#80
- This topic has 15 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 7 months ago by Eddy Flynn.
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5 August 2013 at 6:10 pm #16222
hi guys does the sole of a #80 stanley need to be flattened/polished i finaly bit the bullet and bought a new one the ebay prices for second hand ones are getting silly
5 August 2013 at 7:44 pm #16227Hi Eddy
I flattened the back of the one I recently got,it took a while, not as long though that it took be to flatten the back of the blade, it looked like the blades had either been blanked out or cut to size on a guillotine resulting in a rounded cutting edge.
After felting it worked really wellAttachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.7 August 2013 at 4:14 am #16298A few months ago I would have said no. I used mine mainly to smooth rough stock prior to hitting it with the jack, and to scrape off glue squeeze-out. But after using Mr. Sellers method of achieving a positive hook, my cabinet scraper has been transformed into a precision tool. My thanks and gratitude for his blog post on this one.
7 August 2013 at 9:45 am #16301thanks for your response Timothy i am half way through flattening it (not as easy as it sounds) i will stay at it though
15 August 2013 at 5:41 pm #16620am i the only person on here that can’t get a # 80 to take anything more than “dust”off a piece of wood im about to see if its any better as a boomerang i have tried to follow all the instrucions on this site and others but no better is it just me .
will there ever be a video howto on here i know they are not an expensive tool but i’d like to get some use out of it thanks15 August 2013 at 6:59 pm #16623Eddy, I have struggled somewhat with my scraper as well. I have a #81, which although different from the 80 in some ways is essentially the same tool as far as how it works. I’ve found a few things helped me, mostly through trial and error.
1. Sharpen that blade to the utmost of your ability. I think it is just as important to the functioning of the tool to have it as supremely sharp as possible as it is for say a smoothing plane. This may or may not be useful to you, as I’m sure you know how to sharpen, but it gave me a better idea as to how to approach this particular tool:
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/sharpening80cabinetscrapers.aspx
2.several things make decent burnishers in a pinch. The key is that it must be as perfectly smooth as possible; hardness is secondary. Scraper blades are somewhat softer than typical plane irons.
3. Be very delicate when turning the hook, and don’t try to make it to “strong”…you should just barely be able to feel it. If the hook feels uneven, ragged or *very* pronounced, remove it, hone again and try again.
4. Try rotating the tool forward slightly, so that the front edge is angled downward into the wood a couple of degrees and the trailing edge is angled up a couple degrees; imagine the tool being a lever along the axis of travel with the edge of the blade as the fulcrum. Try pushing it this way to get a little better bite and less “chatter” or simply riding atop the wood.
5. Try lowering the blade a little. Get a little more of the blade showing and it will take a thicker shaving. This is hard to do on a scraper compared to a bench plane, obviously due to the lack of mechanical adjuster; you have to do it yourself. I’ve had good luck with two methods. One way is to lay the tool down flat, with the blade in it but not tightened, on a flat piece of soft wood. Holding the tool down flat, Push the blade downwards with a firm pressure while tightening the retaining screws (not the thumb screw). Play with the pressure of the thumb screw to change the shavings also; it will force the blade into a slight curve like a card scraper. You can also put a sheet of paper under the front of the tool to give a little more clearance to get a little more blade exposure.
Tuning the scraper for use is definitely challenging, no doubt. I found it to be a fair bit trickier than my bench planes, mostly because it involves less mechanical precision and more intuitive adjustment going by “feel”.
Don’t give up! When it clicks for you it will be immensely satisfying.
Full disclosure: I also bought a new blade for my scraper from Hock tools since the one that came with it was a home-made monstrosity that I couldn’t get to take a decent edge for anything. The Hock blade is *outstanding*.
Also, still feel far from having absolute mastery over this tool; but at least feel as though I can get some positive results.
15 August 2013 at 8:04 pm #16626Hi Eddy
Are you sure the back of the blade is polished right up to the end, as I said I found the back of the blade had a round edge as if it had been blanked out on a press or cut with a guillotine.
Paul has a blog showing you how to sharpen the blade.15 August 2013 at 10:18 pm #16632It appears there are a few of us having problems with this tool.
Thanks for sharing your trials and tribulations, Chris. Sounds like you’ve put a lot of time into trying to get the tool to sing! I’ve not had much luck with the #80 (or scrapers in general) so will give it another go this weekend and try your suggestions.
I followed David’s thought and had a quick search on Paul’s blog for information on sharpening cabinet scrapers and found this: http://paulsellers.com/2012/11/faithfull-80-bench-cabinet-scrapers-ok/
George.
15 August 2013 at 10:45 pm #16637I did a blog on this a few weeks ago to counter an article in Fine Woodworking. Did you know that you should get good and fine shavings even of the back face is not polished? Did you know that you can stuff the blade in a angle guide in the same way you can use it with plane irons? Doing this gives you a dead 45-degrees although anywhere near that works. here is the link, but you can burnish straight off of the file and get good results too.
15 August 2013 at 11:56 pm #16639thank you all for your help i will try ive come to the conclusion i will not be beaten by a tool that generations before me have used with great ease i’m sure putting a positive hook on a piece of steel cant be that hard .
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