Using Scraper Tools
The following technique applies to both the Traviscraper and the Spokescraper:
Bring the brass nose, in front of the blade, into contact with the wood to be smoothed. Then rotate the tool backwards until you feel the blade touch the wood. This is the ideal orientation, with both the nose and blade in contact. The amount of cut can be adjusted by altering the pressure on the blade.
When the ideal position has been found push forward in a fairly slow and steady way. This should give continuous shaving. This is much better than using a fast backwards and forwards motion, where contact is made with the wood when the tool is already moving. The slow and steady approach makes the most of the control that these tools give.
Cleaning up a chair seat with the Traviscraper
Use a Travisher in the usual way, to produce a reasonable surface. Then use a curved card scraper briefly to remove the worst of any blemishes.
Take the seat to raking light (sun if it is out!) and use a pencil to mark all high points and indentations.
Mark the high points and put pencil lead into the low points.
Then use the Traviscraper to remove all the pencil marks and the surface should then require minimal sanding.
Smoothing a spindle and the chair seat with a Spokescraper
The Spokescraper works on flat and convex surfaces as seen in the following two videos. It also produces beautiful surfaces on the edges of a seat, as seen in the images below.
Surfaces produced by the Spokescraper on the outside of an ash seat.
Brief sanding with 240 grit abrasive is all that is required.
