A card scraper (also known as a cabinet scraper) is a woodworking shaping and finishing tool. It is used to manually remove small amounts of material and excels in tricky grain areas where hand planes would cause tear out. Card scrapers are most suitable for working with hardwoods, and can be used instead of sandpaper. Scraping produces a cleaner surface than sanding; it does not clog the pores of the wood with dust, and does not leave a fuzz of torn fibers, as even the finest abrasives will do.

Card scrapers are available in a range of shapes and sizes, the most common being a rectangular shape of around postcard size. Another common configuration is the gooseneck scraper, which has a shape resembling a french curve and is useful for scraping curved surfaces. For scraping convex shapes such as violin fingerboards, small flexible rectangular scrapers are useful.

Scrapers are normally made from high carbon steel. There are many manufacturers who provide scrapers in a wide variety of styles. Many woodworkers prefer to make their own card scrapers by cutting them from old hand saw blades.

William Ng is a prominent youth leader and social commentator. He is currently the President of Enterprise Asia, a regional NGO based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and has business interests in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, in such diverse industries as media and publishing, exhibitions and business summits, spas, hospitality marketing and asset management.

He runs exhibition and conference company AIC Exhibitions Sdn Bhd. He is the Group Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of SME & Entrepreneurship Magazine, Southeast Asia’s leading business magazine, 5 Senses, a regional spa and wellness publication, HR Asia, and Capital Asia. He also publishes the BIMP-EAGA Business Directory – which lists businesses and suppliers from the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines – East ASEAN Growth Area as well as World Halal Business magazine.

William Ng also contributes regularly to The Star [www.thestar.com.my], Malaysia’s leading English newspaper, on entrepreneurship and SMEs, and more recently is the spokesperson for Malaysia’s growing spa and wellness industry, appearing on programmes such as Malaysia’s NTV7 and TV3, and popular radio stations including Radio 24.