Veritas Spokeshave Kit Questions

[Chris Griggs]

I'm ashamed to admit it, but one tool I have none of at this point is a spokeshave and sometime a I could really use one. I've been enjoying building tools lately so I'm thinking I might try making my own shaves. Funny, just the other day I was giving Mike Holbrook grief for continuing to buy tool kits when he has multiple tools he's already working on. And here I am, having bought two saw kits that haven't even arrived yet and already thinking of building more tools...it's a disease (so yes Mike H, before I catch some well deserved hell from you let me say I realize being hypocritical here:D)

Anyway, wondering who has made these things (http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=49710&cat=1,50230&ap=1). If you have made them what was your experience with the building process and also with their use?

Also, to what extent does the type of wood matter? What did/would you use or recommend? Any reason I couldn't use standard North American domestics (walnut, maple, birch)? Since there is a brass sole I don't imagine the wear resistance of the wood has to be anything out of the ordinary?

Finally, the directions really only show how to make a flat bottom shaves out of these. Would it be possible to make a convex sole from these kits and if so, what would need to be done? Would you just use a thicker blank and inlay the blade a little deeper so that you have enough wood to round over the sole?

If I made these my thinking is that I would like to make both a flat and bottom and round bottom shave. Then again, I may just buy a couple of these. (http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=49142&cat=1,50230&ap=1)

Thanks!

[Jim Koepke]

If I made these my thinking is that I would like to make both a flat and bottom and round bottom shave.

The problem may be that the back of the blade on this type of spokeshave is part of the sole.

That would limit the control over how much bite the blade can achieve on the inside of a curve.

jtk

[Tony Shea]

As Jim pointed out, this is the why the low angle round bottom shave is typically never done or seen. I suppose you could try to hone a slight round in the blade but you do not have much metal thickness to work this out. And also it is hardened A2 steel so creating this curve is a bit of a task. The shorter (from front to back) the sole is the more accute you can create your curves while still keeping the spokeshave bottome flat. I would def scratch the idea of making a round bottom low angle spoke shave.

[Chris Griggs]

As Jim pointed out, this is the why the low angle round bottom shave is typically never done or seen. I suppose you could try to hone a slight round in the blade but you do not have much metal thickness to work this out. And also it is hardened A2 steel so creating this curve is a bit of a task. The shorter (from front to back) the sole is the more accute you can create your curves while still keeping the spokeshave bottome flat. I would def scratch the idea of making a round bottom low angle spoke shave.

What you guys say makes total senese, but can't the Woodjoy and Veritas Low Angle shaves be used for inside curves, by flipping the toe around or something? I was thinking something similar could work with these (not changable toe but just rounding over the front to create the same effect). Perhaps the soles of those ones are short enough that they get away with just having curvature at the very toe of the sole and not have the flat part interfere with the inside curve. Honestly, I don't totally see how the WJ and LV LA shaves do work on inside curves with just a curved toe - for the reason you guys just said, it seems like they shouldn't. What am I missing here????

[Jason Coen]

Fun project that yields a handy tool. I used a scrap piece of QS yellowheart that I had sitting around.

Fitting the brass to the sole so it gives a clean mouth was the most challenging aspect of the build. Not a difficult build at all.

[Brian Kent]

I made one from Padouk. It went smoothly and works well, but the extremely inexpensive "contour planes" work better:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=46321&cat=1,50230&ap=1

[Chris Griggs]

Okay I just looked back at the Woodjoy "master" shave, and it does have a a blade that is radiased at the back edge which is why it can be used on inside curves. However, just found this by ALF (http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/spokeshavekit06.html) which was interesting - she actually made a rounded wear plate out of a piece of bone.

Anyway, I probably won't bother trying to make a round bottom one. However, based on what Jason and Brian say, I'm thinking still thinking a small flat one could still be a fun little tool build that would leave me with a nice lightweght LA shave. Brian, thats cool that the contour planes work so well, thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for the advice folks.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Doesn't the low angle aluminum LV spokeshave get around the curved issue both by having the switchable toe piece, and having the blade set with a slight relief angle, so the shave only really rides on the front of the sole, not the back of the blade? Seems like a good idea in general, it would allow you to steer the shave out of a cut if it started digging in.

[Steve Friedman]

. . . but the extremely inexpensive "contour planes" work better:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=46321&cat=1,50230&ap=1
I agree. Best $29.50 I ever spent.

Steve

[Ryan Baker]

I've made a few. The ones on the left are bubinga. The ones on the right are bolivian rosewood. The one in the back actually does have a rounded nose. As you mentioned, this isn't really a round bottom shave because of the flat blade. But rounding the nose does work a bit on gentle curves. I really just tried that one to play around with it. The kits are pretty easy to build. You need to be very accurate getting the holes in the right place or the adjustment will not work smoothly. I did change a few dimensions from the instructions. There was something about chip clearance around the throat, but I don't remember now exactly what it was. They work OK after you do a bit of tweaking to get everything right.

223067

[Chris Griggs]

Nice work on those Ryan. Thanks for sharing the pic and your experience with rounding the front.

[Jason Coen]

And of the two sizes that Lee Valley offers, I much prefer the smaller one.

[Dave Anderson NH]

The kits are great but the single big caveat applies to the making of any tool either from scratch or from a kit. The quality of the result depends on how carefully you work. I have made shaves from the Lee Valley kits and taught a class on making them from the kits. Everyone seemed quite pleased with the results, myself included. As for choosing a wood, from the standpoint of wear it does not matter. The main wear point on a shave is the sole and the brass insert handily solves that problem. I have used Cocobola and Black Walnut with equally good results though obviously the Coco is harder to work with.