I recall a discussion a while back about using drill blanks to make scraper busnishers. I can not find it with a search. Can anyone supply info on what kind of drill banks to use and problems. It looks like drill blanks can be had for a few dollars and I was thinking that a bit of scrape rosewood I have would make a nice handle.
Dan Carroll
Replies
For the cost of one, why not just buy a burnisher? Drill bits can be marked by drill chucks so they are not that hard.
On the other hand a worn-out carbide router bit is a fair prospect.
You can get drill blanks in a great many different steels, some very, very hard. Cost is $3 - $4. Check the info out here: http://www.drillblanks.com  Not sure if there is a problem with using this kind of steel -- I reacll the posts, but I am not sure what the down sides were.Dan Carroll
What you want is something very hard but also with a very fine polish--you can't have too much polish!
T.Z.
Explain-- polish with what?Dan Carroll
I would not be inclined to polish hardened drill rod myself, but would suggest purchasing from a source that has it supplied as a "10 microfinish" as a minimum. You can polish with diamond compound, but you can easily spend more in the compound than for the burnisher itself.
T.Z.
I polish mine with "white diamond"polishing compound (doesn't really have any diamonds in it... just a marketing name) on a buffing wheel. Getting a nice polish on hardened steel takes some time and patience... it's easier to buy a nice burnisher, but when you make your own you know why they are not real cheap. In fact, you'll be amazed that manufacturers can sell them at such sacrificial prices.
Dan,
Make sure that the drill blank you purchase is hard steel. My experience with regular Morse or Irwin HSS drill bits is that the metal is not hard enough to work as a burnisher.
-Jerry
Get something with a hard steel. It will be fine. I use an old 3/8" jobber drill thats about 8" long. It was in with my Dad's stuff. The bit is dull for drilling but makes a fine burnisher. This is one area of woodworking that is often way to over-analyzed.
For what it's worth: I've also used a screwdriver, the side of a hammer, a chisel (actually several chisels), a stick (that didn't work too well), some cold-rolled steel rod, a brass rod (worked better than the stick), and an old carbide router bit (the shank, not the cutting edge). There may have been other things also. All will turn an edge... well, the stick didn't turn much of an edge.
Sap,
I've just begun using a broken 1/4 inch carbide router bit for a burnisher. It works very well indeed. Thanks to, I think, Rob Millard for that tip.
The shank isn't polished to a mirror finish, yet it works better than any burnisher I've ever used. I just epoxied it into a scrap practice turning I had lying around, and in about three minutes I had a great, free burnisher.
If ever I needed a new one (not outside the realm of possibility, given the way some of my tools seem to run off and hide in my shop), I'd consider buying another solid carbide bit just for this purpose. Even purchased new it would be less expensive than buying a new commercial one..
ZoltonIf you see a possum running around in here, kill it. It's not a pet. - Jackie Moon
You can buy carbide drill rod from McMaster-Carr for about $15.00. You will never scratch this material on any card scraper, but carbide will break fairly easily if dropped on a concrete floor. I think it is the way to go for burnishing and Lie-Nielsen must agree because their new burnisher is carbide, and costs $45.00. You might just want to get one of those.
>BurnisherI have one of these and like it alothttp://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=BIGP&description=Clifton+HSS+Round+Burnisher&fullimagepath=/prodimg/ee/big/EE-6359700_big.gif
It's as much about the mirror polish (not just polished) as it is the hardness, with the rod diameter (and I'm ignoring the grade/type of carbide for a moment).
As far as carbide goes, drop it and you're correct that it breaks.
T.Z.
The blanks I referred to are finished on centerless grinders and are a mirror finish. I also might add to the other posts that refer to hardness of modern scrapers: burnishers from both Veritas and Glen-Drake Engineering scratched easily when I used them on Lie-Nielsen scrapers.
What got you started? I thought this thread had died. thanks for pointing out the vendor.Dan Carroll
I use an old screwdriver, it works just fine. Tage Frid used the back of a chisel, word is he was pretty good at getting a scraper sharp....
I believe there was an article in FWW a few issues back that recommended the old screwdriver also. No need to make this more complicated than it need be.
Napie,
Are you aware of the fact that scrapers available these days can be made of steel harder than saw blade type card scrapers? That means that using screw driver shanks, chisel backs etc will not have the right effect, if Dan has that type of scraper.Philip Marcou
I am quite aware of the new scraper steel. I prefer my old ones and make new ones out of old saw blades that are not as hard.
I have had bad luck with screw drivers. And I have this nice piece of rosewood and with a suitable piece of steel, I am thinking it will make a nice handle for a burnisher. A drill blank is should do the job. Dan Carroll
I was fortunate enough to have been given a polished carbide rod that I fitted into a handle and use as a burnisher. It is a wonderful thing, but dangerous. The danger arises because the carbide is so hard, smooth and slick that if you are not careful, you can shoot off the end of the scraper and stab the corner into your wrist. I now wear work gloved when burnishing.Joe
Sorry Joe!
T.Z.
