Scraper Blades

V-0654

Steel scrapers leave an ultra-smooth surface. Here's how to use them in your shop...

Video Transcription

[on-screen text reads: Dan Erlewine - Stewart-MacDonald]

Mini Scraper Blades for guitar building and repair

Dan Erlewine: Scrapers are as important as sandpaper to a woodworker. For jobs like shaping bridges, it's the only way I can get that crisp, clean, factory smooth surface. This set of three mini-scrapers makes a great addition to the three larger scrapers that we've sold for years. This egg shaped one is great for leveling a drop fill, where a small drop of finish has filled in a chip. This little scraper touches just the spot you're after without marking or scratching the area around the drop fill.

The little rectangular scraper has notches ground into one end of it. The notches are round and it's for shaping the top of a bridge saddle. There's a 1/8" inch size and a 3/32". These notches are a good idea from our friend and customer, Freddy Cisneros, in Prescott, Arizona. Here's a completely new shape with concave and convex surfaces and very sharp corners. These curves are different from the curves on our larger scrapers. They're perfect for shaping the round over on the back edge of this bridge. The small size makes this one extremely handy for neck shaping or for graduating the back of this mandolin.

If you haven't been using scrapers, give them a try. There's good info on how to use and sharpen your scrapers in one of our Trade Secrets newsletters, it's online at stewmac.com. Look up scraper and you'll find that issue in there with lots of other free information.