Don't cheap out on the blades, you can get some replacement blades made of carbon steel that will hold an good sharp edge a decent amount of time. And a long handle with a ball for for it to go in. That will give you leverage and control, and be much less tiring and less abusive of your hands to use than a rectangular hand scraper. Will -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Gene Nelson Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2012 6:16 PM To: joegarrett at earthlink.net; pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Scrapers - 96 years of Pledge It was said: : I used a handled scraper with about a 2? scraper blade. The flat areas will scrape pretty clean quicker than you think and actually can be faster (and cheaper) than using the nasty chemicals. It takes a bit of practice to get your technique down and not gouge into the veneer, but it?s doable. Will, Simply rounding the scraper blade tips will safeguard against the "gouging". Do it wih a file or a grinder. Have one scraper w/o that treatment for getting, (carefully), into those tight corners, etc.<G> I prefer my 1" hook scraper for those jobs and I use modified Power Hacksaw blades for my major scraping jobs. Easy to use. Aggressive when needed. Does a superlative job of smoothing the surface at the same time. Easily sharpened. That's my take on that.<G> Joe *** Thanks both of you, I went out in the shop after hearing about this and brought out my nice Lie-Neilsen scraper that I reserve for poly repairs and experimented with the cheeks and bottom board. It is flexible enough to avoid touching the veneer with the edges. It really works nicely as stated (I keep it really sharp) but it is not a rigid tool - it will work good for the tight corners however but I do not want to modify it. I need a different scraper for the broader areas. Off to the hardware store. Gene
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