Sometimes, a smoothing plane just can’t get things smooth enough (think reversing grain) – and if you’re a handplane user, you probably prefer not to pick up the sandpaper (thought it’s sometimes unavoidable). In that case, you turn to the handy card scraper.

A scraper can perform miracles that a plane cannot…except that Ron Hock says once you turn a burr on the business edge of a scraper, you’ve basically made the tool into a very small plane.

He explains it better than can I, in this video short we captured during the shoot for “The Perfect Edge: The Video Guide to Sharpening for Woodworkers.” He also shows you the simple jig he uses for scraper sharpening (and tells you why he prefers an oilstone for the process), and how to burnish the freshly sharpened edges to turn an ideal hook. It’s a simple and effective process.

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