And this was my response: “Well to put it bluntly, I never use a scraper for final finish preparation. My scrapers are tuned so that they take a pretty aggressive cut, which makes them useful for leveling. But I don’t really like the surface they leave behind when compared to a nice 180 grit sanding. That’s not to say you can’t get a killer finish prep with a well-tuned scraper, its just not my preferred way of doing it. Call me lazy, but I would much rather sit there and let the sander do all the work while I daze off into space and think about whats for dinner.” :) But, I know people that swear by the scrapers and as a result, save money on sandpaper. So there is definitely some merit to it. To each his own I suppose.”

Does anyone out there use scrapers before finishing?

In this episode, I review my 3-step method for sharpening card scrapers. The card scraper is a great time-saving and money-saving tool. But one thing that baffles many woodworkers is how to sharpen them. Fortunately, its really not as hard as it seems. Check out the video and you’ll see what I mean. Now if you need more information on how to use a card scraper, check out this helpful video on FineWoodworking.com by Brian Boggs.