Official Luthiers Forum!

Included in the late Eric Mathre's lutherie tools is this mystery item - about 7" long with a slot in it and a wooden screw in the center. Obviously meant to hold something, but what? We can't figure out what it is, what it is used for, and how much it cost new. Any ideas anyone?





Click on the pictures to see the full hi-res versions.

Thanks for looking.

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

By jove, I think you're right Todd. There is a nice set of scrapers in with the tools. I'll put it with those as a job lot.

Thanks!

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

what's a job lot ?

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

I have that exact tool. I bought it when I first bought my lie nielsen scrapers, which are the cheapest and most useful tools I have. But the scraper holder hasn't been used since first trying it. I found that the scraper holder didn't hold the scraper seculely and it caused the scraper to move around within the holder. It ended up making scraping more dificult, so now I use the scrapers with my hands only, and those tools (my hands) give me much more control.

John, I guess "job lot" is an old English expression from the auction houses. Since I'm an old Englishman, I sometimes use wierd phrases like this.

From YourDictionary.com, it means "An assortment of goods for sale as one quantity", usually the assortment has some kind of connection, like a job lot of assorted screws.
In this case, the scrapers and scraper holder will go nicely together as one job lot.

Jonas - I can see how it wouldn't do a particularly good job of holding a scraper unless the scraper fitted the slot exactly, which I think the large one in the assortment does. Personally, I use one of those Veritas scraper holders to save my poor aching thumbs! It is fully adjustable and works very well indeed.

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

The "holder" is not really meant to hold the blade. You still need to hold the blade with your hands while scraping. The wood screw in the holder is there to put varying degrees of bow into the blade relieving your thumbs of that job. Thus the wide slot.