Anyone know what this tool is?

[Nickthedentist]

Bought with a load of imperial spanners for pennies from my favourite charity shop.

Like a file with no teeth.

Thanks,
Nick

[Buzby123]

Is it a sharpening stone ?

[paulsherwin]

I agree, is the surface steel or some abrasive substance?

It looks like a tool for sharpening machine blades, maybe for traditional lawnmowers or agricultural machinery.

[ms660]

Looks like there's one very similar on Ebay, it's listed as a bearing scraper.

Lawrence.

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Folks, yes definitely a scraper, used for both making flat surfaces (machine beds) and for fitting bearings to shafts.

Ed

[kevinaston1]

Yes, a flat surface scraper.

Used, in conjunction with a precision surface block and engineers blue to "scrape" a surface flat, once the grinder has got it to within 10,000 of an inch flat.

I spent many hours as an apprentice learning the art.

[Hartley118]

I well recall our fitting instructor in the Metrovick apprentice training school emphasising to us that the most accurate metalworking process in the world is a skilled fitter armed with a high quality scraper.

I guess that the clue is in that brand ‘Moore & Wright’ - a name forever associated with precision operations and measurement.

Martin

[Radio Wrangler]

If you trawl through the youtube videos of Adam Booth, 'Abom79' you'll see footage of him attending classes on scraping machine tool surfaces ('ways') you'll also see powered scrapers being used.

Beyond making a surface flat overall, there is the skilled application of texture designed to retain oil so the movement remains lubricated.

Many of our doodads trace back to the precision put into machine tools. Think of the bearings etc in good turntables and arms, to say nothing of video recorder decks. Oh and the vacuum pumps for getting valves most of the way down.

David

[Oldcodger]

No idea of the size, but if small could it be a relay contact cleaner?

[barrymagrec]

No.

[Nickthedentist]

Thats brilliant, thanks!

Yes, it was the name which persuaded me to add it to my haul.

Its about a foot long.

If anyone would like it FOC, please say.

N.

[jamesinnewcastl]

Hi All

So what made the scraper so flat and why didn't you use whatever that was to flatten what you are using the scraper for?

I hope that made sense!


Cheers
James

[G4XWDJim]

With a bit, or maybe a lot of heat people would modify old files to use as bearing scrapers. Old machine hacksaw blades could be used similarly.

I have a few.

Jim

[duncanlowe]

I have one somewhere, not sure if it's branded, but a scraper as already said. The edge of the scraper isn't neccesarily that flat. I was taught that to make a very flat measuring table, they would get two of them, put a marker substance on the surface and rub them together. That would highlight any raised spots which you would scrape off, and repeat until there were no high spots on either table.

[Electronpusher0]

Originally Posted by duncanlowe

I have one somewhere, not sure if it's branded, but a scraper as already said. The edge of the scraper isn't neccesarily that flat. I was taught that to make a very flat measuring table, they would get two of them, put a marker substance on the surface and rub them together. That would highlight any raised spots which you would scrape off, and repeat until there were no high spots on either table.

We were told you need three and rotate which pair you rub together otherwise you could get two perfectly fitting tables that undulate, the highs of one matching the lows of the other.

Peter

[duncanlowe]

Originally Posted by Electronpusher0

We were told you need three and rotate around them otherwise you could get two perfectly fitting tables that undulate, the highs of one matching the lows of the other.

Peter

Maybe it was that and I've remebered it wrongly. It was over 40 years ago!

[DMcMahon]

Yes definitely looks like a scraper.

I well remember using them when I was starting out during my Electrical Fitter apprenticeship.

One of the many tasks/tests was to make a perfect 1" brass cube and remember spending days getting it right which involved a lot of fine scraping only for the instructor to measure it all over with a micrometer and then say no good make another one

Another very difficult task was to make a steel/iron 4" square plate with a 1" cut-out in the middle and then make a 1" square piece to fit perfectly inside the cut-out.

David

[QQVO6/40]

Gday all.
It is most assuredly a Moore and Wright bearing scraper.
One of usually a set of three.
One straight as pictured, a curved triangular one and a curved one.
They are dead hard so don't drop it as it may shatter.
I have a full set of the 3 common ones plus some other specialist ones.
I have used them. A true skill in hand control and patience.
Sadly a skill that is no longer taught in our education system.
Babbitt metal was used to make bearings and was often cast in place and then gently scraped to the correct form and tested using bearing blue which is the correct engineering product or sometimes Prussian Blue which is the artist's version. Bearing blue has an oil base in it where Prussian Blue has a water base in it.
The first bearing fits were made using "Plasti Gauge".
Now this has been a real trip down memory lane for me.

Sorry Mods if I have diverged too much.

Cheers all.
Robert, VK2BNM

[davebms]

hello all.The art is not completely dead, Babbitt metal/white metal
is still used, my scrapers were made from files circa 1970. still in use
some half round getting shorter due to sharpening!!

dave

[MotorBikeLes]

I have a few scrapers, but am not capable of precision use. But general stuff I can manage. The three cornered ones can be "sharpened up" with a hard, round rod having a similar handle. The third type that I have is a "flat bit on the end of a stick" for want of a better description.
All the "books" tell you you should never modify files to do other jobs for which they were not intended, but such "misuse" is commonplace.
Les.