> A few of you have mentioned that cabinet scrapers work well. Pardon my
> ignorance, but I can't seem to visualize what a cabinet scraper is. Are
> they similar to paint scrapers??

> John

John,

In todays high tech age of power tools and high production requirements, where it is nearly possible to insert a piece of lumber into one end of a machine and retrieve a completed piece of furniture out of the other end, the cabinet scraper is almost obsolete. However, it is still a very popular item amongst those artisans that specialize in crafting truly high quality and custom furniture.

The most common cabinet scraper is a rectangular piece of steel about 2 1/2" x 5" x 1/6". It excels at smoothing wood surfaces (such as burls or any wood that has erratic grain run-out) that would be difficult to smooth with any other tool. It is particularly helpful in removing surface imperfections such as burn and saw marks (and epoxy runs). They are also available with concave or convex edges which are handy for smoothing similarly shaped surfaces. It is used by holding it between the thumb and fingers, slightly bending the blade, and with both hands either pushing or pulling it across the surface of the wood.

If it has been sharpened correctly, it will cut a super-thin shaving and leave a very smooth surface. It should be noted however, that like all cutting tools, in order to be effective it must be VERY SHARP. Emphasize SHARP. In my opinion, it is a tool that everyone should have in their tool chest. Paint scrapers generally have a handle and are meant to do more of the rough-out work such as removing gobs of glue sqeeze-out and, like cabinet scrapers, can be found in a number of different profiles.

Joe Greenley