Maybe I'm just overzealous?J
Nah, I've done it myself! Actually, I'm becoming more and more like the old bull and less like the young one on a lot of woodworking techniques: slow and easy!
Joe, if our posts don't cross again for a few days, I want to take this chance to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!
T.Z.
Good point Joe. That can happen. But then again, carbide is just over-kill, according to one poster. Maybe he can take my Veritas and Glen-Drake burnishers off my hands, if he doesn't mind a few scratches on them.
May sound stupid but I clamp my scrapers in little purpleheart (hard wood) jigs that clamp the scraper, as in a sandwich... I then clamp the assembly into my bench vise.
OK, so the edges of prupleheart can be like a razor!
I would suppose you STILL can hurt yourself but greatly reduced because not much metal is exposed. I have several jigs with different angles for the hook. I for one, usually use a 90 degree edge (no hook, or almost no hook) but flattened with the burnisher to make the edge smooth OR scrapers ground to a 45 degree edge.. No burnisher used..
But then again, what I usually do is NOT the norm. I just do what has worked for me in the past..
I recreantly purchased the Lee Valley, Veritas Tri-Burnisher. Should have gotten it LONG ago. I like how it works, AND is LONG, so my hands are well away from that steel edge!
WG,
I told you I would make and send you a nice carbide burnisher, handled and everything! When you wear out the LV tri-burnisher, let me know. Incidentally, the LV burnisher is a very good tool and better than most commercially available burnishers.
T.Z.
I remember you asking. Thanks again.
Take the offer Will. Tony Z. sent me one of the carbide he makes a while back and I offered to pay for it. With a pear handle he turned attached. He would not under any circumstance take payment for it. Well... unless I drop it... it will probably be the last burnisher I own. It is indeed the best I have ever had. Used it twice today on my hand scraper working on maple Xmas gifts.....
Regards...
Sarge..
Edited 12/17/2008 11:17 pm ET by SARGEgrinder47
And here is my version from a blank of Tony's ..
View Image
Take the offer!
Regards from Perth
Derek
Very nice Derek... you guys that turn p*ss me off. :>) I like the long handle on that.. is the handle bubinga?
And as I have stated already...
Tony is a very generous and considerate man.. probably one of the most generous as he has sent those carbide blanks all over the world and he wouldn't even let me pay shipping which I insisted but he refused flat out.
Take the offer...
Regards...
Sarge..
Edited 12/18/2008 9:43 am ET by SARGEgrinder47
Thanks Sarge
It's Jarrah finished with Shellawax.
Regards from Perth
Derek
To all that have stated... Take the offer!
I REALLY did appreciate the offer.
However, receiving it is something against my nature or how I was raised? Probably because of how I was raised.
EDIT: I forgot to say why!
Nothing was received unless you payed in hard cash for it! Period. Grandfathers rules! I think it started there. I learned to live with his rules. We never were hungry but had to wait for TV awhile!
My family was not poor or rich. Grand folks very poor. We were common folks like most of us are. I think it is because when I was very little we all lived in my grandfathers house. He grew up VERY poor. My mother grew up in a Pennsylvania coal miners family and ran away at about the age of 16 and went to New York city where she met my father. As I recall living with my grandfather that could afford a new Packard ever year. (I loved those cars). Probably the only lavish thing he did for himself in his long life. He would do almost anything for others though. He did NOT like children? But put up with me the best he could.. LOL.. I was a BAD child as my mother will attest to. Especially when a teenager and maybe a bit before that by several years.
It is very hard to explain. I even have this problem with my children when they want to give me gifts. Birthdays, Christmas or whatever. They don't understand. I tell them, save if for a gift for your husband or child.
As a child I loved presents like any child does.. Not sure when it changed. My wife was the same. No gifts for her! For her children she would take.
I do have to admit that my daughters once forced a gift on me, that after my usual complaining, I loved very much.. They all chipped in a bought me a 13" drum sander.
Always 'looked' at them 'sanders' but never got one. Big Mistake! After using it I was thankful I received it.
I really cannot explain it.. Just me as my brain tells me I have to be.
Probably the only man in the USA without a Cell Phone and has never had more than one credit card.
Yes, I do ramble on a bit.
Edited 12/18/2008 10:46 am by WillGeorge
Derek,
You got a "Type 1" burnisher! In the months that followed, and as the requests got fewer, I used the requests to "hone" my turning skills by handling more than a few!
You want to try a "Type 3"? I have some material that is as highly polished, but slightly less hard than carbide (still harder than card scrapers). Also has far more ductility so it won't break if it falls.
T.Z.
I greatly favor a real burnisher for two reasons. First, it is really hard metal. Second, it it highly polished. Both of these attributes mean that there is little chance of galling (or tearing metal from) the scraper edge. Galling makes for less than a smooth cut. The smoother the burnisher, the smoother the burr. Carbide steel is just overkill--hardened steel is just fine. Screwdriver shafts may or may not be hard enough and the chrome plating will eventually deteriorate. Drill bits are also variable in hardness. Using a valve stem from a car engine that has been highly polished is an alternative but, why not just get a burnisher?
Howie.........
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled