Scorp for chair seats

[John Keeton]

So, even though I nearly abandoned flat work and furniture 10 years ago to join the turning vortex, for nearly 50 years I have wanted to build a comb back Windsor chair. It is now well under way, but I want to acquire a scorp to do the seat. I am aware of the Barr, which many feel to be the ultimate. I have a good collection of Pfeil carving gouges and like the quality. The Pfeil two handled scorp looks interesting, but may be a bit shallow or flat for a Windsor seat.

For those of you that use scorps I would like your thoughts - particularly for chair making. I have watched eBay and have actually bid on a couple of vintage ones, but felt they went for nearly the cost of a Barr. Are there other contemporary scorps you feel appropriate? I don’t mind paying for quality. Should I just get the Barr or are there other equally appropriate choices?

[ken hatch]

So, even though I nearly abandoned flat work and furniture 10 years ago to join the turning vortex, for nearly 50 years I have wanted to build a comb back Windsor chair. It is now well under way, but I want to acquire a scorp to do the seat. I am aware of the Barr, which many feel to be the ultimate. I have a good collection of Pfeil carving gouges and like the quality. The Pfeil two handled scorp looks interesting, but may be a bit shallow or flat for a Windsor seat.

For those of you that use scorps I would like your thoughts - particularly for chair making. I have watched eBay and have actually bid on a couple of vintage ones, but felt they went for nearly the cost of a Barr. Are there other contemporary scorps you feel appropriate? I don’t mind paying for quality. Should I just get the Barr or are there other equally appropriate choices?


John,

I have a Barr and have used no other so all I can say is the Barr works. Congrats on building a chair they can be addictive.

ken

[William Fretwell]

Have the Ray Iles scorp, less than half the price. No VAT on exports. Well made, very solid 01 steel.,should manage one chair!

[Craig Regan]

I would get a travishar from Windsor workshops in the uk.
https://thewindsorworkshop.co.uk/travisher/
Scorps are ok... but travishers are easier to work with and more fun. I have the basic maple version. The blade is excellent; made by one of Englands top knife makers.

[Derek Cohen]

I have the Ray Iles scorp. Very nice. I believe that Pete Galbert had input here. Available from TFWW.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[John Keeton]

Thanks, guys. The Iles scorp is out of stock here in the states, but even with the exchange rate I can get it from England cheaper than from TFWW, so that looks like a viable option. Craig, a travisher would be a nice addition and may be something I will acquire at some point. As Ken said, I am getting the sense this chair may not be the last one I do! I have built the bending forms, a Galbert style kiln, a very functional steam box, acquired a nice selection of vintage spokeshaves, all with Hock blades now, and apparently have developed a side addiction for draw knives with four rehabilitated prizes hanging on the wall.

[Derek Cohen]

With regard a travisher, I made a couple after watching a video by Claire Minihan (based on Pete Galbert's design) ...

https://i.postimg.cc/Y96JwJHv/1a.jpg



The blades are O1, which is easy enough to bend and heat treat.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[ken hatch]

Thanks, guys. The Iles scorp is out of stock here in the states, but even with the exchange rate I can get it from England cheaper than from TFWW, so that looks like a viable option. Craig, a travisher would be a nice addition and may be something I will acquire at some point. As Ken said, I am getting the sense this chair may not be the last one I do! I have built the bending forms, a Galbert style kiln, a very functional steam box, acquired a nice selection of vintage spokeshaves, all with Hock blades now, and apparently have developed a side addiction for draw knives with four rehabilitated prizes hanging on the wall.

John,

LOL. Yep you are on the way. All I can say is relax, it is a fun ride. I will agree with other on getting a travisher. I look at saddling a seat kinda like sharpening iron, it is a three step process. grind with an Adze, hone with the scorp, and then polish with a travisher and card scraper. You can make do leaving one of the steps out but it is easier with all three tools.

ken

[John Keeton]

Ken, I am having a lot of fun and learning a lot! I shaped a rough Windsor seat for the shavehorse I built using a 20 grit carbide grinder wheel from Harbor Freight - dusty, quick and it works. But, I wouldn’t attempt that on a chair seat as one slip and it is firewood.

