flat Kunz spokeshave

[Brian Knop]

Anyone have or ever used one of these spokeshave? If so, do you like them. I'm looking to buy a flat spokeshave.

Thanks Brian

[Bob Smalser]

The Kunz tools I've seen can be pretty rough and take some work. I think you'd be better off with an older Stanley 51 or 151 off of Ebay for similar money.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=7415&highlight=spoke+shave

[Pam Niedermayer]

A woodworker I respect, William Duffield on Woodcentral, says his experience is they can't even be fettled sufficiently to be of use.

Pam

[Mark Singer]

Veritas has a great one for around $50

[Brent Smith]

Is someone running a special on Kunz products? I've seen a few questions in different forums about their products over the last few days.
My opinion of Kunz is not very high.As Bob said they are not very well finished.The castings are rough and the blades are far from state of the art.My own experience with them is that no matter what you do,you end up with at best a second rate tool.
You'd be much better off going with Stanley,Record,LN or Veritas.
Brent

[Brian Knop]

Thanks for the information.

Brian

[Tony Zaffuto]

I recently purchase one of the small LN bronze spokeshaves, with the curved base. Cost was around $75.00 and the tool is a true gem! The mouth was very tight and the blade cut beautifully out of the box (although I did do some honing after my initial test drive).

A flat sole model is on my "to buy" list. I have several Stanley spokeshaves (151 and a curved sole model), however, the LN is just so much nicer to use.

[Gregory Benulis]

This mini spokeshave (http://www.woodjoytools.com/minishv.html) from Glen Livingston at Woodjoy tools is one of the nicest small shaves I have ever used. He's a great guy and makes fine tools.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Have any of you tried the Harris spokeshaves?

[Marc Hills]

Hi Brian:

I have the flat soled Kunz and it's OK, but it's one of those deals where I strongly suspect I could have done a whole lot better, starting with Bob's suggestion about snagging a vintage Stanley model.

You could do worse though. I had an urgent need a curved bottom model for a project and bought a Taiwanese copy of the Stanley from the old Woodworker's Warehouse. That is even worse than the Kunz.

You know what I think might be the best deal going for a new spokeshave? Lee Valley's wooden spokeshave kit. With not much more than a coping saw, a couple of chisels and some wood files/rasps, I bet you make a sweet tool, and have a lot of fun while doing it.

[Jerry Palmer]

I recently got the spokeshave kit from LV. It works well, though the low angle of the iron does require some getting used to as well as double checking the grain direction. I may get another kit as I like the adjusting mechanism and see if I can't rig it up to get a higher angle between the blade and workpiece.