I think I asked for this one a few years ago. Didn't disappoint! LOL! Learned some new stuff along the way. Explaining the why of the process definitely a win! Will rewatch after setting up my bench. Would like to see how this works on Maple with figured grain? Thanks!
@@strazzafurniture I practiced it about two dozen times on some scrap wood then I made a beautiful little tea table using that joint to join bloodwood legs to a quartersawn white oak table top. I used 6 tapered sliding dovetail joints and 4 through mortise and tenons. I sold that for 60 dollars which I very much regret. Last winter I built an entire work bench using the same joints but with much cheaper lumber. I only started working with wood in fall of 2017 and by fall of 2019 I built the tea table using the joint you taught me. I'm incredibly grateful for the videos you post.
Thank you for all you do to educate us. I have been struggling to get an old cabinet scraper working and this video was spot on what I need. Can't wait to go through the setup.
@@strazzafurniture sharpened them up. They work as advertised. Showed them off to my woodworker neighbor. Now I have 3 more to sharpen! Sometimes show & tell backfires.
Excellent video. I learned a lot I noticed you picked up the rear of the scraper on your return then you explained way things like that really helps out . Looking forward to more videos
bonjour and many thanks for this excellent and instructive video, calm, detailed, excellent. I wished to remind me the way to sharpen my blade as i am an amateur and don't use the cab scrap often, was a great pleasure to listen and watch you. I feel back ... thanks Frank !
Hello Frank, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I found the video very helpful. Hope to see more videos from you regarding traditional hand tool woodworking. Thankfully new comers have masters like you and Mr. Sellers to teach the old ways so that this knowledge and art are not lost. Looking forward to more videos. New subscriber.
Thank you! I will be teaching at different venues across the country this year, here is a link to see where I will be teaching, www.strazzafurniture.com/teaching-schedule-2024.html
Thank you for this! I've been curious about this tool and how to best use it. Now I not only understand it, but I have a good idea how to tune it, sharpen it and use it! Thank you for your clear and understandable delivery of all this information.
Thanks for writing and glad the video was helpful, best of luck getting your scraper perfectly sharp but more importantly getting a beautiful surface and lovely shavings!
Frank, better than the 'ruler trick' is simply to apply one layer of electrical tape the the back face of the scraper blade about and inch and half up from the edge. That provides a very small angle, much lower than the ruler trick and also it is much more manageable because the angle is going to be exactly the same no matter how many times you lift the scraper blade up to check it. Using the ruler is cumbersome and inconsistent. Works well on plane blades too. The electrical tape slides over the diamond stone without breaking up or clogging etc.
Ahh this is a great tip, I haven't thought of that but it makes sense. I personally don't like to use the ruler because of your reasons, I only use it as a last ditch effort. I did find tho that using the .0025 shim stock enables me to not have to use the shim stock once I get the back flat. It's just enough raise it up to flatten the back but then subsequent work on the back can be done with pressure alone and not the use of the .0025 shim stock.
@@strazzafurniture Yes, the electrical tape is just the right thickness to create that microscopic back bevel. And it stays in place as it's on the blade itself. I often mark a line for it with a sharpie so next time I can stick fresh tape in the exact spot again. Thanks so much for your great videos. I just found a Stanley #80 here in Australia and snapped it up. Looking forward to tuning and using it. My 71 year old fingers don't like card scrapers at all any more.
Excellent tutorial, as usual.Learned some things I was not aware of. The one thing you didn't explain was whether that piece of wood could be turned around to scrape the other end. Also I was informed that skewing scraper at start of stroke helps to engage edge. Am I ill informed?
Ahh yes, I intentionally don't go off the end because you don't get as good a surface, So I do just simply turn the board around to finish the other end. I should have mentioned that in the video. Also skewing it at the start of the stroke is excellent as well. Looks like I need to do a follow up video to cover these subtleties! Thanks for pointing that out!
Thanks for the video. Great content. When you use the ruler trick to flatten the back, don’t you need to use the shim for all subsequent steps?. It looked like you used the shim with the first grit and left it out for the final polish. Seems like the angle would be off.
Good catch! typically you would have to if you were using a thicker ruler, in this case I am using a shim stock that is .0025 its so subtle that after I get the back where I need it, I can simply apply pressure without the shim stock and I've found it works just fine.
