Spokeshave finished

[Jeff Wittrock]

I have always loved to use spokeshaves, so I thought I would try my hand at making one.

I don't have a curved bottom spokeshave, so I decided that's what I would make. I wanted something with a reasonably small radius to use on the faired joints between chair seats and legs. I wanted something that would work in a tight radius like a Miller Falls #1. In fact, I first thought about making a tube like body as on a #1, but didn't think I would ever be able to reproduce the cutter. I also wanted something that would be easier to sharpen.

I love the looks of the Brian Boggs spokeshave (but have never tried one), so you can see some resemblance. The cap iron works as on a Boggs spokeshave. I wasn't sure how well this would secure the iron as it doesn't have the leverage of other cap irons, but seems to hold the blade very well as long as it isn't contaminated with too much oil.

I don't have a mill, so made the body by laminating together layers of 1/4" mild steel. This allowed me to make the parts using nothing by hacksaw, files, drill press, grinder, etc. The parts were then riveted together using 1/8" mild steel pins that were peened and ground flush.

Instead of threading into the ends of the body to attach the handles, I decided to extend to body into tangs that would have scales attached to form the handles. I was originally planning on using some Honduran Rosewood I had on hand, but when I cut the scales, I was disappointed in the figure and color, so used some bloodwood I had on hand instead.

How does it work? O.K. I guess. This is the first round bottom shave I have used. I find I have trouble getting a good feel for where the iron meets the wood and end up hunting around a bit by rocking the round bottom of the sole on the wood surface. It may just take some getting used to.

I took quite a few photos during the build. If there is interest in seeing these I can add them to the thread. I just have to sort them first as they are in a big jumble (the camera I'm using kept loosing its date, so the pictures aren't in any kind of chronological order).

Thanks,
Jeff

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[Chris Griggs]

It looks fantastic! I like how the handles are done like the handles of a knife. I hope you get it performing to a level that you pleased with. Really really cool! Thanks for sharing.

[Bill Houghton]

My goodness, that's lovely. A perfect handle spokeshave! (http://ilikerust.com/perfect-handle-screwdrivers.shtml, if you find that reference confusing)

One of the things I've learned about round-bottom spokeshaves from so-far-limited use is that they work better when you pull them, because your wrists are designed to rotate in more than out. That is, as you go around the curve, your wrists should rotate down (if you hold your hands so the palms face down) rather than up; this generally means standing in front of rather than behind the curve and pulling rather than pushing. You may already know this, in which case I apologize for stating the obvious; but it's not always easy to know, in the interweb, what people already know.

[David Weaver]

It looks very nice, I like it!

The feel should come pretty quickly if it's like any of the other commercial tight radius shaves.

[george wilson]

It definitely looks BETTER than the Boggs. I've never been crazy about the handles on the Boggs. Your method of attaching them is a lot more artistic. Send it to me so I can stamp my name on it and return it!!:):):)

[James Taglienti]

Very classy

[Michael Peet]

Very nice work, Jeff. It looks solid.

I for one would like to see the build pics. Who doesn't like build pics!?

Mike

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Ooh! I think that looks great. Prettiest shave I've seen a long time. I agree with others comments about the handles - I think the scales type construction is just gorgeous. Of course, I kind of like threaded handles, just because I tend to end up using my spokeshaves with at least one handle removed at least half the time. This is mostly poor planning on my part when working on guitars, or waiting to chamfer something until after it's put together. (Tom Fidgen turned me on to a trick I haven't tried yet - the handles from the LV router plane fit onto their spoke shaves . . .. )



Every round bottom shave I've used takes a little getting used to, they all feel a little different. The first time I pick up a new one, or if it's been a while since I've used one, I have to kind of force myself to remember to let the shave "ride" on the bed in front of the iron, not the back. . . it's not that I don't *know* this, it's just sometimes I have to make myself think a little more consciously about it, whereas with a flat shave or a plane or something, I don't really think, just do.

I second the motion for progress pictures.

[Mark Wyatt]

That looks exceptional. I'd like to have a look at the build.

[Jim Ritter]

I use spoke shaves often and that one is beautiful. I would love to see the build photos also. Thanks for sharing. Jim

[Brent VanFossen]

Very, very nice. Nice lines. The handles look comfortable. And, yes, I'd like more photos.

[Archie England]

Yep! Rather amazing work. Well done!!!

[Matthew Dunne]

VERY cool. I too would love to see the build pics.

[Matthew N. Masail]

NICEE! I think tools like this have a value far more than anything you can buy. I'd also love to see the build progress.

