Female V-way Strategy

I'm working on a lathe saddle, fortunately tweaking rather than heavy restoration, and I'm having a hard time working out a good approach for one side of the female V way. It's right up next to a vertical wall that prevents a normal attack for the scraper. I've tried getting in like I was going to scrape parallel to the length, then take a diagonal push stroke. I've tried using the end of a normal straight scraper like a pull scraper by placing it end-on then pushing down. Everything I've tried is a pain in the ass and produces so-so results. I've even contemplated what kind of geometry of blade and shank might actually work as a pull scraper without hitting something else.

Does anyone have a good approach to get at this surface in a reasonable way?

How wide is the surfaces? Remember you use a scraper blade narrower the the way. I would use a 3/8 or 1/2 wide blade ground to a 20 to 40 mm radius and do a push and move sideways much like a Moore techniques. It would look as pretty as a flat scrape and you will probably get chatter. Be sure you relieve the middle 40%. You could also use an upright pull scrape for the last few basses if you want it to look good. But in this case get it as good as you can and forget about it as no one is going to see it. Another scraper could be like the one Tom Lipton and I designed. He has it in one of his You Tube shows. It looks like a slide hammer, but you slide the weight forward and get small square cuts. Again using a narrow carbide tip.

PS: TC I mentioned you in the South Bend forum today as someone was looking to make feed dials.

found it

Engraving South Bend Feed Dials

Tilting the saddle 45° so the surface you wanna work is horizontal might help TC, just hobble together a wooden fixture. If pushing is still not working out a pull scraper with a bent shank should get in there ok. Doesnt need much of radius as I remember and dulled corners helps avoid a nasty scratch.

Something like this im thinking. Whatever works for you.

Thanks. I've also got pictures saved somewhere of another Don Roberts scraper with an almost U shaped end and I'm wondering now it that was intended to reach over the hump of the casting to get a good scrape. I've still got some carbide pieces so I may go out and try to loft something up.

What kind of relief angles are used in pull scrapers? The pic above looks all different!

skipd1

skipd1 said:

What kind of relief angles are used in pull scrapers? The pic above looks all different!

skipd1

Click to expand...

Here is some info a Swiss Student gave me on Pull scraping. It is French and German I think. But look at the pictures.....lol..PULL Scraping

Demon73 said:

Tilting the saddle 45° so the surface you wanna work is horizontal might help TC, just hobble together a wooden fixture. If pushing is still not working out a pull scraper with a bent shank should get in there ok. Doesnt need much of radius as I remember and dulled corners helps avoid a nasty scratch.

Something like this im thinking. Whatever works for you.

Click to expand...

My old pull scraper was a bit like No1 but just made from a solid length of Silver Steel ( Drill rod in the US ? ). It was bent over at slightly more of an angle than the in the photo, say 85 degrees. It was also longer from handle to the crank. A guy in Scandanavia has it now, if he's reading this maybe he could post photos.

It was ok for getting at awkward slideways but pull scraping is for fine work really, you can't remove large amounts of metal with them easily.

Regards Tyrone.

Whew, finally circling back after many other tasks.

This is the pull scraper I made to try to reach into the V-way given the obstruction of the adjacent vertical wall that meets the apron.


It's patterned after one from Don Roberts to the best of my knowledge. I'm not done with fitting but I'm much happier with how well I can access this surface which was a royal PITA with all my other scrapers and approaches.



The gooseneck shape means the direction of the pull force is closer to the cutting edge and a little easier to control for tilt, I think. Put another way, it's easier to feel when the blade is square rather than tilted either way and a slight imbalance isn't amplified by a longer lever arm. Anyway, not done yet but I'm glad to be able to get back to it.