Looked at the Pheil scorp at Woodcraft today. Lot of spring in the tangs and it is as flat/shallow as it looked online. I also looked at the Two Cherries on the German website - Kirschen. A little cheaper than the Ray Iles and most reviews/comments of that one aren’t very favorable. So, I am leaning heavily toward the Iles scorp unless someone comes up with a better plan. Elia Bizzarri likes the Barr, but also says the Iles is great if the handles are tweaked. I can do that.

Derek, I meant to add that I am contemplating building a travisher. I am familiar with Minihan’s design, though I haven’t purchased here DVD. There seems to be enough info out there to wing it. Probably will get a blade from Elia.

[Kevin Adams]

John, as others have said, the Barr is really nice and I recommend it. You get what you pay for. I think Jason Lonon is thinking about making inshaves, so you might contact him. He’s local for you. Another option not mentioned is the LV pullshave. I’ve tried it and think it has a lot of potential for both roughing and smoothing. As others have said, a true travisher is helpful to have and the Windsor Workshop one (UK) is a good one in addition to the other names out there.

Good luck, building a chair is as a lot of fun and saddling the seat is my favorite part of the process.

Kevin

[John Keeton]

Thanks, Kevin. Lonon lives in NC, about a 6 hour drive for me. I did look at his website, though I don’t do Facebook so I didn’t check out the info there. Interesting comment on the Veritas pullshave. I actually bought one of those many years ago at a time when I thought I would start a chair. Life happened and the chair didn’t. I sold the pullshave without ever trying it out. It certainly does look like it might work in place of a travisher. However, without using either I have no way of knowing that. I am still intrigued by the idea of making a travisher.

The Barr does seem to be the cream of the crop. Some of that may be attributable to its mass, which is apparently greater than other contemporary inshaves.

[John Keeton]

Thanks for all the input and to Derek for the inspiration to be creative. After considering too many options I have settled on the following - ordered a Ray Iles scorp from Classic Hand Tools in England - in stock and cheaper than domestic sources: ordered from Elia Bizzarri a travisher blade and collected as many images from the web as possible to assist me in building a Galbert/Bizzarri/Minihan collaborative travisher, and finally, purchased from eBay a coopers heel shave as used by Curtis Buchanan in dressing the seat (cost about $21 shipped.) I will forgo an adze for the time being.

To those that recommended the Barr, I am absolutely sure it is the better option, but with the above purchases I have less invested than the Barr would have cost. If the Iles scorp doesn't perform well enough, then somewhere down the road I may upgrade.

[David Bassett]

... The Iles scorp is out of stock here in the states, ...

Probably too late for John, but Joel just posted that they just received a batch at TFWW. (And it will probably be out of stock again shortly.... :) )

[Thomas Wilson]

Which Barr scorp is more useful, if you have to pick just one? I see 4 in and 6 1/2 in at Highland Woodworking

[John Keeton]

I know nearly nothing about this except what I have read. Regarding travishers Claire Minihan says this “The Standard Sweep- 4 1/4" radius, this is the more versatile of the two sweeps that is able to create ultra concave areas. This is the recommended tool to start out with.

The Shallow Sweep- 6 1/2" radius, this tool you could think of as a smoothing plane, it removes the scalloped ridges of the more extreme sweep making scraping and sanding easier.”

I would think the same would be true of scorps.

[Tom M King]

There is a seller on ebay with a New Handmade Chair-makers Hand Plane that I would like to try, but that's way down the to-do list. I can plane in my sleep, but have to pay close attention to what I'm doing with any kind of shave.

[Thomas Wilson]

Thanks John. I will order the Barr 4 inch.