On 11/23/2011 01:59 PM, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:

Iggy, I've only met two people who actually knew how to scrape the ways
on a machine. Both were OLD, and both made their own tools from HSS
blanks.
HSS dulls so quickly even on soft cast iron, that it is a major pain.
Carbide stays sharp enough for 15 - 30 minutes.

Although I'm sure the carbide will last longer between replacements than
a hand-honed edge, these guys both "tuned" their tools about every ten
minutes. I think the attention to the "instantaneous" condition of the
edge made a big difference in how their work turned out.

My question with a carbide scraper would be, "How do you tell when it's
not quite keen enough to do the quality job I want?" And then, of
course, how fast can I get new inserts?

I made inserts for an Anderson Bros. handle from pieces of scrap steel
brazed to 3/4 x 1.5" x 1/8" carbide blanks that I got on sale for a
couple $ each. They work VERY well, and are easy to sharpen on a
diamond wheel.

I scraped in a Michael Morgan straightedge, then did a set of 3 right
angle plates. My Sheldon Lathe was too hard to scrape, had to
spot-grind that using the same techniques of spotting but used a die
grinder for the removal of material.

Jon