[Rick Lapp]

Exquisite! Rick

[Jeff Wittrock]

My goodness, that's lovely. A perfect handle spokeshave! (http://ilikerust.com/perfect-handle-screwdrivers.shtml, if you find that reference confusing)

One of the things I've learned about round-bottom spokeshaves from so-far-limited use is that they work better when you pull them, because your wrists are designed to rotate in more than out. That is, as you go around the curve, your wrists should rotate down (if you hold your hands so the palms face down) rather than up; this generally means standing in front of rather than behind the curve and pulling rather than pushing. You may already know this, in which case I apologize for stating the obvious; but it's not always easy to know, in the interweb, what people already know.

Thanks Bill, and I think you are spot on about pulling instead of pushing. Even in the last day of playing around with the thing, it is starting to work better (or I should say I am starting to work better).

[Jeff Wittrock]

It definitely looks BETTER than the Boggs. I've never been crazy about the handles on the Boggs. Your method of attaching them is a lot more artistic. Send it to me so I can stamp my name on it and return it!!:):):)

Thanks George. Be careful what you offer even with emoticons. The thing might just show up on your doorstep with return post :).

[Jeff Wittrock]

I'll start attaching some of the build pictures. Sorry for the poor photo quality. I can't blame the camera... just the guy behind the lens.

I started out with a wooden model. Try as I might, I just can't get a good idea of what I want by drawing sketches, especially anything with curvy surfaces. The model let me see how the 1/4" steel pieces would stack up, and how the thing might feel in my hands.

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[Jeff Wittrock]

The piece of hot rolled mild steel I used was particularly crudy and pitted. I started out by draw filing the surface to save on my sanding belts. Draw filing mild steel like this gives you an idea of just how "gummy" it can be. I used plenty of chalk to try and keep my file from plugging up to badly. Even so, every now and then I would get a nice chunk of steel in the file that would put a nice long gouge in the surface of the steel.
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Next, I used my model to trace out a rough outline, and just started hacking away.... After rough cutting the body with a hacksaw, I brought it down to shape with a bench grinder and files.
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I think there is a real advantage in having a model even if it is crude. It gave me something I could always quickly compare against.

[Jeff Wittrock]

I started the toe by rough cutting a length of 1/4" steel, and drilling the holes that will form the inside radius of what will eventually hold the lever cap.
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Then roughed out the waste with some chain drilling and comb cuttting.
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The area that would eventually form the throat was then cut with a file.
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[Jim Koepke]

Jeff,

I am a Johnny come lately to this thread, but that is a fantastic spokeshave you have made.

It is an inspiration for those of us who want to make our own tools.

jtk

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Man, that is good!!! You did a teriffic job on this little gem. I like the organic shape you created in an excellent way. Be proud on the tool!

Klaus

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

That is really, really cool. An exceptional job.

[george wilson]

I thought you must have a milling machine!! When I was a young fanatic,I removed cubic inches with a SMOOTH 8" mill file. The only one I had. Not anymore!!

Jeff,you really don't want my name on something you put a LOT of effort into. That was meant as a compliment to your work,as you know.

[Jeff Wittrock]

So here are the pieces. The rectangular part at the top will serve as the bolster for the back side scales. The ends of the toe server the same purpose on the front. It isn't obvious from the photo, but the ends of the toe and the back bolster are angled at about 10 degrees. This "undercut" will serve to help held the narrow end of the scales. This can be seen in later photos.
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Next, I needed to drill the holes for riveting the parts together. I have a hell of a time trying to ever get holes to line up if I drill them separately. The answer... drill them all at the same time with no precise measurements needed.
Here I have temporarily mounted the parts together with super glue. As cheesy as this may sound, I am amazed at just how well it held the parts together.
With the parts temporarily glued together I drilled 1/8" holes through all three parts at once.
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Once I had the rivet holes drilled, I knocked the three pieces apart and cleaned up the mating surfaces on a granite tile with 100 grit paper.
I also located the holes for the lever cap attachment, and drilled and tapped these for 1/4-28 in the main body. One advantage of having the rear bolster as a separate piece is that these tapped holes could be drilled and tapped as through holes which are later covered.

At this point I also used a tapered reamer to tapper the holes in the toe piece and rear bolster. This will give the rivets a place to expand when they are peened and hold the parts together even after I grind the surfaces down to final shape. The holes through the body itself were left as is.

You can also see the 1/8" mild steel pins have been cut about 3/8" longer than the thickness of the three parts combined. This gives about 3/16" per side and allows enough material to fill the tappered holes when the pins are peened.
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Next I reassembled the parts, riveted them together. In the second photo you can really see how the holes have been tappered. They are a snug fit in the body and have around 1/64" clearance at the top before peening.
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[Jeff Wittrock]

This is probably one of my favorite parts. I just started free hand shaping the metal with whatever I have on hand that fits the shape I am trying to make. I started out doing some of the rough shaping with a bench grinder. Once the majority of material was removed where I KNEW I wanted it removed I started using files. The grinder is a great time saver, but isn't nearly so fun as just filing things to shape.

