Carbide Scrapers vs Carbon Scrapers

[impactims]

Carbide scrapers while costly, seem to be getting popular.

What do you think?

Are they Not worth it? Overrated?

Or are they really what they are hyped up to be?

Just to make sure we are on n the same page, speaking the same language…

Carbon Scrapers…




Carbide Scrapers…

 

[impactims]

Myself, I have always had carbon scrapers.

Recently ordered carbide scrapers just to see what they are all about. They are not in my hands yet. I will have they next week. I bought them from MAC.

 

[RoninB4]

-A carbon (steel) scraper can have a new edge applied without a lot of trouble. A carbide scraper will be almost impossible to apply a new edge to. The carbide will last a very loooooong time if used properly but your average bench grinder with a carborundum or aluminum oxide wheel won't do anything for it. Even a silicon carbide wheel (green) will leave a ragged edge. Your choice to make.

 

[signcrafter]

They both have their place but I mainly use my carbide scrapers. They work great for removing gaskets. I have a few different ones I've bought over the years.

 

[AEAdam]

-A carbon (steel) scraper can have a new edge applied without a lot of trouble. A carbide scraper will be almost impossible to apply a new edge to. The carbide will last a very loooooong time if used properly but your average bench grinder with a carborundum or aluminum oxide wheel won't do anything for it. Even a silicon carbide wheel (green) will leave a ragged edge. Your choice to make.

Agree. If for automotive, I think carbide is overkill. I have carbide scrapers in my machine shop and sharpen them with diamonds and not easily.

In general, I think you can get a finer edge with tool steel. So I’m not sure we’ll see carbide knives any time soon. And carbide is brittle. For scraping cast iron, I feel like carbide does a good job and lasts a long time. But do you really want to scrape cast iron? I don’t. I want to scrape gasket material.

But I’m really a woodworker, so very comfortable sharpening tool steel and so maybe that’s my preference. I think for gasket materials, a razor blade works fine. And I sharpen those too.

I have the snap on version of the top set and I like it. I think the new sets include different lengths but all the same widths. My set is different widths for each length and that’s good and bad. Really a roughly 3/4-1” wide edge is fine for everything I’ve had to do.

 

[Pexto]

You can sharpen a carbide scraper with a diamond whetstone and a little lubricant, but it is slow going and you have to be very careful to maintain the edge geometry. Carbon steel scrapers are much, much easier to sharpen.

But you can do some things with a carbide scraper that would be really tough to do with a steel scraper. I recently had to clean up some aluminum gasket mating surfaces where someone at some point had beat on the edge with a hammer, so there were raised bumps in the gasket surfaces. I was able to pare down the high spots with a carbide scraper, by laying it completely flat on an undamaged portion and then, keeping it flat, sliding it over to a bump and taking off tiny shavings until the bump was gone. This worked really well, and would've been really tough to do with a carbon steel scraper.

I've come to think of my carbon steel scrapers as more of a rough tool, and then I finish up the tricky spots (like around bolt holes) with the carbide scraper laid flat and used with a shearing motion.

 

[ALinCarolina]

I'm not paying $150 for a set of scrapers. And this is coming from someone who owns expensive Lie-Nielsen and Veritas hand planes and Japanese wood chisels.

 

[seber]

My scrapers are made from detoothed files. They don't last like carbide but through hardened files are really hard. They will cut aluminum better than carbide and they can be sharpened fairly easily.

 

[AEAdam]

My scrapers are made from detoothed files. They don't last like carbide but through hardened files are really hard. They will cut aluminum better than carbide and they can be sharpened fairly easily.

I think there’s more to a scraper than an edge. I like a bit of flex, I like having the right length and for automotive, a dog leg at the end.

I rebuilt the hydrostatic drive units on my lawnmower, carefully resealing them. I used a carpenters (utility) knife blade and an exacto knife. With the hydros on my bench, it was easy work.

But when you are replacing a water pump or swapping timing chains, you need to scrape the engine typically in situ. That’s when I think an old wood chisel, sharpened file etc, aren’t quite so fun to use.

 

[Steve_P]

I have 5+ conventional carbon scrapers, different shapes and sizes. I've barely touched them since I bought the Astro and the small Lisle carbide.

 

[KnurledNut]

I would love to try the Matco exclusive carbide indexing set. They are beveled at 60°.
https://www.matcotools.com/catalog/product/icsb2pk/2-piece-indexing-carbide-scraper-set-blue

 

[dnschmidt]

Why worry about sharpening carbide scrapers when the carbide should never need sharpening anyway. Carbide is a hell of a lot harder than aluminum or cast iron. Also, if you buy the original SUPER SCRAPER they offer to resharpen them for free for life although I don't know how the hell you'd ever dull them to begin with.

 

[Nutria]

I think that carbon is less likely to do damage to a mating surface, so I go with those first. I do have a carbide scraper that I keep in reserve for bad spots, but I make sure to use it lubed. Like Pexto said, I think that both have their place in a tool box.

 

[Ohio Andy]

I'm not paying $150 for a set of scrapers. And this is coming from someone who owns expensive Lie-Nielsen and Veritas hand planes and Japanese wood chisels.

Got excited when I saw lie Nielsen.... There was a problem when I placed an order where I ended up with two of everything on my list. After I paid my call to fix it and I lamented they did not have any number eights... And not only did she fix my order she said oh yeah we'll be getting some eighths in a couple weeks. I'll put one and three on back order... Kind of excited that I'm finally replace my number eight. That doesn't work very well.

 

[atikovi]

I got this 2 piece set,



Don't use it often, but great for scraping off gasket material and cleaning up caliper mounting points.