Well, as most of you know, I love scrapers. I am trying to resurrect the 'Big Ugly' tool. This has been a standard for the Oregon Myrtle wood coastal turners for long enough that no one knows who first came up with the idea of using this steel for the cutting edge. The traditional tool is 3/4 inch or so bar stock, about 30 inches long, and a 3 x 7/8 x 1/8 inch piece of tantung silver soldered onto each end. One end was more square, and the other more rounded/finger nail shaped. You wear a heavy leather glove to protect the handle end. You sharpen in the morning, turn till lunch, and after lunch sharpen again and turn till beer thirty. The material is almost as hard as carbide, but can be sharpened by most grinding wheels, and no problem at all with the CBN wheels. I was looking at all the other cutters, and thinking that they would do great with hollow form tools as well. The thin stock (1/8 inch) does need support under it as tantung is a bit on the brittle side. Any way have a look. I have some flat stock on order, and I asked them if they sold in small quantities, and they said yes. A 6 x 1 by 1/8 inch piece was $50. Comparable or maybe even cheaper than carbide, and as I said, it can be sharpened. This tool was never 'manufactured' it was a DIY type.
http://cutting-tools.vrwesson.com/in...p?type=tantung
robo hippy
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