Steve Voigt
08-03-2014, 5:03 PM
I am gearing up to do a lot of spokeshave work and decided to try modifying my plain old 151. It turned out so well that I thought I'd write up a brief description. I can't be the only person who's done this, but I haven't found any descriptions online.
I got the idea from an article by Brian Boggs in FWW. I can't for the life of me find that article now, but it described making a new improved lever cap out of brass. I didn't have any brass handy, so I decided to just modify the stock lever cap. The basic idea is to make the lever cap work like a chipbreaker on a double-iron plane.
On the stock lever cap, you can't get the lever cap closer than about 1/8" to the edge of the blade. So, the first thing I needed to do was to deepen the "wings" on the sides. I started by filing them, but after 30 seconds I realized that hacksawing would be quicker. Here's a progress pic with one side finished and the other half-done:
294120
After sawing roughly to shape, I finished up with the file.
Next, I needed to lengthen slot (at the top). For this, I used a "rod saw", a carbide rod that you can attach to a 10" hacksaw frame. I got mine at home depot a few months ago,and paid about $4. I did a butt-ugly job, but it was sufficient:
294121
The leading edge of the lever cap was not remotely flat or straight, so I filed it, then I went to the grinder and put a bevel on the edge. I'd guess it's around 50°, but I didn't measure. The stock bevel is almost 90°, which is too steep, and also makes it hard to see how much space is between the end of the blade and the lever cap. Anyway, here's the bevel (cleaned up on some 100 grit paper after the grinder):
294122
Last, I flattened the back. Fortunately, it's a bit concave, so it cleaned up in seconds at the edge, which is all that matters:
294124
And that's all there is to it. The whole process took less than an hour. I should clean up the back and the bevel on a finer stone, but I was anxious to try it out. Getting the edge of the lever cap super close (as in 10 thou or less) to the cutting edge is finicky, and takes some practice. But the initial results were pretty impressive. I was pulling wide shavings on white oak with no tearout, and I was able to reverse direction with no discernible change in surface quality.
If other people have already done this, I'd be interested in hearing how it went for you.
- Steve
I got the idea from an article by Brian Boggs in FWW. I can't for the life of me find that article now, but it described making a new improved lever cap out of brass. I didn't have any brass handy, so I decided to just modify the stock lever cap. The basic idea is to make the lever cap work like a chipbreaker on a double-iron plane.
On the stock lever cap, you can't get the lever cap closer than about 1/8" to the edge of the blade. So, the first thing I needed to do was to deepen the "wings" on the sides. I started by filing them, but after 30 seconds I realized that hacksawing would be quicker. Here's a progress pic with one side finished and the other half-done:
294120
After sawing roughly to shape, I finished up with the file.
Next, I needed to lengthen slot (at the top). For this, I used a "rod saw", a carbide rod that you can attach to a 10" hacksaw frame. I got mine at home depot a few months ago,and paid about $4. I did a butt-ugly job, but it was sufficient:
294121
The leading edge of the lever cap was not remotely flat or straight, so I filed it, then I went to the grinder and put a bevel on the edge. I'd guess it's around 50°, but I didn't measure. The stock bevel is almost 90°, which is too steep, and also makes it hard to see how much space is between the end of the blade and the lever cap. Anyway, here's the bevel (cleaned up on some 100 grit paper after the grinder):
294122
Last, I flattened the back. Fortunately, it's a bit concave, so it cleaned up in seconds at the edge, which is all that matters:
294124
And that's all there is to it. The whole process took less than an hour. I should clean up the back and the bevel on a finer stone, but I was anxious to try it out. Getting the edge of the lever cap super close (as in 10 thou or less) to the cutting edge is finicky, and takes some practice. But the initial results were pretty impressive. I was pulling wide shavings on white oak with no tearout, and I was able to reverse direction with no discernible change in surface quality.
If other people have already done this, I'd be interested in hearing how it went for you.
- Steve