Got an odd question coming from someone with my long term rail knowledge. The era that I model has a lot of older equipment that needs roofwalks removed and ladders shortened. I know there is a tool out there that makes removing things like molded-on ladders and such easier that using a regular hobby knife. I’m not exactly real accurate with a regular knife at times. (The blade is just too big.)
The image in my head is this: handle similar to a pencil, the head is roughly a rectangle, in that head it angles up toward the back and the opening is wide at the bottom and then gets smaller going to the back of the tool. (And I know it’s not a seam scraper. That is someone else entirely.) It may a figment of my imagination but that’s the idea.
What is the name of that tool so that I can find one? As usual, any assistance that can be provided would be most welcomed.
I think I know the tool he means: it is what you’d get if you had a rectangular through-hole in the tip of a tool like the Micro-Mark chisel shown in the reference, with a Hasegawa-like slightly rounded-nose shallow chisel at the bottom to prevent gouging and the hole allowing the ‘chip’ to continuously escape through the tunnel in the tool.
The comment about using a waterstone or lapping material or hone to keep that edge sharp would be essential for a tool like this.
I think that’s the tool referenced, but its cutting-edge angle is comparatively large and there is no ‘through window’ for the separated chip to pass through; it is forced up and broken as cut loose, and I suspect this will help force the nose down into gouging if the ‘plane’ is at the necessary shallow angle to cut only the detail away. I did not see the slight Hasegawa ‘nose radius’ on the MicroMark tool either, although it would not be too difficult to get it there.
It would be interesting to see the ‘proper’ ways to polish and shape the tip of that tool, in that material. Very frequent sharpening of these tips is required even in comparatively hard alloys, as mentioned.
I don’t think I could shave detail off a painted car effectively holding the tool at the pictured very high angle, even using my opposite thumb as a fulcrum or guide. And I KNOW I couldn’t work a cuticle trimmer effectively – I can’t even use one of those effectively on my own cuticles unless I wet them first, and you ain’t gonna soften molded-on grabirons, or easily sharpen and hone that complex little notch. It would need to be the opposite of a fish-hook hone … perhaps you could 3D print it and then apply lapping film?
Could the tool be a flat-bottom gouge with the nose rounded slightly and the ‘chisel taper’ on top?
X-Acto offers two versions of their chisel-type blade, the #17, which is 1/4" wide, or the similar #18 blade, which is 1/2" wide.
You can also alter these blades with careful use of a cut-off disc in a motor tool (the older style coupler was the original focus of this picture)…
You can also modify these blades to fit into tight spaces or remove material from from either side to create a blade useful for a particular application.
This style of blade is also one of the easiest to re-sharpen - I use a small oil-stone for that, and it takes only a few seconds to accomplish.
Unless you’re using them for some unusual purpose, this type of blade should normally be used with the bevelled-edge down, which prevents it from gouging the surface from which you’re removing material.
That’s the idea I was thinking of, yes. I hadn’t of thought to think about the Health and Beauty area. (However, I use emery boards frequently for filing models.)
Even with the ability to trim, that is still a bit big.
