Our other sites:

How to sharpen an engineer’s scraper?

How to sharpen an engineer’s scraper

Shop for Engineer’s Scrapers

Sharpening a HSS engineer’s scraper

Felt tip pen to mark the scraper cutting tip

Equipment you will need:

  • Felt-tip pen –  this is used to mark the cutting edge of the scraper in order to check you have evenly sharpened the cutting surface and maintained the original cutting angle.
Bench mounted grinder with an aluminium oxide grinding wheel
  • Bench-mounted grinder with an aluminium oxide grinding wheel
Positioning the grinding wheel platform, move the platform close to the grinding wheel, set the platform angle so that the scrapers original angle is maintained against the grinding wheel

Step 1 – Set angle of grinding platform

The first thing to do is set the angle and position of the grinding wheel platform. The platform should be close to the grinding wheel and set at the correct angle to maintain the original cutting angle of the scraper.

Colouring the scraper cutting edge with felt tip pen, colour the cutting edge of the scraper with a felt tip pen

Step 2 – Colour scraper tip

Colour the cutting edge of the scraper with a felt tip pen. This will allow you to check you have maintained the correct angle along the whole length of the cutting edge whilst grinding.

The felt tip ink should be evenly removed along the cutting edge if you have maintained the correct angle.

Passing the scraper across the grinding wheel, move the scraper so the whole of the cutting edge travels across the grinding wheel

Step 3 – Sharpen scraper on grinding wheel

Turn the grinding disc on and pass the whole of the scraper’s cutting edge over the grinding wheel, being careful to maintain the original cutting angle on the scraper.

Sharpening a carbide engineer’s scraper

 Wonkee Donkee says: "The process of sharpening an engineers scraper that has a carbide blade is exactly the same but you must use a diamond grinding wheel as other grinding wheels will not be hard enough to sharpen carbide blades."
Curved blade and triangular blade scrapers

Curved and triangular scrapers

All scrapers can be sharpened using a bench-mounted grinder with the correct grinding wheel. However, maintaining the original cutting angle on curved and triangular scrapers may be harder as the length of the cutting edge is greater. Because of this, some people prefer to sharpen these scrapers by hand, using an oil or whetstone for HSS scrapers and a diamond sharpening stone for carbide scrapers.

Sharpening a curved HSS blade with a whetstone

Aluminium oxide whetstone used to sharpen the scraper

Equipment you will need:

  • Aluminium oxide whetstone to sharpen the scraper
Felt tip pen used to mark the cutting face of the scraper
  • Felt tip pen – this is used to mark the cutting edge of the scraper in order to check you have evenly sharpened the cutting surface and maintained the original cutting angle.
Soaking a whetstone in water

Step 1 – Soak whetstone

Soak the whetstone in water for 10-15 minutes so that it becomes saturated.

Step 2 – Highlight cutting face

Colour the cutting face of the scraper with the felt tip pen.

Starting position for sharpening a scraper on an aluminium oxide whetstone, Start with the tip of the scraper resting on the surface of the sharpening stone

Step 3 – Rest scraper on whetstone

Start at one end of the whetstone with the tip of the scraper resting in contact with the surface of the whetstone.

Sharpening action used on a whetstone, Push the scraper forward tilting it back as you do so

Step 4 – Sharpen scraper

Push the scraper forward across the surface of the whetstone, tilting it back as you go, so that the whole of the scraping edge passes over the surface of the whetstone.

Step 5 – Check for even sharpening

Check that the felt tip pen on the cutting edge has been evenly removed.

Repeat steps 2-4, altering how much you tilt the scraper as you push it so that you evenly remove the felt tip across the whole of the scraper cutting surface.

Diamond sharpening stone with 3 in one oil and specialist honing oil

Can you also sharpen a carbide curved blade like this as well?

You cannot sharpen a carbide scraper with an oil or whetstone, but you can use the same technique with a diamond sharpening stone instead. Instead of soaking the diamond stone in water, you should coat its surface with a specialist honing oil.

Wonkee Donkee Tools
Logo