Making scrapers?

[Charlie Harley]

I came across some old chisels this weekend that have massive blades and thought they might be re-shaped into good scrapers.

Has anyone done this before? Any suggestions or things to watch out for? Any suggestions about how to make a new longer handle?

 

[Richard Baker]

Charlie,
Might also make a skew if you get a good answer to the handle question. Seems like a good idea. I need to make a skew, since I ground mine into a curved scraper.

 

[Brian Myers]

Yep. Made a scraper out of an old small chisel to clean up the outside of bowls. Its not HSS so it needs to be sharpened more often , but it works.

 

[Doc Ron]

You can do!. I have several old 1/2' wide chisels that I turned into fairly long scrapers for working the inside of boxes. Echo the frequent sharpening need, but that's a minor point, IMO.

 

[Steve Worcester]

Any suggestions or things to watch out for? Any suggestions about how to make a new longer handle?

It depends on the type of steel used, but chances are a chisel will work fine (I am guessing ti is a carving type chisel, not a cold chisel)

As far as handles, you can make them like any other turning tool handle. First remove the old handle with hack saws and if wood, you can usually split whatever is left after you saw off the old handle BEHIND THE TANG. Don't saw off the tang.

I would search the archives here for how to make tool handles.
If you post a picture of the tool, it may make it a bit easier to comment about it's usefulness.