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Switched from sandpaper to a cabinet scraper on my old dresser and wow what a difference
I was sanding down this 1940s dresser I picked up for $40 at an estate sale in Albany, and I was going through like a pack of 80-grit every hour because the old varnish kept gumming it up. My neighbor who restores antique boats saw me struggling and handed me his old cabinet scraper, said to try it instead. Took me like 10 minutes to figure out the burr technique (you gotta roll the edge with a burnisher, who knew?). The scraper took off that thick finish in smooth ribbons without any dust cloud or clogging, and I saved probably $15 on sandpaper alone. I still used sandpaper for the final smoothing, but for stripping the old stuff off, I'm never going back. Has anyone else made the switch from sanding to scraping for old furniture? I'm curious what tools you use for tricky details like carved legs.
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hill.hugo14d ago
Oh yeah, @finleyk87 is totally right about the diamond stone, that's key. I was stubborn and tried to sharpen mine with just a file at first and it was miserable, the burr kept flopping over. Once I got a proper stone and spent the time to get a clean edge, the scraper just sang through the old varnish. For carved legs I actually bought a set of profile scrapers online for like 20 bucks and they're a lifesaver, they match the curves perfectly and I don't have to wrestle with sandpaper shreds. The dust alone is worth the switch, I can actually breathe in my workshop now instead of coughing up sawdust for days.
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the_wyatt9d ago
Good tip on those profile scrapers, I spent way too long sanding down curved legs before I wised up too, so that stinks.
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finleyk8714d ago
Did you try sharpening the scraper on a fine diamond stone before burnishing? I found that helps a ton for getting into carved legs because you can shape the edge to match the curve. For really tight spots I actually use a curved cabinet scraper I shaped myself with a file, it glides right into those grooves without digging in like sandpaper does.
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