Chris Knight
Established Member
Everyone needs a spokeshave or two, or three or eleven (actually twelve, I left one out!). I found when shaping curved surfaces on my rocking chairs that they were essential. I cannot say in all honesty that they were all essential but they all do different jobs and some perform better than others in doing them.
1. Lie-Nielsen flat
2. Lie-Nielsen curved
3. Stanley 67 curved
4. Millers Falls #1 Goodell cigar shave
5. Preston small curved shave
6. Woodjoy 5/8 inch shave
7. Veritas LA shave
8. Small Lie-Nielsen shave curved
9. Clifton concave shave
10 . Clifton convex shave
11. No-name stanleyalike flat shave
Numbers 1 and 2 the Boggs shaves are quite simply the best spokshaves I have ever come across. They have a deceptive simplicity as a result of a great design but their precision manufacture means they work brilliantly, both for very fine shavings but also for quite rapid stock removal
Number 3 works well and has a curved bottom with a tighter radius than the Boggs Number 2. Those who know this tool will ask if I have the flat bottom for it - unfortunately the answer is no. In fact I find the radious not vey different from the small LN shave Number 8 - which I prefer.
Number 4 Thanks to Alf suggesting it as suitable for small radii, I got this excellent tool. It took me a few gos to get it sharp (in fact easily done on the Tormek after a bit of head scratching) and also to get it set up so that it would cut without clogging - not difficult once you have figured it out.
Number 5 a very recent purchase with a small radius curve - works pretty well except the thin straight handles have a tendency to turn in my hands, making it difficult to keep the blade at the correct angle - I can prbably bodge a solution to this easily enough
Number 6 This is a new shave by Glenn Livingstone of Woodjoy - beautifully made metal bits, rather indifferent wooden handles but it works superbly well and gets in very tight spaces. The blade was super sharp out of the box - I haven't needed to sharpen it yet either.
Number 7 I do not like this Veritas shave at all - fussy to adjust, hard to use and generally poor results with it.
Number 8 Another masterpiece of simplicity beautifully engineered. Works like a dream in quite small radii
Number 9 I have hardly used this but quite useful for shaping biggish spindles and the like
Number 10 I use this for part of the work in hollowing seats. It can be used for surprisingly delicate work (in the context of a job like hollowing seats) despite the huge mouth.
Number 11 The first spokeshave I ever owned and the worst by a million miles. Most people probably get their introduction to spokeshaves with something like this and wonder why they can't make it work. The reason is simply that they are total rubbish and it is definitely not worth spending any time to try and make them work better when there are so many excellent tools available.
1. Lie-Nielsen flat
2. Lie-Nielsen curved
3. Stanley 67 curved
4. Millers Falls #1 Goodell cigar shave
5. Preston small curved shave
6. Woodjoy 5/8 inch shave
7. Veritas LA shave
8. Small Lie-Nielsen shave curved
9. Clifton concave shave
10 . Clifton convex shave
11. No-name stanleyalike flat shave
Numbers 1 and 2 the Boggs shaves are quite simply the best spokshaves I have ever come across. They have a deceptive simplicity as a result of a great design but their precision manufacture means they work brilliantly, both for very fine shavings but also for quite rapid stock removal
Number 3 works well and has a curved bottom with a tighter radius than the Boggs Number 2. Those who know this tool will ask if I have the flat bottom for it - unfortunately the answer is no. In fact I find the radious not vey different from the small LN shave Number 8 - which I prefer.
Number 4 Thanks to Alf suggesting it as suitable for small radii, I got this excellent tool. It took me a few gos to get it sharp (in fact easily done on the Tormek after a bit of head scratching) and also to get it set up so that it would cut without clogging - not difficult once you have figured it out.
Number 5 a very recent purchase with a small radius curve - works pretty well except the thin straight handles have a tendency to turn in my hands, making it difficult to keep the blade at the correct angle - I can prbably bodge a solution to this easily enough
Number 6 This is a new shave by Glenn Livingstone of Woodjoy - beautifully made metal bits, rather indifferent wooden handles but it works superbly well and gets in very tight spaces. The blade was super sharp out of the box - I haven't needed to sharpen it yet either.
Number 7 I do not like this Veritas shave at all - fussy to adjust, hard to use and generally poor results with it.
Number 8 Another masterpiece of simplicity beautifully engineered. Works like a dream in quite small radii
Number 9 I have hardly used this but quite useful for shaping biggish spindles and the like
Number 10 I use this for part of the work in hollowing seats. It can be used for surprisingly delicate work (in the context of a job like hollowing seats) despite the huge mouth.
Number 11 The first spokeshave I ever owned and the worst by a million miles. Most people probably get their introduction to spokeshaves with something like this and wonder why they can't make it work. The reason is simply that they are total rubbish and it is definitely not worth spending any time to try and make them work better when there are so many excellent tools available.