Thanks for this! I have one of the newer models. What makes the older models more preferable other than aesthetics? Are they easier to set up because of the difference in thumbscrews?
HI Jim, honestly I just prefer the sweetheart models because the thumb screws are easier to tighten as opposed to the slotted screws in the back for holding the blade in place. I also find that the steel tends to be a bit more substantial on the older ones and also the tensioning screw is a bit thicker if I recall. however the newer one is going to work just fine.
Hey Frank. Since you’re stopping before the end of the board as you’re taking shaving do you then go from your stopping point and off the board completely to smooth the entire surface of the board?
What are the specific differences between the old cabinet scrapers and the new cabinet scrapers? Usually innovation makes things better while cost cutting destroys them, but as you mentioned with the screws, is it a functional issue (like the screws, but those can be remedied easily) or an ergonomic issue, or something else?
Frank, or anyone else for that matter, I tried to burnish my finished edge and the edge began to break off! Is the blade too hard? What might be the issue?
Ok so the only thing I would suspect is that you are putting too much pressure as you go up to 60 degrees. you can put a fair amount of pressure when you are at 45 degrees but as you increase the angle of the burnisher, lighten up the pressure significantly as you approach 60, don't go past 60 if anything go less, it doesn't take much if the edge has been prepared properly prior. hope that helps, You will have to go back to the file probably to rehone the edge now.
@@druggedoutpennokio9699 thank you so much for the kind words. A friend actually did start a go fund me, but ended up turning it off, because we exceeded the goal. Thank you for your support.
@@johnnykempo I can put an edge on the ool in about three minutes, the video is long because I’m explaining the entire process. The tool works amazing once you develop the skill to be able to sharpen and use it.
Danke.. eindrucksvoll
Frank, your videos are so valuable. After all these years, I still pick up new details and nuances in technique by watching your demonstrations. I’m off to my shop now to try to master (or at least to improve) my cabinet scraper skills. Todd
Thanks so much Todd! Glad you found it helpful, Let me know if there are snags you run into when trying to sharpen.
I got one of these well over 50 years ago after the first day of hand scraping a maple floor that was about 1000 sq feet. I was bemoaning my lot in the pub that night and displayed the state of my burned thumbs when a fellow at the bar left, only to return a few minutes later with a #80. It cost me a pint of beer and I use it to this day! A contact at the pub also came up with about 50 lbs of hardened tempered spring steel which I have put to all sorts of uses over the years, but mainly for replacing back saw blades and scrapers.
I have always known the burnishing rod as a 'Ticketer' .... from the sound it makes in use
Alright! At 10:20 you start yanking water . No fair. Bringing your son into the equation, training him to follow you in this excellence you teach; its over the top... it wouldn't have been so bad, but he is LOVING IT! Look at his face! He is energetic! Exultant! as he polishes that blade. What father wouldn't dream of his own son to follow his Dad in his footsteps like this? I guess this will need downloading and make an album labeled" This is how woodworking should be taught" Thank you for preserving the correct method of creating heirloom pieces of furniture even if there is no electricity!
Thank you so much for the kind words. I hope he sticks with it. He is really good at cutting marquetry on the frame saw, I should post a video of him doing that. His eyes are so much better then mine!
I've watched alot of vids on this topic and struggled with turning the edge. Finally you told us that 60 degees + - is the sweet spot. I ran out to my bench and followed your method and I ht it the first time. Your explanation is reduced to perfection. Finally, I know how !! Thank you Frank !!
Would love to see your method for a fox wedged mortice and tenon by hand and a machined sliding tapered dovetail. You rock SIr .
Awesome! Glad it worked! I don't know of this machine tapered sliding dovetail you speak of, this is foreign! LOL actually it's so easy to do it by hand it would take me longer to set up a machine to do it!
Mr. Strazza I didn’t realize you had your own channel! It is great to see you giving the world more woodworking knowledge!
Frank, waited til I had time to sit down and watch. I think I asked for this one a few years ago. Didn't disappoint! LOL! Learned some new stuff along the way. Explaining the why of the process definitely a win! Will rewatch after setting up my bench. Would like to see how this works on Maple with figured grain? Thanks!
