Some time ago I was making a part and needed some thin flat steel that would blue with cold blue. I tried a scrap of metal banding form work since I had it on my work bench. Well, it didn't blue worth a darn so I assumed it was alloyed with something that might make it resist the reaction with the cold blue. I also made note of it's springy state of temper.
Today I was walking through the shop at work and they were using a new roll of some wider banding material. The guys remarked about how springy it was and how thick compared to what they normally used. They had bought a pnuematic tool to tighten, crimp, and cut this new strapping because it was too tough for the old one.
Since I had been thinking about stock shaping and the old scrape vs sandpaper debate i thought I'd try making a scraper out of some of this new strapping material. I have always liked scraping and planing over sanding where possible due to the lack of dust.
Well, a few minutes at the grinder and diamond stone, and a few strokes of the burnisher later and we have this.
Made nice curls from a piece of red maple I had in the shop and the bur lasted pretty well. I'm not sure how well this will hold up over time compared to commercial made scrapers but the finish it left was good. Only time will tell its durability.
BTW my burnisher is a lifter from an auto engine. Hard, smooth, cheap! Could use a better handle but I never have gotten around to that.
If you need a custom scraper shape look around for some of this 1 1/2"~2" banding stock.
