Michael Ray Smith
01-08-2014, 12:27 AM
My go-to spokeshaves are a couple of Stanley No. 67 Universals and a Millers Falls No.1. (Although the claim-to-fame of the No. 67 is that the sole can be switched from flat to convex, I find it's a bit of a pain to switch, so I keep one with a flat sole and one with a convex.) The Stanley No. 67 was made from the 1890's until 1941, and the MF No. 1 was made from the 1880's until (as far as I can tell) Millers Falls was bought out in 1931. As far as I know, there was only one semi-significant design change on each of them, and it was the same change. On the earlier models of each one, both handles were attached with right-hand screw threads, which let one handle work loose as it was used. Eventually both companies switched the left handle to left-hand threads. I don't know when those changes were made. In fact, I don't even know which company implemented that little trick first. Does anyone else know?