Shave Horse

[ken hatch]

I've spent the last couple of days building a shave horse. I've wanted one for years and had almost decided on just whipping out the AmEx and doing it the quick and easy way.


But I had a couple of kinda free days and two DF 12' 2X12's left over from painting the house. I figured even with all the mistakes I'd make following plans, have I ever told you how much I hate following someone else's plans, there would be enough DF to make a shave horse.


I wasn't too far off, there is a lot of scrap and firewood but not much of the DF left. Anyway lots of screwups, do overs, and I don't give a damns it is good enough, in the build. Whatever, it works like a champ but I expect I'll use it for awhile to see what mods it needs and then build another out of nicer wood.

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ken

[David Eisenhauer]

Not being a "shaver", take my comment for what it is worth. The thing looks like it should grip something for shaving, but the seat looks like it will bite your behind after a while. What will you be shaving?

[ken hatch]

Not being a "shaver", take my comment for what it is worth. The thing looks like it should grip something for shaving, but the seat looks like it will bite your behind after a while. What will you be shaving?

David,

The plans call for padding on the seat, as I have an iron butt I expect the most I will do is relieve the edges of the seat.

I'm getting more and more into vernacular furniture, the shave horse will be very useful.

ken

[David Eisenhauer]

Yeah, I was thinking about relieving the edges some (like a Stratocaster profile), maybe adding a folded up towel to the slab. Pray tell - what is "vernacular" furniture?

[Mike Holbrook]

I am redesigning a kit I bought. Peter Galbert convinced me of the advantages of a Dumb-Head design. Dumb Heads are quicker to use as work can be placed in the jaw from either side, instead of having to thread every piece between two arms. I will eventually replace all the parts that were part of the old horse, except maybe the seat. One of my current issues is my frame is too short. I had to modify a few parts because of the short frame.

Here is the plan Galbert's has in his book and some modifications he came up with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARAVeCHyJ0Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRKKx6sgghc


So far:
372725

The bottom jaw/rest is covered in a thick compressed rubber which I have found to grip exceptionally well.

[ken hatch]

Yeah, I was thinking about relieving the edges some (like a Stratocaster profile), maybe adding a folded up towel to the slab. Pray tell - what is "vernacular" furniture?

David,

"Vernacular furniture" is the furniture of ordinary people, it is not high styled nor extensively studied. C.S. calls it "furniture of necessity". Another way to think of it is as folk art or outsider art, it comes from the culture of the maker and is usually very simple and functional vs. the high style of something like a Federal or Chippendale piece made for the Country House.

ken

[ken hatch]

I am redesigning a kit I bought. Peter Galbert convinced me of the advantages of a Dumb-Head design. Dumb Heads are quicker to use as work can be placed in the jaw from either side, instead of having to thread every piece between two arms. I will eventually replace all the parts that were part of the old horse, except maybe the seat. One of my current issues is my frame is too short. I had to modify a few parts because of the short frame.

Here is the plan Galbert's has in his book and some modifications he came up with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARAVeCHyJ0Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRKKx6sgghc


So far:
372725

The bottom jaw/rest is covered in a thick compressed rubber which I have found to grip exceptionally well.

Mike,

Looks good. I like to think I will re-make the horse with better wood but as long as it works I expect that replacement will not happen. Too many other projects in the queue.

ken

[David Eisenhauer]

Thanks Ken. Sounds like most of my creations - function first, maybe only function.

[Don Orr]

Nice horse Ken. I like the adjustable height of the support part of the head. I think I have it figured out how you did it with a flip up lock but could really use a photo of that particular detail if possible please. I only have a shave pony right now but have wanted a horse for a while.

[Mike Holbrook]

Sounds like you may have a copy of Schwarz’s “The Anarchist’s Design Book” Ken. “Anarchism in this context is a tendency to build rather than buy, to create rather than consume. You can call it self-sufficiency or DIY.”

The kit I bought was made by Tom Donahey, who made the kits for Country Workshops. I think Tom & Drew Langsner conspired on the design over several years. Ken’s sawhorse seems to be bacically the same design. I broke the height adjustment teeth on mine shortly after buying it. My attempts to reglue the teeth did not work. I decided to go with a dumb head design for my second head. I should have noticed that both Pete and Drew’s dumb head designs use longer frames. I carved up some of the pieces to my original horse trying to get it to work properly as a dumb head so they will need to be replaced regardless. Pete’s height adjustment system utilizes aluminum rod recessed in drilled holes which I think will end any issues with teeth breaking.

I am not sure if I will go with an even simpler design using the style bench Schwarz uses in “The Anarchist’s Design Book” and his “Roman Workbenches” or whether I will continue to use the construction lumber design in the current bench. Until I figure out what existing parts are salvagable......

[ken hatch]

Nice horse Ken. I like the adjustable height of the support part of the head. I think I have it figured out how you did it with a flip up lock but could really use a photo of that particular detail if possible please. I only have a shave pony right now but have wanted a horse for a while.

Thanks Don, I'm short on time right now so just a quick note to let you know I will take a close up of the ratchet mechanism this evening or tomorrow and will post it here.

ken

[ken hatch]

Sounds like you may have a copy of Schwarz’s “The Anarchist’s Design Book” Ken. “Anarchism in this context is a tendency to build rather than buy, to create rather than consume. You can call it self-sufficiency or DIY.”

