Low angle spokeshave.

[paul cottingham]

So I'm looking to buy a low angle shave. I am considering the Lee Valley low angle, a Dave's shave or a woodjoytools. Anyone have any opinions on these tools? When I do a search, I get a great deal of people with both opinions, and strongly held, to boot. I only want to do this once, so opinions would be appreciated.
thanks!

[Paul Sidener]

Dave's Shaves uses a blade from Hock Tools. Why not buy the kit from Hock? It's less money, and you make the handle to fit your hands. You also get the satisfaction of making your own tool. Just a thought. I have used the ones from Veritas and Dave's Shaves, they are both good tools. I think I prefer the feel of the wooden handles my self. Either will serve you well.

[Jim Matthews]

Woodjoy is from my neck of the woods.
Their products are stable, and beautifully made and worth every penny.
If you prefer wooden body to castings, they're worthy of consideration.

Their version of the Stanley #85 is a joy to use.

My low Stanley low angle spokeshaves were reconditioned by them,
with their current production blades.

I intend to be interred with them, for my journey to the hereafter...

http://www.woodjoytools.com/spokeshaves

[paul cottingham]

Hock intrigues me. Never even occurred to me.
Anyone use one? Opinions?

[lowell holmes]

I have the Woodjoy 2" shave. It is outstanding.

My favorite shave is the LV standard flat shave. The new LV SS reproduction shave is becoming my most used shave.

You will not go wrong with any of them.

[Darren Brewster]

I have been living with the Veritas Low Angle shave for a while now, and it is my only shave so I use it for everything. I think it is good, not great. Even after roughing up the blade, I still find that it doesn't grip as tightly as I would like, and the reversable toe to go from flat to round bottom is a pain in the butt to use because of the time it takes to convert it. On the plus side, it is very comfortable (something I wasn't expecting from aluminum), and the price is very reasonable.

[Mike Holbrook]

I have the large & small Lie-Nielsen/Boggs spokeshaves, a few auction house classics, WoodJoy's #85, Master, 2" flat & 2" compass. The 2" compass shave is my current favorite, at least until I get the Big 4" and 1" compass shaves I am ordering. Nothing touches the WoodJoy shaves for feel, blade quality or ease & precision tuning.

Glenn's A2 blades that he makes and treats himself are outstanding. They are expertly hollow ground, which makes them easy to sharpen. They are also very hard and hold an edge much better than anything else I have tried.

The countered screw adjustment system is the most accurate system available. Glenn's adjustment system is also the most compact and least likely to get in the way.

Glenn offers a spokeshave kit too. Glenn's kit has a better blade, better adjustment hardware...and the kit is a much better price too. One can buy one of Glenn's excellent 2" shaves for just a few more dollars than the price of the Hock kit.

[Bill Houghton]

I have the aluminum-bodied LV shave, and it's one of the only two LV tools I have that I'm not impressed with. The blade is clamped in place by a specialized machine screw on each end, and I've knocked it right out of the body by catching it wrong on a piece of stock.

[Bill Moser]

Dave's flatsole is pretty darned awesome -- I was just using it the other day on the handle of a mallet I was making.

[glenn bradley]

The LV LA shave is a light tool for lighter work IMHO. This is how I generally use a shave so I have been very happy with it. If I were doing cabriole legs all day I would want something heavier. For long sweeps on aprons and stretchers, it is my go-to tool.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Opinions will vary due to personal preferences, but right now any of your proposed choices will work well. While high angle shaves may be problematic depending on the manufacturer (Kunz comes to mind) there is no one who in my opinion makes a bad low angle shave.

Making a shave is an option and allows you to get exactly the shape and style of body that fits your hand and looks good to you, the most important person to please. I've made about a dozen over the years and taught a couple of classes on how to do it and it is a lot of fun.

[Mike Holbrook]

I agree with Dave that just about any of the low angle shaves are good.

I just think that Glenn's adjustment system on the Woodjoy shaves is a sizable advantage in adjusting a specific shave to do a specific job. I am a fan of my wood planes and the tap tap method of adjusting them. I still want a smooth plane that is super tuned and tunable for final work, not a tap tap plane. I have both a wood and metal smooth plane with side screws that help adjust those blades precisely. I notice that many old Stanley plane irons show dents in their tops. I believe this is from users tapping them to make minor adjustments. I am sure many here are horrified at that thought and have far superior methods for adjusting Stanley plane blades. Still it is the fine adjustments on tools doing fine work that is often the issue for people. The point being, Glenn's shaves with the opposing adjustment screws offer a very precise method of adjustment that although it certainly is not the only way is very hard to beat for accuracy and ease of use, especially for a new user.

[paul cottingham]

Further to this, have any of you good folks made a spokesahve out of oak? Or is it too stringy for lack of a better term? How about walnut? Or poplar?
thanks again.

[Mike Holbrook]

I am in the process of converting the handles on a WoodJoy 2" compass shave to handles more like those commonly found on a Travisher. Spokeshave handles are usually parallel to the surface they work. Travisher handles curve up so they are out of the way when working the concave & convex areas in Windsor Chair seats. I believe My WoodJoy shave's body is maple, but I am thinking about using some cherry a friend gave me for the new handles. I have some oak too but I think softer wood might make better/easier to make handles. Walnut is often used for curved Travisher handles, probably because it is easier to work into more complex shapes.

Many spokeshaves & travishers use harder wood or brass where the tools contact the work and softer wood for the handles & body.

[paul cottingham]

I found a piece of maple that I think will do nicely. My next question is to whether or not you need to use the brass wear plate that LV supplies. What is the benefit of this plate over, say, no plate at all, or one made from a harder wood, like cocobolo? Not having to fit the metal plate would make fabrication much, much, easier. And if it means the mouth will wear out in say 20 years, then need a plate of wood or metal fitted in it, so be it.
thoughts?

[Kevin Harris]

I have the woodjoy which is good and also a couple of the LV LA shaves that I built from their kits. They are all very good for end grain shaping, but I prefer the metal 45° LV spokeshaves for shaping long grain.

[Dave Anderson NH]

To brass or not to brass... that is the question. The answer is a definite "it depends". Unbrassed works well for harder woods like ebony, boxwood, and some others but eventually you will wear away part of the sole and widen the mouth. I have a couple of low angle shaves like that which I built. At the point the wear becomes too prominent and cut into the ware (sorry, I couldn't resist) you can retrofit either a brass plate or do it the way I favor which is to epoxy in a piece of end grain lignum vitae. I have also made Lee Valley Veritas kits out of both walnut and Cocobolo. Since both are brassed wear is not an issue. The choice has to be dependent on the type of wood you use for the body. Anything softer than hard maple needs some form of wear resistant surface at the throat be it brass, Lignum Vitae, or bone (the current replacement for ivory).

[george wilson]

Ivory is not such a good material for resisting wear in a spokeshave. I have a spokeshave I made from boxwood,with an ivory wear plate. It got pretty worn after a while. The boxwood got worn too,as the ivory got worn away. Brass would be much better,or an inlet piece of steel. I never used a spoke shave that much,either. When I did,though,it was on maple ,mahogany,or other hard woods used in instrument necks.

Even if I made a shave from hard maple,I would inlet a brass plate in it.

Bone is harder than ivory,and would last longer. I'd go for brass,at least.

[Tony Shea]

I think you should def take the time and inlay the brass wear plate. It truly is not a difficult task to get right, not much more difficult than inlaying some hard wearing wood.

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