I also used a belt sander to do some shaping, especially faired curves like those where the handles meet the toe area. I don't have a stationary belt sander, so just strapped a portable belt sander upside down on my bench.

Of all the things that can really ruin the work that has been done up to this point, shaping with the sander is probably the most dangerous. It is very easy to get carried away and run a curve farther than you would like or round over an edge you didn't really want to round over. This is where I found the wooden model very helpful. Even though it wasn't a very accurate model, it still gave me a fairly safe idea of where I wanted things sharp, and where I wanted them rounded.

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[Jeff Wittrock]

Not sure if calling this part a "Lever cap" is accurate since there is no pivot pin, but I'll call it that anyhow.

I started out by cutting a piece of 1/4" steel slightly to a size slightly over the inside diameter of the semi-circular recess where the lever cap will reside. I then filed the width down to the point where I could just begin to slip the piece into the semi-circular recess.

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Next I located the holes that line up with the threaded holes in the main body and drilled for 1/4" clearance fit. In hind site, I should have transferred the location of the tapped holes in the body to the lever cap before the parts were assembled. I forgot to do so, so had to do my best to get the hole locations right after the fact. Strange things do happen, and I got it right.

Once the clearance holes were drilled, I rounded the ends of the lever cap to match up with the semi-circular recesses in the body. These were just shaped with a grinder, and sander.
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Next, I cut the clearance for the shavings using a file. I had a hard time holding the part, so clamped a couple of 1/4" bolts in my vice to hold the part high enough to get to with a file.
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I did final fitting of the part with sandpaper on a granite tile.
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[Jeff Wittrock]

I don't have a lathe to make screws, so made due with what I could easily make.

I started to tapping two holes (I'm making two screws) for 1/4-28 in a piece of 1/4" mild steel. I used a tapered reamer to slightly remove the threads on one side, but kept the final diameter just below 1/4". I then threaded 1/4-28 stainless steel hex head bolts into these holes and tightened enough to draw the shank of the bolts down into the tapered hole. These get jammed in tight enough that I have little fear of them ever coming loose.
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Next I cut the bolt shanks off, and filed flush.
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I then cut the individual screws away from the bar stock, and filed and ground the square heads to round. Then I chucked the screws in my drill press and rounded the front face and polished with sandpaper.
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I've always had a hard time holding the screw while I am trying to cut the knurling, so came up with this simple jig. Its just a 1/4-28 hole tapped close to the edge of a mild steel bar. I then cut a slot from the top edge down to the hole. By clamping down from the sides, I can keep the screw from rotating, but can quickly release the vice grip to turn the screw head while I am cutting the knurls.

The knurls themselves are cut using a triangle file.
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[Zach England]

Beautiful.

[Jeff Wittrock]

I cut the scales from bloodwood. I originally intended to use rosewood, but when I cut into a block that I had on hand, it was a very light almost blond color inside that I didn't think much of. The bloodwood isn't so bad looking after all.

I decided to use two size pins to help hold the scales in place (1/8" and 1/4") and located and drilled the holes for these.
I numbered the scales and tangs then fitted the shoulder of each scale to the angled surface of the bolsters.

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I first epoxied the back scales in place and allowed to cure. I then drilled the holes in the back scales using the tang holes as a guide. I then epoxied the front scales in place and allowed to cure. I then used the rear holes as guides to drill through the front scales. Finally, I epoxied the pins in place.
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I removed the majority of waste using a turning saw, then a rasp.
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Final shaping of the handles was done using a belt sander and files.

[Jeff Wittrock]

Final finishing of handles is pretty easily accomplished with sandpaper wrapped on various hard (wood) or semi-rigid(rubber) forms.

Final finishing of the metal is, to me, one of the more tedious tasks. With flat surfaces it is easy enough to go through various grits of paper from 100 down to 500 using a rigid backer and end up with a nice flat surface with crisp edges. With curved surfaces it is a bit tougher but still not so bad. To me, the hard part is where a sharp defined edge needs to be transitioned into a rounded surface. An area like this exists where the sharp edges on the outside edges of toe transition to the rounded handles. I fretted quite a bit over these. I think what I ended up with was O.K., but probably took a disproportionately large amount of time.

I didn't take any pictures of making the iron. Some time ago, I bought a bunch of 1/16" thick irons from Home Depot (Buck Brothers). As strange as it may sound I have found these irons (as have others on this forum) to be pretty decent and have made a couple of wooden planes using them. For this spokeshave, all I needed to do was cut the iron to the short length I am using, grind the curve on the top, and flatten the back.

