Some of you may be using the Ultimate scrapers sold by Stew-Mac and developed by luthier Al Carruth. I’ve had them for several years and they are amazing. They hold an edge like no other scraper. However, sharpening has always been an issue for me. Stew-Mac shows the sharpening process that Al uses on a video. I’ve tried, off and on, to duplicate the process. I just can’t get good results even after buying a fine stone wheel for my grinder. While turning a burr on a regular scraper is easy with a standard burnisher, the Ultimate Scrapers are far too hard for that. So, I’ve come up with this, at east for the straight edges of the scrapers. Not perfect, but it works. I flatten the edge on a sander if needed, then polish the side of the scraper on a coarse diamond plate. Then I put the scraper in a vise and use the diamond plate on an angle to turn a burr on the edge. A burr can be turned on the front and back edge. Like I said, not perfect, and not as good as new, but it does work.If any of you have another process, please post it for all of us to try. Happy scraping!
Bob Gleason
