Wood Lathe Scrapers

General description

A wood lathe scraper is a long round or square tool with a bevel that can vary from 55º to 65º. The scraper has a rather simple shape that makes it an easy tool for sharpening. The thing that differs the scraper from other tools is the burr. The burr is the small metal row at the edge of the scraper. This is the part of the tool that actually scrapes the wood. Keep an eye on it because you need to keep small, consistent, and sharp. Consider all these advises and the scraper will become the nice finishing tool.

Purposes of the wood lathe scraper and how to use it to fulfil these purposes

Making coves

The height of the tool rest should be adjusted so that when raising the handle you would be able to cut right above the centre. All in all you would be pointing down to the work. The lathe works at 2700 RPM which makes a good pretty smooth finish. Not perfect but decent. Don’t push too much because the tool can handle the job itself.

Shear scraping

The height of the tool might stay the same, you just need to make sure that the cutting edge is pointing downwards. The difference is that you need to turn your tool at approximately 45º. This way you will be slicing wood not just scraping it. It allows you to avoid ripping fibers, and makes the finishing much smoother.

Hollowing

The tool rest is positioned so that with your handle raised the cutting edge of the scraper would point right at the centre of the work. Just move the edge from left to right keeping the tool on the rest and you will get a pretty decent hollow. To get a smoother finish it is recommended to turn the tool at 45º. You can also use the square scraper to create corners for the box, for example. The square scraper can also be used to reach the places where other tools don’t.

Rounding the inside of bowls and plates

The tool rest is positioned so that you tilt the nose of the tool into the centre with the handle raised. The angle of the tool is supposed to be at 45º. To make it smooth put as little effort as possible. It is also recommended to use special long and strong scrapers that are thicker than ordinary scrapers. Slowly move from the centre of the work to the edge and vice versa. This way you will get nice smooth curves inside the bowl of the plate.

Forming a tenon on the end of a spindle

It is recommended to use the scraper with the square end for this. If you need to make a wide tenon it is better to do two or more narrow cuts than one big one. To dovetail the tenon first create a straight tenon with a scraper and then finish the work with the gouge.

Cleaning up an outside corner

This is not a typical usage for the scraper but it still might come in handy. Use it to get rid of splinters on an exposed corner. At a high RPM this effect looks similar to the one of a ripsaw.