The Power Scraper

For most of you this will mean either a Biax BL10 or BL40, there are other versions from Biax, and other scrapers from other companies but those two dominate the market.

For new production I am only aware of Biax and Renz Be forewarned these are niche tools and come at very high prices, even on the used market they are often in excess of 1000 euros.

The power scraper is simply a great tool, it is not only faster than hand scraping for roughing but also allows easy control of stroke length which makes working on small details (such as dovetail slides) easier than by hand for the less than proficient hand scraper. There is perhaps a point at which hand scraping becomes more desirable but only at the highest levels of accuracy (Wyler levels for example are hand scraped)

This does not mean that you cannot rebuild a machine by hand but a power scraper will make most jobs faster, easier and less frustrating.

If you are looking at used scrapers, be cautious of the older models (Biax E7 etc) as they do not have variable speed. This is something one can learn to work with but again for the beginner or even intermediate scraper you need every advantage you can get. The old models (and some of the more recent) can be very worn and acquiring new parts, motors etc is difficult or impossible so again, proceed with great caution. A bargain 500 euro scraper which is single speed, worn out and needs parts you can't get is really very expensive and not very useful.