Crucible Card Scraper

Card scrapers are usually sold as rectangles or squares. What has been lost to time is that the woodworker is supposed to shape the tool to his or her needs – much like the cutting edge of a jack plane or smoothing plane.So woodworkers of the last 50 or 60 years have found ways to make a rectangular scraper work. Most of us bow the tool with our thumbs to present a curved cutting edge to the wood, much like a cambered iron of a smoothing plane. This works, but at great expense to the thumbs. Many woodworkers with arthritis have had to give up on this tool entirely.In 2018, Welsh chairmaker Chris Williams taught his first class in the U.S. and brought along his card scraper, which was gently curved along both edges and had a second accelerated curve at the corners. The tool worked brilliantly on flat and curved surfaces. And you didn’t need to bend the tool with your thumbs.In "Welsh Stick Chairs," chairmaker John Brown wrote this about scrapers, "When they come from the shop they are o