Tools for curves

[Just4Fun]

Almost all of my woodwork involves straight lines and I have few tools suitable for working on curves. My current project (a sort of settle) is different. I need to make 2 side pieces the same. Each side will include 2 small convex arcs (125mm radius quarter circles) about 1200mm apart and joined by a long shallow concave arc.

I foresee no problem in cutting the curves, but I am unsure how best to smooth them so that they each are one continuous arc rather than a series of tangents. Also I will want to round over the edges.

The wood is 25mm thick pine. The finished piece will be painted so it will be relatively simple to cover up any faults in my cutting & smoothing work.

Being just after Christmas I have some Amazon gift vouchers to spend so my question is what tool(s) should I get to tackle these curves? Draw Knife? Spokeshave? Rasps & files? Something else?

 

[AndyT]

I'd use a spokeshave, followed by sandpaper on a cork block.

If your Amazon vouchers will buy a Veritas shave I am sure that would be very nice - Derek Cohen's site has lots of info and tips on usage. I only have old spokeshaves and would be wary of the very cheap versions widely available new. Afaik Amazon has yet to take over the old tools market!

 

[El Barto]

Spokeshave! The Stanley 151 pattern with a flat sole is probably the most common. I picked one up off eBay for about a tenner and it’s brilliant.

While a drawknife can produce a very clean surface, that’s not really its intended purpose. A drawknife wants to dig in to the wood so it’s very easy to rip out chunks (which is what it’s supposed to do)

 

[thetyreman]

yep, get an old vintage stanley 151, it's an extremely useful tool, for anything curved, avoid newly made tools though, unless it's something like veritas or lie neilsen, you're taking a gamble with the quality.

 

[monkeybiter]

I've less experience than some of the above members but most of what I have made has been in Pine, it's soft and splintery, I would suggest saw close to the curve [bandsaw/jigsaw/coping saw] then finish the job with a drum sander in a pillar drill, smooth finish in Pine every time.

 

[thick_mike]

Be careful of how the grain runs for curves. You really need to be going down through the grain rather than up. With a concave shape, you will have to approach the dip from both ends. If you have soft splintery wood, then sandpaper is the way to make it smooth. I use a spokeshave out of preference, but pretty much always have to use a scraper and sandpaper to get a finished surface.

Oh, and a rasp, though the good ones are expensive.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A templet and panel trimmer in a router.

 

[Just4Fun]

I'd use a spokeshave, followed by sandpaper on a cork block.

If your Amazon vouchers will buy a Veritas shave I am sure that would be very nice ... I ...would be wary of the very cheap versions widely available new.

Thanks for the reply. Your thoughts are confirmed by other posts (thanks for those also) so I guess I will look for a spokeshave. The only Veritas spokeshave on Amazon is a miniature version which I assume would be too small for my purposes. There are any number of 151 spokeshaves by various companies I have never heard of. Would a new Stanley 151 be OK? Or what about this curved sole Clifton?

@monkeybiter (re pillar drill) and @phil.p (re router) thanks, I am sure your suggestions would work, but I am specifically looking for a hand tool solution.

@thick_mike: That makes sense. I had already anticipated that grain direction might be a problem. Maybe I will get a rasp anyway. I lost some nice rasps (and other things) in one house move and often wish I still had them.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Ah ....... you didn't mention hand tools specifically. Those of us who read the newest posts don't notice the board index.

 

[El Barto]

I'd use a spokeshave, followed by sandpaper on a cork block.

If your Amazon vouchers will buy a Veritas shave I am sure that would be very nice ... I ...would be wary of the very cheap versions widely available new.

Thanks for the reply. Your thoughts are confirmed by other posts (thanks for those also) so I guess I will look for a spokeshave. The only Veritas spokeshave on Amazon is a miniature version which I assume would be too small for my purposes. There are any number of 151 spokeshaves by various companies I have never heard of. Would a new Stanley 151 be OK? Or what about this curved sole Clifton?

@monkeybiter (re pillar drill) and @phil.p (re router) thanks, I am sure your suggestions would work, but I am specifically looking for a hand tool solution.

