Unique Swan drawknife

[mark kosse]

336756I picked this up today. I had never seen an adjustable angle draw knife. Just thought some of you might be interested.

[Bill Houghton]

That's intriguing. Never seen anything quite like that. Exactly how it would be useful, when adjusting the angle is generally as simple as tilting the handles - not sure.

[Steve Voigt]

Cool drawknife! And probably fairly rare.

Typically there are two main orientations for drawknife handles--canted or inline. One is for bevel up, the other for bevel down, though either can be used either way. Perhaps this was an attempt to allow the user to toggle back and forth between the two styles without having to buy two drawknifes? It doesn't seem to have caught on, but it's an interesting idea.

The history of tool design is littered with over-adjustable tools. Most of the time, simpler tools win out in the marketplace.

[Jim Koepke]

My drawknife has handles that fold in over the blade and can be set to different position but are always in the same plane in relation to the blade. It would be helpful in some situations to be able to adjust the plane of attack afforded by this design.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

My drawknife has handles that fold in over the blade and can be set to different position but are always in the same plane in relation to the blade. It would be helpful in some situations to be able to adjust the plane of attack afforded by this design.

jtk

You only have one drawknife? I thought everybody had 2 or 3.:)

I bet you have a number of spoke shaves.

[Jim Koepke]

You only have one drawknife? I thought everybody had 2 or 3.:)

I bet you have a number of spoke shaves.

I only have one straight drawknife. It is a pretty good one but makes me desire a few more. I have one that has a U shaped blade.

I have 5 good working spoke shaves, one of the Stanley two blade spokeshaves with one side not working, one tiny one and a couple of real modern dogs that are shaped to look like spokeshaves. I would be willing to buy a few more if they added different functions to what I already have or if it was at a price to good to ignore.

jtk

[mark kosse]

Well Bill, I don't know either. Maybe one arm shorter that the other? Maybe an early carpal tunnel syndrome fix? Or, most likely, an engineer trying to justify his job.

i do see one upside. It's going to make it a hell of a lot easier to sharpen that ding out of the blade.

[Chris Fournier]

I don't get it but a cool relic regardless!

[Jim Koepke]

I don't get it but a cool relic regardless!

In different places a drawknife may have a different name. For someone making a fence or a horse corral they might be called 'pole peelers.'

It is sometime advantageous to have a different angle of attack when peeling the bark off of a 20' pole.

This was one of the things I did when I was a teenager, long before knowing about drawknives.

Sometimes just to help make the work more fun we would see who could take the longest bark peel.

jtk

[Don McConnell]

Mark et al,

Your drawknife is based on U. S. patent number 386,903, issued to James Swan on July 31, 1888. Presumably, these adjustable handle drawknives were put into production about that time. And, three versions of them, in a number of sizes are shown in 1904, 1911 and 1920 catalogues. So they were produced over at least a couple of decades. I believe yours is the Carpenter's version, No. 7450, as it appears in the 1904 catalogue (top of page 27).

Interestingly, the James Swan company also produced an adjustable and folding drawknife, based on patent number 448,464, issued to William B. Swan on March 17, 1891. These drawknives, number 7440, are also shown in the 1904 and 1911 catalogues. It seems that the company quit producing them some time after 1911, as they do not appear in the 1920 catalogue. This type of drawknife can be found at the bottom of page 26.

Don McConnell
Eureka Springs, AR

[mark kosse]

In different places a drawknife may have a different name. For someone making a fence or a horse corral they might be called 'pole peelers.'

It is sometime advantageous to have a different angle of attack when peeling the bark off of a 20' pole.

This was one of the things I did when I was a teenager, long before knowing about drawknives.

Sometimes just to help make the work more fun we would see who could take the longest bark peel.

jtk

Like this Jim? My current project. My wife is slinging the draw knife though.336827

I have to find my camera

[george wilson]

I used to see adjustable draw knives fairly often in flea markets back in the 70's. And,in nearly new condition. Saw plenty of the folding handle ones,too. I bought a minty folding handle one once. Never used it and somehow got to not liking it and traded it off.

There is some real value in the folding handle ones,as they take up less space in a traveling tool kit. And,they mask the blade in a space full of other tools. I see no reason for a tilting blade one. Probably another "patent" invention of the time. Some inventor must have made a few bucks from it. Maybe the blade could be tilted to provide access to a difficult place to "shave". Maybe in building wooden ships? Possibly working around the knees of the wooden frame? But,in my bench work style work,I can't see a lot of use for it. Draw knives will only cut properly if kept at the correct angle anyway. That is determined automatically by the worker in its use.

[mark kosse]

Hi Don, Thanks! That's helpful.




Can you all see the rails pic or am I the only one who can.




Like this Jim? My current project. My wife is slinging the draw knife though.336827

I have to find my camera

[Jim Koepke]

Hi Don, Thanks! That's helpful.




Can you all see the rails pic or am I the only one who can.

The picture doesn't show for me. It seems the attachment framing somehow became truncated.

jtk

[mark kosse]

I'm trying again. Like this Jim? Sorry it's upside down. this is my last pic with an ipad.


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