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View Full Version : Varying the bevel angle on a low-angle spokeshave



Steve Voigt
12-26-2014, 3:38 PM
A while back, I made my first traditional low-angle wooden shave. I noticed, not surprisingly, that tearout was worse than with my Stanley 151, so I set the wooden shave aside.

Right before the holidays, I started thinking about how this shave is kind of like a BU plane. If tearout can be controlled by steepening the bevel angle on a BU plane, why not on a spokeshave? So, I put a 45° secondary bevel on the blade. The sole of the shave is tipped forward about 5°, so the effective cutting angle is 50°. Initial results seem to be that tearout is definitely reduced. The shave is not uncomfortably hard to push, but it is a little more chatter-prone. I was thinking about making another and widening the sole a bit. Most plans (Veritas, John Gunterman, etc) I've seen call for a 1/2"-wide sole in front the blade. I'm wondering if a 5/8" or 3/4" blade would help eliminate the tendency to chatter.

Anyway, I'm curious if anyone else has tried this, and what your thoughts or experiences are. No time to get in the shop right now, but after the holidays I may see what raising the bevel another 5° does.

Jim Matthews
12-26-2014, 4:17 PM
Do you set the blade to the same clearance, all the way across the mouth?

I was taught to set spokeshaves "skewed" so I could vary the start angle.

The simplest thing to try would be setting the blade
on a skew, with one side taking no shaving, and the
other - slightly more than your desired thickness.

That would cost zero to attempt.

*********

Brian Boggs showed me a prototype that had a VERY long front sole,
before the blade - to keep the mouth opening constant.

If I understood correctly, most of us extend the spokeshave blade
too much, to get clearance and end up digging in too deep
with the blade.

The demonstration showed him setting up the shave so that
with the toe of the sole engaged, the shave pulled no more
than 2 thousandths of an inch shaving.

If more material needed to come off, he switched to a drawknife.
(Or just whittled with a very sharp penknife.)

He admitted that it wasn't the way he works, today.

Mike Henderson
12-26-2014, 4:54 PM
I always used low angle spokeshaves for rough work, to get a lot of wood off. I have a LN Boggs spokeshave that I use for finer work.

Mike