Forming a leg with a spokeshave.

[paul cottingham]

If you were to buy a single spokeshave for shaping legs, and wanted it to be useful for other projects, what would you buy? I am currently considering a low angle spokeshave from LV or a regular flat bottom (or a round bottom) spokeshave. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Paul

[Jack Camillo]

if you were buying just one, a flat bottom (even low angle) would be more versatile, and works well for shaping legs imo

[Casey Gooding]

If you were to only have one and were going to use it for shaping. I would go with a low angle shave. The Lee Valley low angle spokeshave is really nice.

[John Keeton]

I agree with Casey. The LV is easy to adjust for various cuts, and works well on flat work, and within limits, it works as well as concave/convex work.
http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/sandingshaping/05p3201s1.jpg

[lowell holmes]

I have a LV low angle spoke shave and a LV flat bottom spoke shave. I seldom use the low angle shave. IMO, the standard shave is more versatle. I have other shaves as well. The LV flat bottom shave is my goto shave.

[Mike Henderson]

Shaves are like rabbets - they seem to multiply.

My favorite flat bottom shave is the LN Boggs but it does have limitations, mostly in that it's a finishing shave so you can't hog a lot of wood with it. I have others that I can hog a lot of wood.

Mike

[Brian Kent]

My most used spokeshaves are the pair of Contour Planes from Lee Valley:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=46321&cat=1,50230&ap=1

Pair of spokeshaves for $27.50

But if the price feels cheap to you I can recommend something more expensive.

[David Gendron]

I have the LV LA spokeshaves, and never realy liked it!?!? Maybe you will!?

[Michael Faurot]

If you insist on limiting yourself to just one, then get one that does double duty like a Stanley No. 60. It's very handy to be able to switch back and forth between the two blades, without having to stop and change tools. These and other similar types can be found on eBay for prices ranging between $15-$45. Just search for "double spoke shave".

[lowell holmes]

I have those also. I use the small one frequently.

[Robert Rozaieski]

I had the LV low angle shave and never really liked it. My most used is a wooden low angle shave that I made myself, but there are several good ones available retail as well.

Dave's Shaves (http://www.ncworkshops.com/)
Kansas City Windsor Toolworks (http://www.kcwtw.com/sshaves/spshvredir.html)
Woodjoy (http://www.woodjoytools.com/page1/page1.html)

The best thing about these types of shaves is that they can easily be set up to take a thick shaving on one side and a very fine shaving on the other side so you don't need two shaves or have to constantly readjust the depth of cut for a thicker or thinner shaving. Instead, you use the same shave and just shift it left or right to adjust shaving thickness. You can even change in the middle of a cut by simply shifting the shave over.

[paul cottingham]

If you insist on limiting yourself to just one, then get one that does double duty like a Stanley No. 60. It's very handy to be able to switch back and forth between the two blades, without having to stop and change tools. These and other similar types can be found on eBay for prices ranging between $15-$45. Just search for "double spoke shave".

I am starting with just one. The chances of it ending there are minuscule at best :-)

[David Keller NC]

If you were to buy a single spokeshave for shaping legs, and wanted it to be useful for other projects, what would you buy? I am currently considering a low angle spokeshave from LV or a regular flat bottom (or a round bottom) spokeshave. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Paul

Paul - I shape a lot of cabriole legs, both pad foot and ball & claw forms. If that's your intention, I will tell you that while a shave is a very useful (actually, necessary if you don't want to sand) tool, it is not the best way to actually shape a leg. The reason is that even with a very wide mouth, a spokeshave is not meant to hog off a lot of wood - it's a finishing tool.

The general order of business for a cabriole leg, or other curved shape, is sawing>rasping (start with coarse, end with fine)>shaves or sanding.

So if you've no tools to accomplish this at present, I'd consider buying the necessary bandsaw (or turning saw, if you want to do it completely by hand), a coarse rasp like the Nicholson #49, a finer rasp like the Aurious, The Best Things, Grammercy, etc..., and then a spokeshave.

In my opinion, Lie-Nielsen's bevel-down Boggs designs work better than the various bevel-up metal ones, and the wooden spokeshaves work better than the metal ones.

[David Gendron]

David, what about a draw knife? does any body use them to shape the leg at the rought stage? I use mine quite a bit, altough never made a cabriole leg, i find that the draw knife is faster than sawing to remove a lot of waste quikly!
Just a tought!

[David Keller NC]

Yes, no doubt about it that a draw knife or other carving tool is considerably quicker than either a rasp or a spokeshave, though there is an expertise element to using one. Namely, one needs to be able to read the grain and avoid working against it, otherwise the wood will have a tendency to split.

So I don't recommend the process of sawing>drawknife>rasp/spokeshave to beginners, nor advocate using carving tools or a drawknife if the wood is figured. But there's no doubt that a drawknife and/or carving tool is far quicker if the grain is well-behaved.

[Dave Anderson NH]

David and David,

As a point of reference, I have watched Mack Headley do a cabriole leg using only a handsaw (filed rip), a drawknife, spokeshave, chisel, and rasp. In his skilled hands it was amazing to see the speed with which he produced the legs. Part of the speed was due to the stop cuts made above the food with the saw and the huge amounts he was able to hof off with the drawknife.