Making a Titanium Paint Scraper
This project was done around Christmas time in 2010. In my family we draw names to do a random gift exchange and have to give/make gifts that are generally handmade and preferably use less than $10.00 worth of materials. In the jewelry class I teach I've done a bit of simple knife making and this falls under that realm. There is really no particular reason to make a titanium paint scraper other than the fact that the person I drew that year was Alex, who is an engineer, and I figured he would appreciate, no demand, a tool that utilized aero- space materials. Since Alex makes beer, I figured I'd also cut out a profile on the side of the scraper into the shape of a bottle opener- a handy addition to any tool. In addition to the titanium blade I used/cut apart a largish walnut branch from my yard for the handle on Alex's scraper. You can see from the pictures I really made two scrapers The other one I used a piece of scrap Corian, a counter top material. I rarely make just one thing at a time, let face it, the tools are out, might as well make at least two.
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This is a picture of the walnut log, recently pried out of the snow, with my friendly neighborhood rechargeable Milwaukee Sawzall, perched on top.
A close up of myself cutting apart the walnut branch into a couple of usable slabs destined to make a handle or two. I really should have cut this in the summer and let the slab dry-age, plus it would have been easier than doing the deed in the snow.
A picture of the tool, material, and finished slab.
This is a picture of a sheet of 14 gauge titanium partially cut on my small band saw. It's a portable band saw with a homemade plywood base screwed together to make it a stationary band saw.
Here is a picture of one of the titanium blanks next to a scraper I 'kinda used as a model. You probably can't tell it from the photo, but the model scraper has a beautiful rosewood handle, nicely set rivets, a very interesting metal bolster, a strong, thick blade, some interesting, but so far, useless numbers and letters, and absolutely no makers marks. I have no idea exactly where I got, but I think from my grandpa Davis's stuff, when he died. It's certainly a premium paint scraper and nicer than anything I've ever seen.
Here is a shot of one of the blanks completely sawed out, but not yet finished, edges ground, smoothed etc.
Her I am cutting apart the wood slab I cut from the walnut branch. I had to do this a few times because the wood had a split running through it that would revel itself when I started finishing the handle. I had to grind off/drill out the rivets and peel off the wood. 'Wotta pain!
You can see the finished Corian version on the left and the other titanium blank with the wood handles ready to go on the right. I used the slow-set JB weld two part epoxy to bed the handle down and commercial knife rivets I cut down to size. I used a jewelers saw to cut out the bottle opener.
Here I'm drilling out the holes to fit the rivets through. You have to over drill the diameter of the holes because the rivets spread out inside the handle to grip tight.
The above shots are just funny to me. It's crazy how many tools you have to get out just to accomplish something so simple. It's by no means the total amount of crap I had to drag out, there was really more! Pretty much like any household project, in that regard.
The two finished scrapers. I stamped my name on the blades and did a little bit of finish work on the edges and such. I could have buffed and polished the titanium blades, but it would have taken a while, and, let's face it, it's just a scraper. I finished the walnut handled one with some tung oil and some Bri-Wax. The Corian version just got some sanding and some buffing. I ground a sharp blade on one and left the other squared off. I did a little bit of cutting and grinding on the bottle opener to get it working a bit better. I probably should mention that to Alex, his probably needs a little bit of tweaking.
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