Sharpening > Sharpening Scrapers
Scrapers have one or two cutting burrs on each cutting edge. To sharpen a scraping tool, you must remove the old burrs, square the edge, then raise new burrs. To do this, you need a bench stone and a mill file to condition the edges, and a burnisher to create the burrs.
Before you use a burnisher, rub the surface with paraffin wax. This helps it to glide smoothly over the metal.
Shave hooks and similar scraping tools with fixed blades only have one burr on each cutting edge. To sharpen these tools, file and hone the edge 30 degrees off square, then use a burnisher to roll a burr at the point.
1- Before you can sharpen a hand scraper, you must first remove the old burrs from the cutting edges. To do this, use a mill file to file the edges square to the blade. If you wish, mount the file in a saw jointer to keep it perfectly square to the scraper blade.
2- After filing, hone the edges on a sharpening stone to remove any file marks. Then wipe the faces on the stone to remove any traces of the old burr, or any burrs left by the file.
3- Place the scraper flat on the workbench. Lubricate the burnisher by rubbing it with a candle or block of paraffin wax. Tilt the waxed burnisher about 5 degrees off horizontal and draw it along each edge once or twice, pressing down hard enough that the burnisher makes a loud tick when it falls off the end of the scraper and hits the workbench. Turn the scraper over and repeat. This will raise two burrs on each cutting edge.
4- Clamp the scraper in a vise with the edge up. Tilt the burnisher 10 to 15 degrees off horizontal and draw it along the edge once or twice, pressing down firmly. Then tilt the burnisher in the other direction and draw it along the edge again. Turn the scraper and repeat for the other cutting edges. This will roll the new burrs over so they are between 75 and 80 degrees from the face.
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