There are lots of times when you can use a nice scraper in the shop. They are great for removing sticky labels, cleaning up paint, or even removing laser-splattered prepunched holes in thick aluminum stock. The problem with using any blade on aluminum, however, is that the sharp corners of a single-edge razor blade will leave scratches. But not if you take a few seconds to round them off on your grinding wheel. Use real light pressure and just a few touches. Now your blade will be effective and not leave marks in your work! We like to use the little clamp handles you can buy at Harbor Freight to hold the blades, by the way. They’re cheap and much easier to use than a bare blade.
In Case You Missed it
Wind Tunnel
Flight testing for longitudinal stability problems continues this month as columnist Barnaby Wainfan details tests for stick force as related to trim and stick-free stability of an aircraft. The object is to gather data and analyze it to see if the hypotheses about the nature of the problem hold up under scrutiny.