Flattening a spokeshave sole

[John Crawford]

Hi folks:

I hope you won't mind giving me some quick advice on a spokeshave. I purchased an English Stanley 151 off that auction site, which was listed as a "good user tool." I know, should have bought a Veritas....

The sole was not at all flat. Of course I expected to flatten it, but this one looks like it may have spent some time on a belt sander at some point. I have now flattened the shiny part you see here; the un-flat part comes rather close to the mouth, and drops off very steeply (about 1/16 of an inch).

Is this flat enough for a spokeshave, or should I just save my time, and admit my mistake and get another one. (I don't see myself scrubbing this on sandpaper for long enough to remove 1/16 of an inch of metal!)

Thanks for your time!

342191

[Jim Koepke]

It looks like the bad part is not where the spokeshave needs to be flat to work.

Have you tried the shave on a piece of wood to see how it performs?

jtk

[george wilson]

It doesn't look nice,but it probably doesn't affect the performance. There's hardly any flat sole in front of the blade anyway.

[John Crawford]

Thank you all for your advice--this is my first venture into the world of spokeshaving, so I don't know how it is supposed to perform.... I'll keep playing around with it.