blue spring steel

[Adam Edwards]

I have tried to buy some .015 blue spring steel but they won't ship to Australia

Does anyone have a little that they wouldn't mind selling to me , just enough

to make a couple of scrapers

cheers Adam

McMaster-Carr refused my business

[Roger Hill]

I have tried to buy some .015 blue spring steel but they won't ship to Australia

Does anyone have a little that they wouldn't mind selling to me , just enough

to make a couple of scrapers

cheers Adam

McMaster-Carr refused my business

send me a pm with your mailing address and I'll send you some.

[lyndon]

you know what can make good scrapers old straight edge razors, really strong steel that you can grind into curved shapes etc

[Dean_Lapinel]

I have tried to buy some .015 blue spring steel but they won't ship to Australia

Does anyone have a little that they wouldn't mind selling to me , just enough

to make a couple of scrapers

cheers Adam

I see Roger is already helping you out. Funny that this should come up...especially in that thickness. I am up to my armpits in .018, I thought I had a good stock of .015 for clocks but I couldn't find .015 in my house or any supplier (Europe/USA) in the width and acceptable length I needed. I finally had to have some custom made just for this one German clock. Thank goodness that there is someone carrying the torch for custom work like that.

With this perspective it's odd to think of having to buy steel for scrapers.

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

one of the best scrapers that I have is made from an old very thin hand saw, I don't have the thickness at hand but very flexible , sharpen and hold the edge very well. perhaps you can find some in a junk store, one good saw will make every shape scraper of that thickness that you need the other one I like is industrial hack saw blade. good luck

[Don Noon]

Funny that this should come up...especially in that thickness. I am up to my armpits in .018, I thought I had a good stock of .015 ... I finally had to have some custom made ...

Yes, it is funny... I discovered at the Darnton workshop that .015 thickness is just right for scrapers. Mine are either .010 (too thin, but OK for final delicate scraping), or .025 (too thick, but not bad for work just after using planes). So I will have to get some. I can buy it from McMaster, but if you guys have some .015 (and .018) you want to pawn off, I'd be happy to help you out.

[~ Ben Conover]

Well, you can buy a set of scrapers ready made.....

The straight razors made good knifes, but need lots of grinding, lots of steel behind the edge.

They also make good skiving knives, for leather, bows etc.

The best scraper I ever made was from an old thick hack saw blade.

HSS high carbon with double bevel....really holds an edge.

The double belevl makes it like a thin knife, I sharpen it like a knife.

Mounted an ebony handle on it, made a few of them.

It's similar to the sabre type scrapers Strad made, in the museum, I think.

Cheers.

[Dean_Lapinel]

Yes, it is funny... I discovered at the Darnton workshop that .015 thickness is just right for scrapers. Mine are either .010 (too thin, but OK for final delicate scraping), or .025 (too thick, but not bad for work just after using planes). So I will have to get some. I can buy it from McMaster, but if you guys have some .015 (and .018) you want to pawn off, I'd be happy to help you out.

Message sent-

[~ Ben Conover]

Oh, another scraper a friend made was from an old Japanese saw blade.

He got a gorgeous finish with that tool, very flexible.

[COB3]

Old drywall mudding knives are great, too. (I believe they call is gypsum board in the UK, and elsewhere) I'm pretty sure they are blue tempered spring stock. I never checked the thickness. Lots of times you can find them in used tool shops, for bargain prices.

[edi malinaric]

Yes, it is funny... I discovered at the Darnton workshop that .015 thickness is just right for scrapers. (snip) ... but if you guys have some .015 (and .018) you want to pawn off, I'd be happy to help you out.

Hi All - I second Don's comment about 0.015" thickness steel.

When I started at violin making class and arrived at the stage of needing scrapers, the engineer in me wouldn't allow me just fork out money and buy them. Not when he knew that I could make them ... it's a disease that has no known cure!!!!

I grovelled around and found a small manufacturer that used 0.015" X 1.5" blued spring steel. I asked if I could buy 4" of the stuff, He refused. I burst into tears and allowed him to force me to buy a minimum length of 6.0'.

Spent a weekend marking, snipping, grinding and made about 8 - 10 sets of scrapers for the other students. Three years on and a only two of the original students have hung in - so I've been thinking that maybe I should pay that hard hearted business another visit and allow him to force me to buy some more of that clock steel. Maybe 12.0' this time.

cheers edi

[Michael_Molnar]

I got mine from these guys.

http://www.precisionbrand.com/ProductsCata....aspx?Catid=113

Mike

[DarylG]

Is there a way to remove the bluing?

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

they have hardened, that is not blued, for much cheaper, but I guess tempering it might be a problem. they come in 100" x 6" quite a bit. Has anyone tried this?

http://www.victornet.com/subdepartments/Shim-Stock/1010.html

[JohnCockburn]

Agree with Ben about Japanese saw blades. THey make fantastic scrapers that seem to stay sharp forever.

[Roger Hill]

Is there a way to remove the bluing?

not sure why you would want to, but the bluing comes off with polishing. I find the best way to sharpen this material is grind and file to shape, file bevel, 220 grit wet-or-dry to smooth bevel and backside then carefully polish first backside, with felt wheel and tripoli polish, holding so that wheel motion is parallel to back side of scraper, then polish front side, wheel motion at 45 degrees to surface. It will get really sharp doing this, have the scars on my fingers to prove it. then turn edge using butt end of a 3/8" to 1/2" drill bit.

