Scrapers From Old Saw Blades

[dannylj]

I have several old handsaw blades I want to make scrapers out of. What is the best method of breaking/cutting them up so I don't mess up the temper. I don't know if I should cold chisel them or break (if possible) in a vise. I could cut them out with an angle grinder. Any suggestions. Thanks  Danny

[Jim Kibler]

If you score the material with a grinder it will snap at that point.  This won't build up much heat.  You could also score it with a good three cornered file.  It's soft enough you can file it to shape afterwards, but if your careful to not overheat, you could also rough grind the shape out.

[bluenoser]

I cut mine out with a hacksaw.  A good quality fine toothed blade will just barely cut a well tempered handsaw, so plan on going through two or three if making up a bunch of scrapers.  The next time I need to make some scrapers, I plan to try one of the new carbide grit hacksaw blades.

I do the final shaping and honing of the edges on a slow moving 1" belt sander and dip the piece in water when it gets too hot to handle at the grinding face.  I hone the flats on bench stones.

Laurie 

[BJH]

Use a Dremel tool with a cut off disk. The one thats 1/32 thick or so. Cut 1/2 way through or so, then snap off.  BJH

[northmn]

Hacksaw blades with the teeth ground off also make good inletting scrapers and break very easily.  I do a lot of scraping with the replaceable blades for knives.

DP

[Kermit]

Score with carbide or diamond, clamp the thing in a vise with the score right at the top of the jaws, snap it off. Repeat until the blade's used up. I never touch mine with a power tool, just files and stones, but then I'm a Luddite. 

[northmn]

I just stick mine in a vise and pop them off with a hammer strike.  They break easily, especially the HSS.  I can then grind off the slight curve at the break.

DP

[dannylj]

Thanks folks! I have an angle grinder with a diamond blade I use to cut tile with. I was going to try it but somehow got the impression you were not supposed to use it on steel. They are not real expensive so I'll see what happens.  Thanks again.  Danny

[digger]

Are we just talking regular handsaw blades? Like the $2.00 garage sale kind?

[BJH]

Yup just not rusty, pits will result in notches in the edge of the finished scraper. Or you will need to belt sand to clean steel without overheating the steel. Not that hard of a process really.  BJH

[bluenoser]

As BJH said, try to avoid rusty blades, although I have found those with just a light coating of surface rust will generally clean up OK with a little steel wool and WD40.  The better made hand saws were taper ground.  They are thicker at the teeth than at the back of the blade.  If I were looking for a good handsaw to restore, that is one of the things I would look for.

For scrapers, I would try to avoid taper ground saws.  If you do have to grind or sand the face to clean it up, it is as important to dress the face to a fine finish as it is the edge.  A coarse finish on either will result in a sawtooth effect at the working edge, which will hamper the performance of the scraper.

Laurie

[dannybb55]

Don't forget that many of those rusty old handsaws are highly collectible and rare because carpenters made a lot of scrapers out of them. I value my hard won handsaws. I keep them sharp and straight and don't loan them out.
 ............Now the real question is how to make that crow bar that I need out of this old Rayl barrel that I have...................Hmmmmmmm.

[bluenoser]

Danny makes an excellent point.  There are enough newer flat-ground saws kicking around at flea markets and yard sales to make all the scrapers we could ever use.

Danny, I can save you the work of beating that old Rayl into a crowbar.  Send it to me and I will send you a crowbar.   

Laurie

[digger]

Great tip, thanks.

[dannybb55]

Laurie I wish that I had one. One day...One day.
 As a side not 150 foot schooners were scraped with saw steel scrapers in a day by two men and many of these professional finishers wore a suit while doing the work. I will find a photo and post it over the back fence.