Setting and Sharpening a Spoke Shave

[bugbear]

Hi,

Here is some of mine,

I'm guessing you bought the "new stanleys" first, and paid more for them than any of the (marvellous) others?

BugBear (who knows Pete is a car boot hound extraordinaire)

 

[Racers]

Hi, BB

The Millar Falls was more than the new Stanleys, but you are right about the rest.


Pete

 

[wizer]

I seem to remember a thread about you restoring the Miller Falls. How did that go? What do you use that shave for?

 

[Racers]

Hi, Wizer

Its good for really tight curves, if you can get it in a hole it will cut.


Pete

 

[lurker]

Nice set of "users" not a collection Pete :lol:

 

[jonbikebod]

WiZeR,
When you are in better shape you are welcome to pop over and give some shaves a try (my collection is much like Pete’s). I also have 151s in various ‘levels’ of tune/expense and some high end modern stuff to compare them with. Sounds like Pete and I have trodden a very similar path…
There are as far as I know three sharpening guides that will hold a 151 blade (or similar) without modification. The Veritas Mk 2, Richard Kell #2 and the Stanley 81-050. The Stanley is most usually found bundled with an oil stone and oil these days. Veritas sell a small blade holder that is supposed to hold spokeshave blades in a Mk 1 guide but it only really works with their small low angle blade.
As a rule flat based shaves are easier to make work than curved sole shaves. Aslso as a rule, earlier shaves make a better starting point than modern ones.
A 151 can be made to work fairly well cheaply and very well expensively. There can’t be many tool boxes or tool draws across the land that don’t have a neglected and useless 151 lurking in their darker recesses. More than any other spokeshave this model has earned spokeshaves in general a reputation as being difficult but a well sorted one is a joy to use.
I think a well prepared low angle wooden shave is even better but that is as subjective as bevel up compared to bevel down bench planes…
Jon.

 

[wizer]

That's a kind offer Jon, thanks. I am pretty much sold on the boggs. Just need to get this finger working again.

What do you guys use your spokeshaves for? I don't know why but I have always been intrigued by them. Can't wait to have a play.

How are the wooden ones adjusted? They look as if the blade is in a fixed position?

 

[Harbo]

I have been using my 2 Veritas ones (flat & curved) making Norm's deck chair out of some oak. Trimming the pieces down after bandsawing.
It has about 40 separate pieces mostly curved and needs a special Rockler brass fitting kit - I have been working on it for over a year now (on & off - mainly off ) I did intend to make a pair but I think now it will just be one?

I also have a Woodjoy low angle jobby which uses a push/pull allen key arrangement for adjustments. I find it a bit too "hungry" with the oak and find the Veritas cope better with it?

I was very impressed with Brian' tools and would love to have his Shavehorse and somewhere to store it (LN $650) - you can also download plans to make it from FWW.

Rod

 

[Racers]

Hi WiZeR

The tangs on the wooden ones are an interference fit in the body so you just tap them to adjust. But if they go rusty they become loose you can clean the holes out glue wood in, or shims to the sides, and recut the holes its lots of work thats why I fitted the grub screws.


Pete

 

[lurker]

you can also download plans to make it from FWW.

Rod

Rod, do you have a link?

I was eyeing up that one on the front cover of Nick Gibb's new magazine

 

[wizer]

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... x?id=24697

 

[bugbear]

I was very impressed with Brian' tools and would love to have his Shavehorse and somewhere to store it (LN $650) - you can also download plans to make it from FWW.

Rod

Here's a small and indoor workshop friendly variation:

http://home.rochester.rr.com/dmatthews/shavepony/

BugBear

 

[Harbo]

Here's my Woodjoy:

And here's some of the bits!!:

Here's what it might look like one day?:

http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct.php?0212

Rod (sorry about picture size- transferred from another site)

 

[jonbikebod]

I am pretty much sold on the boggs.

I would have said the Boggs was great when you get it set but it can be pretty tricky just right. I think others have had similar difficulties and I think I am right in saying David Charlesworth made a magnificent adjusting mechanism for his. Having seen Brain Boggs do his thing with one of his shaves at the weekend, he was adjusting it constantly to be ideal for the precise area of grain he was working. Because it has a heavy blade, a deft tap on the ‘ear’ of his shaving horse (one side of the shave or the other) was one method but he was constantly sliding the blade back and forth with his fingers as well. Obviously I need more practice….
I use my shaves for chamfering when a surface is other than straight. Any curved work – handles for example are immensely more satisfying (as well as quicker and quieter) than sanding. Finishing of curved table legs – the classic uses are cabriole legs and chair arms. But you can also use them on the ash frame of your Morgan restoration, making re-enactment tools/weapons. In short for so many of the odd woodworking jobs that those heavily reliant on machines would probably avoid.
Jon.

