How to Sharpen and Burnish a Card Scraper

I use card scrapers a lot in my work. They’re not only extremely valuable for smoothing areas of difficult long grain, I also use them all the time for cleaning up and smoothing end grain as well. However, for a card scraper to work properly and efficiently, it needs to be sharp, just like any other edge tool. If a scraper is throwing dust and not shavings, it’s not sharp. A well sharpened and set up scraper should make shavings that curl up as the tool cuts.

Here’s the method for sharpening card scrapers that I’ve used for as long as I’ve been using the tool. Fair warning – this is an old video from my very early days of video making, and it was filmed and uploaded before home video cameras or the internet would support HD video. The lighting is also not great. However, the information in the video is still relevant and valuable.