Glad you found it helpful! The beauty of the scraper is that it works with all types of grain, so it works marvelous on curly maple!
Thanks for another great tutorial video - Chris
Glad you found it helpful Chris! Let me know if there's any other topics you'd like to see done.
Great video. The clearest I have seen on this tool. Thank you
Thank you kindly! I was worried it may be too exhaustive but I didn't want to leave out important parts!
Thank you Frank, the tapered sliding dovetail I learned from you is still my favorite joint to this day.
I too love that joint, it's so satisfying to watch it come together and it's so useful too. Did you encounter any challenges in creating it?
@@strazzafurniture I practiced it about two dozen times on some scrap wood then I made a beautiful little tea table using that joint to join bloodwood legs to a quartersawn white oak table top. I used 6 tapered sliding dovetail joints and 4 through mortise and tenons. I sold that for 60 dollars which I very much regret. Last winter I built an entire work bench using the same joints but with much cheaper lumber.
I only started working with wood in fall of 2017 and by fall of 2019 I built the tea table using the joint you taught me. I'm incredibly grateful for the videos you post.
Thank you for all you do to educate us. I have been struggling to get an old cabinet scraper working and this video was spot on what I need. Can't wait to go through the setup.
Awesome, hope it works out, it does take practice so don't give up if it doesn't work on the first go.
All right! I forgot there are a couple of these tucked away in my shop. Time to clear the cobwebs off of them, I guess
Excellent! Hope they are out cleaned off and ready to sharpen soon!
@@strazzafurniture sharpened them up. They work as advertised. Showed them off to my woodworker neighbor. Now I have 3 more to sharpen! Sometimes show & tell backfires.
Great tutorial
Excellent video. I learned a lot I noticed you picked up the rear of the scraper on your return then you explained way things like that really helps out . Looking forward to more videos
Ahh yes, A subtle detail that makes all the difference, glad you enjoyed the video and it was helpful!
Thanks for that video! I have same scraper
Thanks for watching, hope the video helps get your scraper working! Let me know how it goes!
bonjour and many thanks for this excellent and instructive video, calm, detailed, excellent. I wished to remind me the way to sharpen my blade as i am an amateur and don't use the cab scrap often, was a great pleasure to listen and watch you. I feel back ... thanks Frank !
Awesome lesson thank you so much.
10/10 video
Great information is hard to come by, so thank you, more please.
Thank you so much, I will try to post more, it's a ton of work to create these vids but glad to share!
Hello Frank, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I found the video very helpful. Hope to see more videos from you regarding traditional hand tool woodworking. Thankfully new comers have masters like you and Mr. Sellers to teach the old ways so that this knowledge and art are not lost. Looking forward to more videos. New subscriber.
wow, welcome back with your videos. hope will arrived in austin tx and attend any of your courses :)
Thank you! I will be teaching at different venues across the country this year, here is a link to see where I will be teaching, www.strazzafurniture.com/teaching-schedule-2024.html
Thank you for this! I've been curious about this tool and how to best use it. Now I not only understand it, but I have a good idea how to tune it, sharpen it and use it! Thank you for your clear and understandable delivery of all this information.
Thanks for writing and glad the video was helpful, best of luck getting your scraper perfectly sharp but more importantly getting a beautiful surface and lovely shavings!
Excellent informative video, which will help me and many others, I'm sure.....
Thanks for watching, let me know how your scraper works once you get it sharp!
I certainly will Frank...
@@strazzafurniture
Sharpened my scraper blade today, following your method and it has never worked that well, Thanks again, Frank
Thats awesome! So glad to hear.@@jamesopell
Frank, better than the 'ruler trick' is simply to apply one layer of electrical tape the the back face of the scraper blade about and inch and half up from the edge. That provides a very small angle, much lower than the ruler trick and also it is much more manageable because the angle is going to be exactly the same no matter how many times you lift the scraper blade up to check it. Using the ruler is cumbersome and inconsistent.
Works well on plane blades too. The electrical tape slides over the diamond stone without breaking up or clogging etc.
Ahh this is a great tip, I haven't thought of that but it makes sense. I personally don't like to use the ruler because of your reasons, I only use it as a last ditch effort. I did find tho that using the .0025 shim stock enables me to not have to use the shim stock once I get the back flat. It's just enough raise it up to flatten the back but then subsequent work on the back can be done with pressure alone and not the use of the .0025 shim stock.
