The Dikeman Mfg. Co. whats-it

[Mac53]

Here is an interesting one. I don't remember where I found it...and I have no clue what it does. It appears as if it comes apart, but not by my barehands for sure. Looks like the head is on some sort of swivel too, but it doesn't move.

Top reads : THE DIKEMAN MFG.CO    NORWALK.CONN
other side of the top reads: PATD NO (?)61906    OTHERP(???????)C

[Papaw]

Bound to be a scraper, more than that I won't guess.

[Mac53]

I was thinking some sort of plane- The blades on it appear wood-working to me. The weird do-dad on top and the long bits holding the blade dont seem to lend themselves well to being a plane though....  Seems weird to have the flat part that seems important on one side, with a second blade on the (back?)

[wvtools]

It is a box scraper.  They can also be used for paint, glue, and cabinet scraping.  Many scrapers like that have both beveled and square edges.  The square edges are sharpened by burnishing.

[Mac53]

It is a box scraper.  They can also be used for paint, glue, and cabinet scraping.  Many scrapers like that have both beveled and square edges.  The square edges are sharpened by burnishing.

What all does that mean exactly? What does a box scraper do, and how does one do it? I've never had the need to scrape a box...(lol)

[RWalters]

Think wooden shipping boxes. Back before corrugated cardboard boxes were in common use, everything was shipped in wooden boxes. To reuse them, you scraped the label off with a tool like this.

[Papaw]

Used to scrape old finish off also.

[Branson]

Worthpoint lists one, and says:

Offering this rarely seen cabinet scraper marked "The Dikeman Mfg. Co. NORWALK CONN. PAT'D NOV 6 1906 OTHER PAT'S PENDING". This is the nicest of any of the scrapers that I've seen in this style. It feature a front cam action cap cover handle assembley that locks the cutter/blade in place very nice and tight. Also feature is a swival ball where the head meets the handle, just losen the wood handle and swival the head into any position you want, the blade can also be reversed. The front handle is very nice for controlling the cut/scrape. The wood handle is very good solid condition with a most of the rosewood color stain worn off. These scrapers were designed for use in building cabinets and other furniture, floors, bench tops etc., made to remove very little material in a tight areas like a enclosed corner. The blade on this one is a new pre-hardened tool steel blade with squared off corners (no razor edges). The blade is .055" thick x 3" x 4.5" long. The thickness of the blade is presicion ground and flat.

[Branson]

I found several other sources on line, and it's a cabinet scraper, not a box scraper.  Stearns made a similar one, as did Starrett and Millers Falls.  Stanley made a similar pattern, #82, especially for scraping floors.  It seems to me we had one on Tool Talk not long ago that looked like the Starrett or the Millers Falls.

Box scrapers I've seen, like the Stanley, were essentially short bed planes on a swivel yoke (see the Stanley #70).  They were used to scape off paper labels, yes, on shipping crates, but also paper labels on drawers in warehouses where drawer contents changed.  Mine was from the old Thompson Diggs hardware company, one of about a dozen that were used in the warehouse.  Thompson Diggs bellied up around 1987 or 88, and my partners bought the whole mezzanine floor.

[jimwrench]

 Listed as a cabinet and floor scraper in patent 1041979. Filed Apr 4,1911 and issued Oct 22, 1912

[johnsironsanctuary]

A use for the scraper in furniture building is to scape the surface smooth before finishing. I don't know when sandpaper was first marketed, but scrapers were what was used before that. I have several pieces of primitive furniture in my house that are finished with a scraper. When you refinish an old piece, look closely for scraper marks. Steel wool and paint stripper are messy, but the scraper marks aren't damaged and the piece retains the old hand built look.

[Branson]

A use for the scraper in furniture building is to scape the surface smooth before finishing. I don't know when sandpaper was first marketed, but scrapers were what was used before that. I have several pieces of primitive furniture in my house that are finished with a scraper. When you refinish an old piece, look closely for scraper marks. Steel wool and paint stripper are messy, but the scraper marks aren't damaged and the piece retains the old hand built look.

Hmm... If the scraper is properly sharp and properly used, there shouldn't be any marks left.  A scraper is an edged tool, and should leave a better surface than sand paper, which is an abrasive, and doesn't leave as clear a surface according to some.  Larger pieces of broken glass were also used, and they work really well. 

Another sort of scraper was used for metal -- I have a Queen Ann cutlass that had the brass guard finished with one of these scrapers.  They're sharpen-able, unlike files, and saved some expense.  Their work is more easily seen.  Some still used these in Viet Nam, at least in Hai Phong, as late as the 1970s, because they are cheap and can be sharpened.  They look a bit like carriage makers routers, with two handles and a small blade set in a bar between the handles.

Sand paper has been around for quite a while.  I've documented "glass paper" as early as the 1700s.  Ray (as in sting ray) skin was also used as an abrasive.

[Mac53]

interesting! Thank you all very much. I may have to build a table or something just so I can try it out.

[Branson]

interesting! Thank you all very much. I may have to build a table or something just so I can try it out.

The trick is learning how to sharpen a scraper.  You must file the edge, and then use a burnisher to create a burr.  It's the burr that does the cutting.
You can get the idea of what's involved from:

http://woodgears.ca/scraper/index.html

The scrapers on this site are the thin, hand held sort that you can make out of pieces of old saw blades.  You can even turn a putty knife into an effective scraper with the technique shown on the site.  These are most commonly filed to 90 degrees. 

The thicker blades used in some of the plane-like scrapers are filed at an angle and burnished.  Thinner blades can be worked this way, too.

Having a burnisher is the best, but the face of a good hammer will do the job in a pinch.

[johnsironsanctuary]

Branson, thanks for the link. I agree that a properly scraped surface is as smooth or smoother than sandpapered. That is probably true for most, if not all, elite furniture builders. The pieces that I am talking about are the everyday furniture that was found in midwest farmhouses. The piece that I refer to has some router planed edges, but the drawer sides are nailed, not dovetailed. It was usually built by the local undertaker before the days of Sears mail order and furniture factories. The scraper marks are plainly visible on wide surfaces. They could have been made with a very sharp plane, but it would have to be ground to a very slight radius. I tried to photograph them and failed with my little Nikon Coolpix. They are with the grain, but not straight or even. Chippendale and Heppelwhite could probably afford to have a couple of apprentices keep at it until the surface was perfect. I don't think that the poor boys spent the time.