Modifying a bench plane to use as a scraper

[HSteier]

The Fine Woodworking issue that just came has a fascinating article by Brian Boggs where he grinds the front of a plane blade so that the face is approximately vertical, puts a hook on it and uses it in the plane as a scraper. Has anyone else tried this?
He suggests using a low angle plane. Has anyone done this with a conventionally bedded plane?

Howard Steier

[pampine]

No, but what I have done using HNT Gordon planes is to turn over the blade. Ouila, I've got a great scraping plane. The wear is significant, so if you want to switch back and forth it's a good idea to buy two blades.

It sounds like Boggs is converting smoother to scraper, which is fine, but you'd certainly need two blades if you want to continue dual use.

Pam

[Mark T.]

"Ouila"?

"Voila"!!

MarkT

[pampine]

Yeah, you're right, Mark, for the life of me I couldn't remember the French so went for the phonetic. It worked! :)

Pam

[HSteier]

Tell me about using the HNT plane as a scraper. If the blade angle is 25 and the bed angle 45, when you turn the blade upside down you get a 70 angle. Is this steep enough to scrape with or do you have to grind a steeper angle? Do put a hook on the blade or just sharpen it as you would for planing?

Howard Steier

[pampine]

The HNT planes are bedded at about 60°, in scraper mode they're about 90°, which works great. I also use a couple of Japanese scraping (or plane adjusting) planes, which are relatively cheap, as well as raw blades, including one Japanese monster I found on sale for cheap. Did I mention how much I like scrapers or how frugal I am?

Pam