 

[Racers]

Hi,

That reminds me I have a Ron Hock spoke shave blade thay needs a body making, must look at David Cs book and get it made.


Pete

 

[jonbikebod]

WiZeR,
Perhaps I can explain a little why hand tools can be so well worth getting to grip with.
Four years ago I went to America to take a course with Garrett Hack. It wasn’t the course he is doing this week on inlay work but one intended to show Americans the forgotten virtues of hand tools. This was back when the American hand tool renaissance was just gathering momentum due largely to the new availability of quality hand tools from the new wave of manufacturers like Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley.

This is one of the exercises from the course. It took Garrett less than ten minutes to demonstrate and all the pupils on the course had completed theirs inside half an hour. The course attracted a very eclectic mix of people by the way, this one included a ballerina!
The plank is cherry and the curve was marked by bending a six inch rule and drawing the curve on the end. The curve was cut with a low angle block plane. Then the chamfers were marked with a pencil held in the hand and fingers acting like the stock of a marking gauge or the fence of a router. I have seen carpenters do this but never before a cabinet maker. Not only is this quick but if you don’t like the way it looks you simply draw another line. There is also absolutely no need to have a 45º chamfer because you can as easily cut any angle chamfer by hand. Actually there is a great temptation to avoid ‘standard’ angles to show they were cut by hand (in a similar way that it is tempting to hand cut dovetails more finely than a router cutter could ever do). Having never done this before I was surprised how accurate and intuitive this method of marking out was. The long grain chamfers were cut with either a bench plane or block plane (I can’t remember now). The chamfer on the curve was cut with the Boggs shave you see in the background. It took me about a quarter of an hour from start to finish which is way faster than I could do it with a bandsaw,/disk sander/router table without noise, burning or risk to digits. It was much more satisfying as well.
As it happens I have a lot of scar tissue on one finger of my left hand due to carelessness with a router table. I still have several router tables but it isn’t my automatic approach to shaping or moulding (I also have a Stanley #45 and wooden moulding planes that win hands down for small runs). Garret is a prolific professional cabinet maker first and foremost. Teaching and writing are sidelines but he lost the tops of two of his fingers to a planer. As you are finding out, such an experience is inclined to make you question machines as the automatic choice.
Jon.[/img]

 

[wizer]

As you are finding out, such an experience is inclined to make you question machines as the automatic choice.
Jon.

Yes it's funny that. But after being told yesterday that I might not get full movement or feeling back in that finger, I'm kind of looking at the hobby in a different light. I literally can't afford to take risks. Even a slightly more serious injury could very well have put me out of work for a very long time. I realise thousands of people have used powered machines all their life without an injury. It only takes a second to be on the other statistic table. I doubt I'll ever be a hand tool purist. But I will look to reduce power use wherever I can.

Thanks all for your views. I will let you know how I get on.

 

[Benchwayze]

Just before xmas I went through an 2nd hand tool buying frenzy and got meself an old Record A151. In light of recent events I thought I would try the hand tool method for finishing off some curves.

Could someone shove me in the direction of a website that might show an silly person like me how to set one up and sharpen the blade?

TIA

Hi Wizer,

To sharpen spokeshave blades, I grip the blade between an old plane iron and breaker. Tighten it up and sharpen away, as you would a plane-iron. You can even use a honing guide if you sharpen this way. I have never found the need to use any angle other than 30 deg for the honed edge, but I do fettle the mouths and polish the soles, as I would a bench plane. A bit of attention around the mouth is usually in order, as the castings can be pretty rough. I think Krenov wrote on the subject in the 'The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking.'

Regards

John

 

[wizer]

So if the primary bevel is 30 degrees, should there be a secondary bevel? Which angle?

 

[Benchwayze]

Aways used 25/30 myself as per a plane iron.
Never had problems once I got them flat'back and sharp.

Someone will no doubt tell me if I am wrong, but it's always worked for me.

Regards
John