Stanley No. 80M Cabinet Scraper

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Wood carving calls for the exercise of manual skill and artistic feeling.

Paul N. Hasluck, Manual of Traditional Wood Carving, 1911




I got an order for a guitar, the client wants a redwood top with East Indian rosewood back and sides. This set of Indian rosewood wants to be stubborn when it comes to thicknessing it with a hand plane. I'm not in a rush to complete this guitar, so I got out a card scraper and started to work on the trouble spots.

My thumbs got a little sore after a while, then I remembered that I had a Stanley #80M, a near mint one with original box, that I had picked up at an antique store about five years ago. I never got along well with cabinet scrapers, the Stanley #81 that I had didn't like me, it chattered and dug away wood at its own will. I sold it.

Now, the blade of this scraper still has original grind marks from the factory, so I very carefully honed away the marks and kept the original angle on the blade. I set the depth of the blade by setting the body on a piece of typing paper, with the edge of the paper just in front of the blade. I have some more fine tuning to do on the blade, but, it is working well enough for me at the moment.

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