Lovely Old Hand Scraper

Locked away in a drawer, probably for decades.

I'd love to drum up some info about the hand scrapers I found in the shop this winter. There is a handful of them of various shapes and I'd love to learn how to use them correctly. Indeed I've had to use a scraper when there was no alternative for machining. Don't know if I'm really doing it right, though, but the scraper has gotten me out of a bind (no pun intended).

As I understand it, the above pictured scraper is a bearing scraper for use on curved surfaces.

Lathe Tool Grinding - A Visual Aid

As taught by Tubalcain on Youtube. Definitely 20 minutes of  time well spent.

http://youtu.be/hrDr4rYLiAk Taught in a visual manner with models.

http://youtu.be/dRyqIm5JR5s What a great goal for a beginner - to grind a basic set of lathe tools.

A well worn (and well used) copy of “How to Run a Lathe” given to me by my shop mentor.

Basics of Lathe Tool Grinding

Here are a couple of good web resources for basic lathe tool bit grinding. Study them if you don’t know how to do it. If you do know how, this is a good review.

http://www.metalartspress.com/PDFs/Sharpening_Steel_Lathe_Tools.pdf

http://www.sherline.com/grinding.htm

A rut I’ve gotten into recently is the habit of grabbing the indexable tool holder to carry out most of the lathe turning procedures that I do. It’s convenient and quick. The tool height is already set up. I don’t have to think very much. But I’m calling it a rut because it’s making me lazy, not to mention it’s expensive to buy carbide inserts, and when I’m tired or I get a little clumsy I tend to break them. The inserts are just not as forgiving for me as a good high speed steel tool bit. Therefore, I’ve decided to brush up on my lathe tool grinding skills with the intent to get better about using steel bits.

It’s extremely satisfying to hog out a new, custom lathe tool in just a few minutes.