The kit I bought was made by Tom Donahey, who made the kits for Country Workshops. I think Tom & Drew Langsner conspired on the design over several years. Ken’s sawhorse seems to be bacically the same design. I broke the height adjustment teeth on mine shortly after buying it. My attempts to reglue the teeth did not work. I decided to go with a dumb head design for my second head. I should have noticed that both Pete and Drew’s dumb head designs use longer frames. I carved up some of the pieces to my original horse trying to get it to work properly as a dumb head so they will need to be replaced regardless. Pete’s height adjustment system utilizes aluminum rod recessed in drilled holes which I think will end any issues with teeth breaking.

I am not sure if I will go with an even simpler design using the style bench Schwarz uses in “The Anarchist’s Design Book” and his “Roman Workbenches” or whether I will continue to use the construction lumber design in the current bench. Until I figure out what existing parts are salvagable......

Mike,

I do not have that book but have read some of C.S.'s writing on vernacular furniture and agree with his take. Yep, I followed Tom D.'s plan for what I think he calls a shave mule. I made my ratchet out of Hard Maple and left pretty good meat on the rack, we'll see if it holds up.

ken

[Mike Holbrook]

I think Hard Maple will work Ken. I believe the teeth on mine were a little thin and made from Sycamore, which grows faster and softer. When I get bored I stand in the backyard and watch the Poplars and Sycamores grow. It is always a race to see which can grow the fastest.

I think the design Tom used came from a Brin Boggs design that won a Fine Woodworking design award about 26 years ago. Lie-Nielsen actually use to sell Brian's design or one he or LN had made. Brian's design was a redesign of the old English " Bodger's Bench". Drew's original design in “The Chairmaker’s Workshop” was a German “Dumb Head” design, made from parts split from a log and dried in one of his kilns. The problem with Drew’s original design being that few people will split and dry their own wood. Brian’s design incorporates dimensioned or construction lumber which is certainly more readily available.

Drew mentions in his book: “In fact, workbenches with a screw vise were not commonly found in many workshops until the mid-nineteenth century”. He is talking chair and furniture making workshops, back when many people made their own. It is interesting to consider whether the Shaving-Horse or Bodger’s Bench may have been a more common feature in workshops in that period than Workbenches or at least Workbenches with a vise. Certainly a bench takes up less room than a worktable/workbench. Could the Shaving Horse be the original woodworking vise? Certainly the tools used for making chairs and other furniture then were relatively crude hand tools by todays standard.

[joel cervera]

All I can say is I'm jealous of anyone who has room to keep shave horse in their shop..

[Mike Holbrook]

Don,

Maybe a picture of the old head from my sawbench will help. I think it is the same, or at least similar, to Ken's. You might also check out Peter Galbert's head adjustment system in the YouTube video in my post above.

373009

[ken hatch]

Nice horse Ken. I like the adjustable height of the support part of the head. I think I have it figured out how you did it with a flip up lock but could really use a photo of that particular detail if possible please. I only have a shave pony right now but have wanted a horse for a while.

Don,

A close up of the head and ratchet installed to go along with Mike's photo:

373017

I hope it helps. If interested do a google on shave horse and the PWW article with plans will be near the top.

ken

[ken hatch]

All I can say is I'm jealous of anyone who has room to keep shave horse in their shop..

Joel,

That was one of the reasons I've just made one. When I cleaned up my wood storage and opened up the floor under the wood rack (put all inside wood on the rack) it opened up a storage spot. If you think about it and move enough "stuff" sometimes you can improve on the ten pounds of stuff in the five pound space.

I went from this:

373018

To this:

373019

The shave horse just fits where the vac is with the head in the open space to the left.

ken

[ken hatch]

I think Hard Maple will work Ken. I believe the teeth on mine were a little thin and made from Sycamore, which grows faster and softer. When I get bored I stand in the backyard and watch the Poplars and Sycamores grow. It is always a race to see which can grow the fastest.

I think the design Tom used came from a Brin Boggs design that won a Fine Woodworking design award about 26 years ago. Lie-Nielsen actually use to sell Brian's design or one he or LN had made. Brian's design was a redesign of the old English " Bodger's Bench". Drew's original design in “The Chairmaker’s Workshop” was a German “Dumb Head” design, made from parts split from a log and dried in one of his kilns. The problem with Drew’s original design being that few people will split and dry their own wood. Brian’s design incorporates dimensioned or construction lumber which is certainly more readily available.

Drew mentions in his book: “In fact, workbenches with a screw vise were not commonly found in many workshops until the mid-nineteenth century”. He is talking chair and furniture making workshops, back when many people made their own. It is interesting to consider whether the Shaving-Horse or Bodger’s Bench may have been a more common feature in workshops in that period than Workbenches or at least Workbenches with a vise. Certainly a bench takes up less room than a worktable/workbench. Could the Shaving Horse be the original woodworking vise? Certainly the tools used for making chairs and other furniture then were relatively crude hand tools by todays standard.

Mike,

Your memory is good. That is my understanding as well, Tom did a little reverse engineering of a shave horse Boggs had with him when he taught a workshop at Tom's place.

Skill makes up for a lot of LN tools :), if you spend any time in places other than our western world you will still see how little it takes to make things.

ken

[Don Orr]

Thanks for all the follow-up info. Nice work all around.