I’m excited to tell you about a great new bowl scraper that I’ve just discovered. It’s called the Kelton Multi-axis Scraper, designed and manufactured by Kel McNaughton in New Zealand.

To be honest, when I first saw the tool I was not very impressed. Just another scraper, right?

Well, after putting the scraper to the test, turns out I was wrong.

I used it first on a natural edge cherry bowl. After shaping the outside and then removing the bulk of the inside using a bowl gouge, I cleaned up the inside with the Multi-Axis Scraper. Ribbons came off the tool and left a clean smooth surface. It was so easy to use I decided to see if I could overuse the tool. You know, have it catch. I chucked up another piece of cherry and started to become more aggressive. It responded flawlessly.

Now I admit, fresh green wood is no real test for this scraper. So I took a piece of burled maple that had grain moving in all directions. Yes, this is a real test. I shaped the outside and used the Multi-axis Scraper, rotating the cutter forty five degrees to shear scrape, or slice the grain. It put on a smooth surface that needed very little sanding.

Now for the inside. I decided to remove the inside using only the scraper. It took about the same amount of time as it would have using a bowl gouge. I made some very aggressive cuts without the scraper digging in. When I got to the bottom, I once again rotated the cutter to a different angle and finished with a shear cut. No tearout, the burls were cut clean, and now I have a beautiful bowl that I don’t have to spend a lot of time sanding.

So if you are looking for a great scraper that can do it all, I recommend the Kelton Multi-Axis Scraper. It comes unhandled and is very beefy, so you will need to match its weight with a beefy handle. I used a Oneway handle because that’s what I already had and it worked fine.