Negative rake on Tracy Owens tools

[John K Jordan]

JKJ I want to thank you for posting about the Stewart McDonald scrapers. I got the one and liked it so well I ordered the other two. The square one is great for the outside of NE bowls and the small one is great for smoothing up the bottoms of bowls. I use them on almost every bowl I make.

Fantastic! I'm actually thinking now about making some. I can buy enough 1/8" O1 oil hardening to make five or six scrapers for about the cost of one from StewMac. I have some favorite shapes I want to duplicate.

I started using hand scrapers (hand held curved card scrapers) instead of sanding on maybe my third bowl, that one from eastern red cedar, when the heat from sanding created fine checking. On a whim I cut a piece off a curved cabinet scraper and it worked so well I started using them on almost every bowl/platter. I use them now instead of power sanding for most larger things. Just say NO to clouds of fine sawdust! I even used a tiny one today to solve a bit of tearout on a 3/8" diameter spindle. Yesterday the small StewMac scraper just plain did away with endgrain tearout on some old cherry on the side of a Beads of Courage bowl. It is nice to hear that others are using them now too. Thanks for the feedback!

Hey, do you know a turner/carver named Sammy from WV. I can't remember his last name. I met him last year at a course with Clay Foster and the other John Jordan - a wonderful person and so talented!

JKJ

[Fred Belknap]

Don't think I know him, but there is a lot of turners I know there face but not their name. I belong to the MountaineerWoodturner an AAW club, meet at Ripley WV.