@thick_mike: That makes sense. I had already anticipated that grain direction might be a problem. Maybe I will get a rasp anyway. I lost some nice rasps (and other things) in one house move and often wish I still had them.

That Veritas spokeshave is tiny. Only a few inches long. The product photos don't accurately show how small it is. It'd work but it might take you a while! Veritas have some very nice spokeshaves on Axminster and elsewhere online.

If you want something delivered quickly via Amazon Prime or what have you, I imagine the new Stanley's are useable.

 

[thick_mike]

I'd use a spokeshave, followed by sandpaper on a cork block.

If your Amazon vouchers will buy a Veritas shave I am sure that would be very nice ... I ...would be wary of the very cheap versions widely available new.

Thanks for the reply. Your thoughts are confirmed by other posts (thanks for those also) so I guess I will look for a spokeshave. The only Veritas spokeshave on Amazon is a miniature version which I assume would be too small for my purposes. There are any number of 151 spokeshaves by various companies I have never heard of. Would a new Stanley 151 be OK? Or what about this curved sole Clifton?

@monkeybiter (re pillar drill) and @phil.p (re router) thanks, I am sure your suggestions would work, but I am specifically looking for a hand tool solution.

@thick_mike: That makes sense. I had already anticipated that grain direction might be a problem. Maybe I will get a rasp anyway. I lost some nice rasps (and other things) in one house move and often wish I still had them.

Flat soled spokeshaves are much easier to use than curved sole versions. Flat soled are good for all but the tightest concave curves. They would struggle on the bowl/handle transition on a large spoon, or the heel/neck transition on a guitar for instance, but would be fine for what you have described. In your situation, I would go for a flat soled spokeshave. Mine is a no name 90s shave and it is perfectly usable. I don’t think they are as temperamental as a plane.

 

[ED65]

Since you're in Finland and not in the UK where secondhand tools are abundant I think it's worth mentioning that you don't need a vintage Stanley or Record spokeshave to get an inexpensive one that'll do good work. A few of the modern spokeshaves made in China are decent enough and can be had for quite a bit less than a typical older 151 goes for in the UK.

I have a no-name Chinese shave that's like a mini 151 and while it's not perfect it's absolutely usable, and unless you have giant mitts it's not so small that it feels puny in the hands. I think they currently go for less than a fiver.

If you would prefer a full-size copy of the 151 those are around as well for reasonable money. Paul Sellers speaks highly of the Draper ones for example (!) saying on one page that he was impressed enough to order another half-dozen after trying one and in the accompanying photo they do all look equally good.

 

[Racers]

My favourite spokeshaves are Hock bladed low angle one I made, a Millars Falls Cigar shave and then Preston spokeshaves.

Stanley/Record ones work well if the bed is flattened and are razor sharp, otherwise they can chatter.

Here's a Millars Falls Cigar shave in action.

Millars Falls No1 cigar shave by Racers, on Flickr

Pete

 

[Eric The Viking]

I've got the Qiangsheng, Boggs-pattern spokeshave from Rutlands -- the cheaper steel-bodied version. But don't buy it from them as it's much cheaper elsewhere (e.g. on ebay the bronze-bodied one is 3/4 the Rutlands price for steel!), and anyway Rutlands are out of stock.

I only mention this as I find it really comfortable, far better than all-steel Stanley-pattern ones, and the blade takes a wicked edge, too.

PS: I've long wanted to try the Millers Falls ones - I believe everything Pete says about them, but they are hard to find here.

HTH, E

 

[Bm101]

As a beginner I can't even begin to give advice but I'm always surprised more woodworkers don't seem to use files. Perhaps it's my inexperience that makes me miss a trick? More than likely but I can't see what trick I'm missing if you know what I mean? With just a small selection of sharp files you can shape with ease and (relatively in my case at least ), precision. With a bigger selection things open out even more.There's no real worries as far as I can make out with tricky alternating grain pattern etc, you can clean up with a scraper, I just never see people recommend it and I can't work out why. I can see the advantages of an edged iron in a spokeshave say on a long curve, but I'm a bit of a loss as to why the vast majority of people never seem to use files at least in the comments I read on here and elsewhere.

