scrapers made easy

[Clint]

Here is a project that shouldn't cost anything. Steel grass rakes are made of some king of hardenable steel and the tines make great scrapers.

 
The rake is in your garage, probably with a couple of others as well. Break the tines off with a pair of pliers and heat the end of one with a propane torch. With a pair of needle nose pliers, bend a small loop, then make a reverse bent the size of your finger.

 
Snap the tine off about 5 inches from the bent part, in your vise. a couple hammer blows will set the bend to a tight 90 degrees and the tine will easily break off.

 
Now you can grind the ends to the shapes and widths you need.

 
The ground end is bent, with red heat from the torch and hardened in oil. If you don't have much experience with hardening, this project is a good way to learn. Basically  you need to heat the steel to a red heat and cool it quickly. I have used many different kinds of oil, water, salt water, different acids etc. they all work. A general guide to quenching mediums might be - smaller things go into oil and bigger things, like hammers go into water. If you are curious, try bending the just quenched steel. If it is indeed high carbon steel it will snap like a piece of glass. If it bends, the steel wasn't hot enough or it is low carbon steel. If it's low carbon, you need to find a different piece of steel. SO... it snapped! That shows you that un-tempered steel is not really very useful. To get the too to work , it needs to be reheated. This time the heat will be very low, not red. In order to gauge the temp, shine the piece with 220 grit paper and very carefully warm it up, away from the cutting edge. slowly move the heat towards the scraper blade until the bent blade part turns to a pale gold color.
The area where you started the heat will be blue or gray, it dosen't matter. Once you get the gold you can cool everything off and sharpen the cutting edge. If things don't work out perfectly there are lots of tines left to experiment with.
BTW the rake tines can be used to make lots of very small chisels, using the hardening and tempering techniques.

 

[Maineshops]

Great idea....wife just ran over a rake with the mower so I have a lot of material😂

[Hungry Horse]

 Well, now that my best kept secret is out of the bag, you might as well know rake tines make good sear springs for larger locks, as well as good lift springs for patchbox lids. Heck, I even made a spring for a powder flask out of one.

  Hungry Horse

[rich pierce]

Looks like my rake may be losing a couple teeth for springs.

[Bigmon]

Wow, wish O would have known this a month or so ago.  Still better late than never.
This build I am just finishing up was my first try at scrapers, and I really liked using them, but needed smaller ones.  Now I know where to get them.
Thanks for sharing

[Jeff]

HH thanks,  I am going to make one or two right now.  Jeff   Sure will beat what I have been using.

[Tim Crosby]

 Never thought about bending them to use in a curved/rounded area. Will make a few up. Another source are banding straps that they use to tie down lumber, a lot of plastic is used but you can still find steel if you look around the back lots/dumpsters of your local big box store. Makes good small springs too, under the heading of "Unknown Metal".

   Thanks, Tim C.

[eggwelder]

Tines from street sweepers work well for this too.

[Hungry Horse]

 A smaller version of this spring stock that I have used in the past as well, can be found on the machine used to remove the green hulls from walnuts. Rake tines work well for return springs for matchlocks also.

  Hungry Horse

[codger]

Machine shops that receive bundles of bar stock throw away a lot of metal banding. Might check near by shops.

[Maineshops]

I make mine out of bandsaw blade off my sawmill seem to stay sharp. Dan

[Maroilles]

Break the tines off with a pair of pliers and heat the end of one with a propane torch.

Quick question about this as I have never heat treated any metal besides annealing brass. The heating of the tines before bending them into the loops, is that for annealing purposes? Thats my assumption because the tines I have that have not been heated with a torch just snap off when i try to make the loop. How long should I heat it for and do I heat it in the same manner as you did for hardening (low heat slowly work towards scraping edge)? I apologize if this seems like basic stuff I should already know.

[Bob Roller]

McMaster-Carr sells annealed spring steel in various thicknesses.For this type of tool I would use 3/32-.093 in 1075,I works easily and can be formed into any shape wanted or needed.
Bob Roller

[John Cotterall]

Well, now that my best kept secret is out of the bag, you might as well know rake tines make good sear springs for larger locks, as well as good lift springs for patchbox lids. Heck, I even made a spring for a powder flask out of one.

  Hungry Horse

I just used a rake tine on my patch box. Never thought of the sear spring idea though 👍

[Oil Derek]

For final temper, will putting it in the oven @400* for an hour and let air cool give the desired/same results?

[Dphariss]

Thats more for a hard cutting tool. Not for a spring. Small springs can be drawn back to blue with a propane torch after polishing well to see the color. 400 will be hard enough for a frizzen

[Oil Derek]

Thanx Dphariss.