: I went out and bought a cabinet scraper last night, the flat rectangle of
: steel, not the paint scraper type, and did a little testing with it. I was
: thinking it might be useful on the inside of the hull but I'm now reading
: that it may not work as well on softer wood.

: Any of you regularly use this tool? I did read the link Shawn has on his
: website about sharpening, it was very informative.

Hi Ben

I've used cabenit scrapers for a number of years, and mostly on Alder and Oak. I Would agree that it works very well on hardwoods, but Alder is a softer H.W. and it worked fine on that. You need a good curl on the scraper for it to work on anything really well. You should be able to run off some really nice long, plane-like curls with your scraper, and if not, or if you're just getting small sawdust like shavings, it's not sharp enough. I haven't read the link on Shawn's website, but, If it uses a fine mill file, vise and a Steel ( or a good screw-driver shaft ) I'm sure it is the right way. How were you going to use it on the inside of your boat? You would need a curved edge to do that with any kind of success. Although, most of the cabinet scrapers like the one you have just purchased are somewhat flexible and if you bend it a bit ( slight bow ) you can work a shallow curve. For the tight curves, I would use one of the sets of paint scrapers and pick a shape that best fits. Especially up in the Bow or Stern. Hope that helps.

Rehd