For example. The following pics were on mahogany with a Japanese style lidle saw on the smaller cuts on the front knob and all the rest was shaped with files.

Just my amateurish efforts, I realise I have a huge amount to learn. The longer I do this in fact, the more I realise I have to learn.... :|
So. Genuine question. Why don't more people (seem to) use files for shaping wood?
Don't mean to derail the thread or take it off topic. But I thought it was pertinent enough to question those with with more experience and it's puzzled me for a while and I hope it's on topic enough that it won't move the thread away from the OPs question. Hopefully it might add to it and I will learn what I'm missing on this one..
Regards as always
Chris.

 

[custard]

Here's a Millars Falls Cigar shave in action.

I take my hat off to you, that's not an easy tool to master.

 

[El Barto]

As a beginner I can't even begin to give advice but I'm always surprised more woodworkers don't seem to use files. Perhaps it's my inexperience that makes me miss a trick? More than likely but I can't see what trick I'm missing if you know what I mean? With just a small selection of sharp files you can shape with ease and (relatively in my case at least ), precision. With a bigger selection things open out even more.There's no real worries as far as I can make out with tricky alternating grain pattern etc, you can clean up with a scraper, I just never see people recommend it and I can't work out why. I can see the advantages of an edged iron in a spokeshave say on a long curve, but I'm a bit of a loss as to why the vast majority of people never seem to use files at least in the comments I read on here and elsewhere.

For example. The following pics were on mahogany with a Japanese style lidle saw on the smaller cuts on the front knob and all the rest was shaped with files.

Just my amateurish efforts, I realise I have a huge amount to learn. The longer I do this in fact, the more I realise I have to learn.... :|
So. Genuine question. Why don't more people (seem to) use files for shaping wood?
Don't mean to derail the thread or take it off topic. But I thought it was pertinent enough to question those with with more experience and it's puzzled me for a while and I hope it's on topic enough that it won't move the thread away from the OPs question. Hopefully it might add to it and I will learn what I'm missing on this one..
Regards as always
Chris.

Bloody **** that looks nice. My question is what made you reach for a file rather than other tools in the first place? I don’t mean that in a negative way, just interested. It clearly works!

 

[Bm101]

lol! Probably my in:experience/eptitude/ability Bart. Vague memories of using rasps at school. Reading bits and pieces here and there and vague memories. Are you starting to see how shed life culminates around my gaff lol. This is why I have never made a spice rack and end up doing up mad Meddings pillar drill restorations for 3 months rather than woodwork. I am the living definition of 'TheRabbitHole'. I'm Custard's worst nightmare. Yarrrrrr. Beware All Ye Who Enter Here.

 

[profchris]

I've taken to rasps and files. I have a trio of Chinese rasps (probably £15 via AliExpress) which cut really fast, and then a half round engineer's file for final shaping.

I used to cut the heel shape on ukes and guitars with chisels, but never got such nice curves. A friend uses the mini Veritas spokeshave for this, and it does save the effort of sanding out file marks, but I should probably buy a fine cut half round tile to save myself from the worst of sanding.

Files are too slow for anything but the fine shaping, but a good rasp was a revelation.

 

[El Barto]

I've got the Qiangsheng, Boggs-pattern spokeshave from Rutlands -- the cheaper steel-bodied version. But don't buy it from them as it's much cheaper elsewhere (e.g. on ebay the bronze-bodied one is 3/4 the Rutlands price for steel!), and anyway Rutlands are out of stock.

I only mention this as I find it really comfortable, far better than all-steel Stanley-pattern ones, and the blade takes a wicked edge, too.

PS: I've long wanted to try the Millers Falls ones - I believe everything Pete says about them, but they are hard to find here.

HTH, E

Just looked up the Qiangsheng spokeshave after reading this, got one off eBay for £40. Looking forward to trying it out...