2 special spoke shaves I made.G.Wilson

[george wilson]

These 2 spoke shaves are something it would be possible to make for yourself. The one with the plane type blade is a Japanese type(unless I'm remembering wrong). It is made from Turkish boxwood. The blade is 01,and it has a thin wedge only about 1/4" thick at the thickest part. The escapement is the same as a wood plane,just smaller
It is about 9" long.

The 2nd. spoke shave is more specialized. It has double ended blades. With this shave,I am able to shave some off a piece of wood that is butted right up against another piece.

I think I invented this tool. Never saw one elsewhere. The blades are necessarily held in place with 2 screws each. It can be sharpened,but has never needed it,since it is seldom used,being a specialist application. The blades are 01. There is a little ivory shield with my brand which I made long ago in the mid 60's. The brand is cut on the end of a 3/8" brass rod,with a wooden handle to keep the heat away.

The body of this shave is Columbian boxwood,which is not a true boxwood,but still a nice,very hard wood. Not as hard as Turkish.

They are not great difficult work,but something you might want to make for your self. I was always making special little tools for this and that when I was in the Historic Area. A lot of them got left there,though.

[Jonathan McCullough]

That's a cool cigar/rabbet spokeshave. Looks like it would be really useful for the inside curves on things like saw handles too . . . More drill rod for the cutter?

[george wilson]

Just some 1/16" X 3/8" 01 flat stock. You could buy an assortment of annealed flat spring steel for some of these small cutters. I believe Brownell's Gunsmithing Supply used to sell a plastic tube of it. You can also buy cold drawn flat spring steel from Dixie Gun Works.It is not precision ground,and is cheaper.

The trouble with buying small sizes of precision ground 01 is,the smaller it gets,the more it costs.

[Nick Laeder]

George,

I have a blade from a Stanley 53 that met my concrete shop floor and didn't survive. I think I could make a shave similar to the top one in the first two pictures, but I'm a dummy and don't know anything yet.

What angle would you bed the blade at? Do you have pictures of the wedge?

I have a buttload of Macaraduba (Brazillian Redwood) decking that is drying in my shop now. I think I could use that, and it should be extremely long wearing.

[george wilson]

Just bed it at 45 º. I don't know that redwood,but it needs to be a true hardwood,a very hard hardwood,or it may split when you drive the wedge in. Inlet a brass wear plate in front of the blade on the sole,so that your shave doesn't wear out soon.