And that's it!
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It may sound like a lot of work, but each task on its own is pretty easy. It was one of those projects that I could just pick up and work on whenever I happened to have some free time.

I hope some will find the pictures and description of use. I know that I love reading build threads and hope I can put something up here that will be useful to others.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Greg Wease]

Thanks so much for the clear and thorough explanation. Awesome result!

[Michael Peet]

Jeff, thanks for posting the build process. It's remarkable what can be done without a machine shop. Excellent work -

Mike

[Kees Heiden]

I am flabbergasted! Wonderfull job. The result is outstanding. I hope it works well for you.

[Matthew N. Masail]

with this mild steel technique you have going on you can make a many beautifully unique tools....

[Brent VanFossen]

Thank you very much. I'll keep a copy of this for reference. Beautiful.

[Jeff Wittrock]

Well, I think I am finally starting to get the hang of using this thing. Making the spokeshave was enjoyable in and of itself, but I was afraid I had made a tool that just wouldn't perform very well. Luckily, I think most of problem was with the driver. I have to say I am now finding it very useful and fun to use.

Here is the chair I have been playing around with on and off for several months. The spokeshave still doesn't have a tight enough radius to handle all the curves. I am thinking of trying to make a very small one to work some of the inside curves. I could just use rasp, file, etc. to get into these, but using a spokeshave just sounds like it would be more fun and I like the surface they can leave.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thats a really cool chair. nice workshop space also.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Well, I think I am finally starting to get the hang of using this thing. Making the spokeshave was enjoyable in and of itself, but I was afraid I had made a tool that just wouldn't perform very well. Luckily, I think most of problem was with the driver. I have to say I am now finding it very useful and fun to use.

Here is the chair I have been playing around with on and off for several months. The spokeshave still doesn't have a tight enough radius to handle all the curves. I am thinking of trying to make a very small one to work some of the inside curves. I could just use rasp, file, etc. to get into these, but using a spokeshave just sounds like it would be more fun and I like the surface they can leave.

Hey Jeff, it's always a joy to see that a shop made tool works well. The more if is that beautiful as your spokeshave is. Enjoy it!

The chair is an eye catcher. I'd truly like to see some more pics of it. It certainly would be worth to be shown in an own thread maybe with some making of pics. I really like that organic shape this piece has.

Cheers
Klaus

[Chris Vandiver]

Really excellent! Thank you.

[Jeff Wittrock]

Thanks all for the kind comments.


...
The chair is an eye catcher. I'd truly like to see some more pics of it. It certainly would be worth to be shown in an own thread maybe with some making of pics. I really like that organic shape this piece has.

Cheers
Klaus
Thanks Klaus. I have always liked ladder back chairs, but also love faired joints. This chair was something of an experiment to mix the two which ended up with mixed success. It is one of those projects that just hangs around my garage and every now and then I like to "whittle" on it a bit more. I hope, someday, to make a similar one and integrate some of the things I learned and avoid some of the mistakes.

[Dustin Keys]

I'm really glad you posted the update on using the shave, because somehow I missed this thread! The whole thing was an inspiring read. Your infill plane build thread blew my mind, and this one did too. I've actually gone back to re-read your infill thread a few times now. I also have a limited shop setup. Seeing what you could accomplish with such basic tools opened my eyes to lots of new possibilities. There were lots of things I wanted to try that I just assumed weren't going to be an option for years to come because I didn't have lots of tools to work with. Your infill thread changed all that. I've since begun tackling several projects that I never thought I could with the tools at my disposal. Thanks for posting!

This spokeshave is really gorgeous. I love the design and it looks like it does the job well. I picked up a few of those Buck Brothers irons and may go back to get a few more. I got them for practice, but I now think I want to build a plane or two around them as well.

D

[Jeff Wittrock]

Thanks Dustin,

Good to hear the threads were of use to you.

One thing I really enjoy about making tools is that I don't have to justify the time I spend making them. I can spend time making them just for the fun of making them. I have found that I can often substitute Time for X where X is money, tools, equipment, and sometimes even skill :). Not always, but much of the time. Archimedes said something about moving the world with a lever, but given enough time he could probably have moved the world without one. There are some tools that are indispensable, but luckily these are few and within the budgets of most.

I'd love to see some of the things you have made.

-Jeff

[rick carpenter]

Very nice work, Jeff. It looks solid.

I for one would like to see the build pics. Who doesn't like build pics!?

Mike

Probably that little girl in the Jimmy Fallon commercials!

[Michael Ray Smith]

It definitely looks BETTER than the Boggs. I've never been crazy about the handles on the Boggs. Your method of attaching them is a lot more artistic. Send it to me so I can stamp my name on it and return it!!:):):)

Wow. Coming from George, that's high praise indeed. Savor it!!