I have been working on the Penobscot we bought last summer in the basement. Actually, I just started this week. Most of the work is going to be refinishing the wood seats. In the past I have gone the usual route and used a palm sander and a pile of sandpaper. This time I am going old school.

Card scrapers are nothing more then a sheet of metal with a burr on the end. It is what they use before sandpaper was invented. They aren't expensive, a set of different shapes and a burnisher to sharpen them will cost you well under $50. The best part is that they can replace all the course and medium sandpaper you use.

In the canoe work most of wood is covered with old varnish which can clog sandpaper quickly. A scraper just scrapes of off.

Working in the basement they are wonderful. There is no sander noise to wake the kids up at night. Dust isn't flying everywhere and there are no discarded sheets of sandpaper all over. Sharpening has taken some trial and error, but in a evening I started to get the hang of it.

Here are some of the videos and articles that helped me out:

From Fine Woodworking #147
Fine Woodworking Video
The DoveTail Kid

The other day I was thinking that a Co-op workshop would be a really cool Idea. You could pool resources in the form of bulk purchases and tools. The idea of being able to share tools and have a larger and better workspace sounds great. I don't have room in my little garage for a cabinet saw or a ton of other big tools or the money. I looked around online and saw a couple mentions of such things. You would have to limit the number of members so everyone would fit and have bench space. It would be awesome for people in apartments.