SJBC: the hardness of the non-blued stock is so great that I don't think that you would ever get a truly sharp edge on it. I find softer material to be something I can get sharper every time. When it dulls, back to the felt wheel to resharpen and re-turn hook.

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

thanks, here is another site for the blue steel.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PARTPG=...;PMPXNO=3905775

[Michael_Molnar]

The bluing is due to oxidation during heat treating. You are worried over nothing.

Mike

[DarylG]

The bluing is due to oxidation during heat treating. You are worried over nothing.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I'm not worried about it. I've used blued shim stock scrapers for years. I just don't like looking at it. Tried it today and found that soaking in vinegar will remove the bluing. CLR works too. Cheers,

Daryl

[Don Noon]

SJBC: the hardness of the non-blued stock is so great that I don't think that you would ever get a truly sharp edge on it. I find softer material to be something I can get sharper every time. When it dulls, back to the felt wheel to resharpen and re-turn hook.

I can't see how hardness would prevent you from getting a sharp edge, but it WOULD make it more difficult to turn a hook. Darnton uses very hard scrapers without turning a hook, and they seemed to work quite well (he also uses gouges as scrapers on the scroll, and there's no hook on them, either.) I haven't decided yet which way I prefer (hook or no hook). Still testing.

[Michael_Molnar]

Some of my "scrapers" are razor blades. Then I have some flexible blue steel scrapers that have a hook. I use whatever works.

Mike

[Roger Hill]

I can't see how hardness would prevent you from getting a sharp edge, but it WOULD make it more difficult to turn a hook. Darnton uses very hard scrapers without turning a hook, and they seemed to work quite well (he also uses gouges as scrapers on the scroll, and there's no hook on them, either.) I haven't decided yet which way I prefer (hook or no hook). Still testing.

The problem is the same as any other precision metal cutting problem, holding it rigidly enough to get a uniform cut is simply much more difficult with harder metal. I bought a set of the scrapers that Woodcraft sells and I cannot sharpen them, despite having a big investment in metal working equipment. Coming up with an apparatus to sharpen them IMO would require a complicated setup in a rotary table and grinder. Straight edges are one thing, two dimensional curves are something else. I can sharpen the softer metals to a uniform, keen edge with just a glass plate, sandpaper and buffing wheel. With something really hard, I can't find a way to get a deep enough cut (all the way across the curving edge) to get an edge that will polish out to adequate sharpness. I have tried repeatedly. If you know how to do this simply , please tell me the secret.

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

The problem is the same as any other precision metal cutting problem, holding it rigidly enough to get a uniform cut is simply much more difficult with harder metal. I bought a set of the scrapers that Woodcraft sells and I cannot sharpen them, despite having a big investment in metal working equipment. Coming up with an apparatus to sharpen them IMO would require a complicated setup in a rotary table and grinder. Straight edges are one thing, two dimensional curves are something else. I can sharpen the softer metals to a uniform, keen edge with just a glass plate, sandpaper and buffing wheel. With something really hard, I can't find a way to get a deep enough cut (all the way across the curving edge) to get an edge that will polish out to adequate sharpness. I have tried repeatedly. If you know how to do this simply , please tell me the secret.

\

maybe I am misunderstanding you because you obviously know what is up with metal. I thought you could just grind it on a regular wheel, to the angle you wanted and then sharpen and use carbide across the top to make your hook. Are you talking about rockwell that is above 90?

[Roger Hill]

\

maybe I am misunderstanding you because you obviously know what is up with metal. I thought you could just grind it on a regular wheel, to the angle you wanted and then sharpen and use carbide across the top to make your hook. Are you talking about rockwell that is above 90?

Yes. Let me make this easier. Lots of fancy knives are made from files. Pick a file and think about what is required to turn that into a scraper. It is MUCH easier to turn some soft metal into a scraper. If Tony used broken sabre blades, great, he was turning out a violin every three weeks or so, but if you want something that YOU can, with relative ease, turn into a scraper go for something softer, which you can easily shape with a file, and which can take a razor sharp edge with just a few minutes with sandpaper and a buffing wheel. If you have to go back to the buffing wheel every hour and re-turn the edge, so what? it takes five minutes and is SHARP!!! Will it last for 10 violins between sharpening? NO. But you will be working with something that is minimal hassle and really does the job. On the other hand, think about trying to get that perfectly uniform, perfectly sharp edge on something as hard as a file. You could spend a grand or two on a jig for turning files into knife blades. That is why I say go for the soft stuff and enjoy life........

[Atomino]

Yes. Let me make this easier. Lots of fancy knives are made from files. Pick a file and think about what is required to turn that into a scraper. It is MUCH easier to turn some soft metal into a scraper. If Tony used broken sabre blades, great, he was turning out a violin every three weeks or so, but if you want something that YOU can, with relative ease, turn into a scraper go for something softer, which you can easily shape with a file, and which can take a razor sharp edge with just a few minutes with sandpaper and a buffing wheel. If you have to go back to the buffing wheel every hour and re-turn the edge, so what? it takes five minutes and is SHARP!!! Will it last for 10 violins between sharpening? NO. But you will be working with something that is minimal hassle and really does the job. On the other hand, think about trying to get that perfectly uniform, perfectly sharp edge on something as hard as a file. You could spend a grand or two on a jig for turning files into knife blades. That is why I say go for the soft stuff and enjoy life........

I don't think Antonio Stradivari used his saber blade scraper in the same manner you use a soft steel scraper.............