@@strazzafurniture Yes, the electrical tape is just the right thickness to create that microscopic back bevel. And it stays in place as it's on the blade itself. I often mark a line for it with a sharpie so next time I can stick fresh tape in the exact spot again.
Thanks so much for your great videos. I just found a Stanley #80 here in Australia and snapped it up. Looking forward to tuning and using it. My 71 year old fingers don't like card scrapers at all any more.
@@RobRobertson1000 Awesome, Im gonna have to try the electric tape trick, I like it, thanks for sharing! Cheers
Loved this video. Very helpful.
Glad you found it helpful!
I wish there is double or triple like option. Awesome informative video
Great tutorial Frank.
Thanks so much!
Thanks, I've been waiting for this vid
Glad you weren't holding your breath for it! LOL
Excellent tutorial, as usual.Learned some things I was not aware of. The one thing you didn't explain was whether that piece of wood could be turned around to scrape the other end. Also I was informed that skewing scraper at start of stroke helps to engage edge. Am I ill informed?
Good tip to not sharpen scraper on other side because I have actually got cut by protruding blade. been putting tape over it.
Ahh yes, I intentionally don't go off the end because you don't get as good a surface, So I do just simply turn the board around to finish the other end. I should have mentioned that in the video. Also skewing it at the start of the stroke is excellent as well. Looks like I need to do a follow up video to cover these subtleties! Thanks for pointing that out!
Great video
Thank You
Thanks for the video. Great content. When you use the ruler trick to flatten the back, don’t you need to use the shim for all subsequent steps?. It looked like you used the shim with the first grit and left it out for the final polish. Seems like the angle would be off.
Good catch! typically you would have to if you were using a thicker ruler, in this case I am using a shim stock that is .0025 its so subtle that after I get the back where I need it, I can simply apply pressure without the shim stock and I've found it works just fine.
Thanks for this! I have one of the newer models. What makes the older models more preferable other than aesthetics? Are they easier to set up because of the difference in thumbscrews?
HI Jim, honestly I just prefer the sweetheart models because the thumb screws are easier to tighten as opposed to the slotted screws in the back for holding the blade in place. I also find that the steel tends to be a bit more substantial on the older ones and also the tensioning screw is a bit thicker if I recall. however the newer one is going to work just fine.
I use a very , stupid old cabinet screwdriver as a burnisher, polished up and hard. No issues does the job.
Hey Frank. Since you’re stopping before the end of the board as you’re taking shaving do you then go from your stopping point and off the board completely to smooth the entire surface of the board?
What are the specific differences between the old cabinet scrapers and the new cabinet scrapers? Usually innovation makes things better while cost cutting destroys them, but as you mentioned with the screws, is it a functional issue (like the screws, but those can be remedied easily) or an ergonomic issue, or something else?
So when it dulls do you run the entire process from the file on, again ?
@@joeldwolf actually you can go to the reburnishing stage about 3 times before you have to go back to the file.
Frank, or anyone else for that matter, I tried to burnish my finished edge and the edge began to break off! Is the blade too hard? What might be the issue?
Ok so the only thing I would suspect is that you are putting too much pressure as you go up to 60 degrees. you can put a fair amount of pressure when you are at 45 degrees but as you increase the angle of the burnisher, lighten up the pressure significantly as you approach 60, don't go past 60 if anything go less, it doesn't take much if the edge has been prepared properly prior. hope that helps, You will have to go back to the file probably to rehone the edge now.
"Son" AKA "Cheap Labor".😁😄
Please start a go fund me brother please I just want to help you it hurts to see someone put in a shit position like this you don’t deserve it
@@druggedoutpennokio9699 thank you so much for the kind words. A friend actually did start a go fund me, but ended up turning it off, because we exceeded the goal. Thank you for your support.
@@strazzafurniture glad to hear it man
Christ, who's got the time for all this work? 😮 And then you use the tool forn30 minutes and you have to put an edge back on 😢
@@johnnykempo I can put an edge on the ool in about three minutes, the video is long because I’m explaining the entire process. The tool works amazing once you develop the skill to be able to sharpen and use it.