Scraping Tool
This is a tool I've been thinking about making for some time now which was inspired by "This Old Tony's" YT video series on scraping the ways of his vintage surface grinder and straight edge build. He built several admirable scraping tools inspiring me to think they could be taken a bit further with interchangeable scraping tool tips, shafts and handles. Tony also started off with repurposed old files and chisels. I too started off scraping metal with these same tools; however the continual sharpening gets to be as big a chore as scraping. Thanks Tony for the inspiration and all the great things you brought forward about scraping and the metrology associated with it!
For this build I needed to find the various bits and pieces needed to satisfy the "Interchangeable Scraping Tool" concept and try and fit within my cheap n’ cheerful and simple/elegant mindset. It's been kind of a magical journey along the way, with people showing up and helping with materials and such, as well as some of those “Ah Ha” moments in learning. There is a mystical, old school draw to this kind of work and I enjoy the Zen of it. If I am trying to scrape something to ten-thousandths of an inch, it ought to look and feel like it is more than happy to oblige that kind of work and feel good in my hands while doing the arduous task of scraping metal to these tolerances. It’s also a good project for a novice like myself to practice all the various skills, setups, procedure and such that have accrued over the last few years with the mini, and best of all to learn some new things along the way.
This first phase is kind of a WIP (work in progress) because there is another handle shape in the works as well as more tips and shafts however the goal here is to try a good project (a 1" thick bench plate) with the new tools, to test the concepts, functionality and to hone my skills, so to speak. ~¿@ Here is a picture of the finished first phase to hopefully whet your whistle a bit.
Gathering Materials and Momentum
The two pieces to find that concerned me the most were the carbide and the wood for the handle. I had priced out carbide on McMaster and MSC, not bad$ but wasn't exactly what I wanted, meaning more variety less dollars. First to show up were the pieces of carbide, which my friend Jimmy graciously found for me in Greece for only a few Euro's. He sent about 10-12 pieces of various shapes and sizes of solid tool grade carbide for about $20 with shipping. Second was a nice piece of wood for the handle. Tony very cleverly and adeptly had cut his out of a piece of firewood and it came out beautiful. At the local Saturday market I ran into Dale, a wood-working artisan who offered beautiful cutting boards and other wonderful pieces, mainly out of walnut. When asked if he had any scraps big enough for the handle I was looking to make he thought a moment and said he had a baby rolling pin that may be the right size. It was and he tried to give it to me but couldn't accept it because he had already turned it and sanded it pretty well...we settled on $5 and became good acquaintances. A few weeks later he brought me a big chunk of Alder (hard as rocks) and wouldn't take a dime...but I had fallen in love with one of his beautiful cutting boards the previous week, so I bought that and LOVE it, which follows in that magical journey theme!
Most of the rest of the materials were in my shop bins. A piece of Ø.375” x ~18" CRS, .50" hex brass, Ø.50" RB (round bar) brass, a small piece of Ø 1.125" RB brass and some Ø.3125" O1 tool steel. That pretty much covered the materials. The momentum then involved turning wood on my mini (the first wood I've turned since 9th grade woodshop class) and finally deciding to single point thread on the mini as well. The last time that happened was in the 80's in a Machine Tool Tech class at junior college, but we had gear boxes even back then. Buckled up for the ride…off I went.
If you would like to see more pictures and read the dissertation of the build, pick the link.