With their newest tool, Woodpeckers transforms a standard four-sided carbide cutter into a mini scraper by adding a custom handle.
There are some advantages to using a carbide insert as a scraper blade. Perhaps most importantly, a carbide edge should stay sharper longer than steel. And even if one edge gets damaged or dull, you can just loosen a screw, turn the insert 90° and you’ve got a brand new scraping edge.
See also: Carbide Super Scraper Review
With this tool, you can also change the insert to meet your scraping needs.
The blade that ships with this mini-scraper features a slightly cambered edge, to reduce the chances of gouging your work. You can swap that blade with an optional square cutter, which should work better for getting stubborn glue out of corners.
The mini-scraper can be used in two different ways: you can push the scraper at a low angle for an aggressive cut, or pull the scraper at a high angle for a smoother cut.
As of the time of this posting, you can only buy the Woodpeckers mini-scraper direct from their site. We’re thinking that it will slowly make its way to their distributors.
Price: $20 (plus shipping)
This is the introductory price, good thru 9/30/2016, after which the price goes up to $22.
Once you have dulled all 4 edges of the carbide insert, you can purchase a replacement cambered carbide insert, or a square carbide insert, for $12 each.
First Thoughts
When I first saw Woodpeckers promoting their mini-scraper on social media, I thought: “Hey that’s a cutter for a carbide turning tool!” I have a few extras lying around and it wouldn’t take much to whip up a handle of my own. Maybe inserts that have become too dull to cut properly at the lathe might have a second life as scraper blades.
Given Woodpeckers propensity for expensive tools, after I started looking into the product I was surprised that Woodpeckers was only charging $22 for the handle and an insert. They’re selling the inserts at a price that’s comparable to what you’d pay at Rockler, Woodcraft, or another woodworking store, so charging another $10 for a handle doesn’t seem all that unreasonable.
I don’t use a scraper to remove glue from my projects. I’d like to say that I’m on the ball and clean squeeze-out as soon as it happens with a wet rag, but I usually end up scraping dried glue away with a chisel anyway. Dried glue is hard on the edge of a chisel, and I’ll usually end up cutting into the wood a few times by accident. Maybe this mini-scraper is something I should try.