A Question About Scorps

[Jim Koepke]

My scorp was purchased in an antique mall even though it doesn't appear to be an antique. It has the bevel on the underside or bevel down. It seems to limit its lower angle abilities.

My plan is over time attempting to transition the bevel to the inside.

Any comments?

jtk

[John Keeton]

Jim, I don’t even own one yet, but have a new one on order. However, I have researched every comment I could find from accomplished chairmakers and the consensus is that having an inside bevel makes it difficult to pull out of a cut. Every well thought of contemporary scorp has an outside bevel.

[Tom M King]

I thought if the bevel was on the inside, it was called an "inshave".

[John Keeton]

Tom, I believe “inshave “ comes from the tool being used “in” a concave or hollow application - particularly in smoothing the inside of barrel staves.

[Tom M King]

https://barrtools.com/product/barrs-inshave/ The only scorp I've ever used is an old, no-named one found in one of the buildings here, that had a lot of old junk left in it. Surprisingly, the handles were still tight, and the bevel is on the outside. It actually holds a nice edge, but I have no idea where it originated.

I guess a scorp is more rounded than an inshave, but only ever paying attention to the old scorp, I just thought maybe the bevel was supposed to be on the outside. I think to scoop out a curve, the bevel on the outside would work better for tighter curves. Since it's not a finishing tool on a chair seat, it probably doesn't make a lot of difference.

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks all for the information. This is kind of confusing or it may be my eyesight. The Mike Dunbar-Style Scorp looks like it has the bevel on the inside > https://barrtools.com/product/mike-dunbar-style-scorp-516-x-1-14-x-4/

It doesn't say anything in the description about the bevel. Maybe chair makers do not get into bevel up vs bevel down discussion as much as plane users do.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Tom,

I believe a scorp is a one handed tool with a single handle. The ends curve up and both insert into a single handle. The inshave is like a curved draw knife, as in the link you provided.

Stew

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

Well I went to the net to look, as I looked in the source that I thought I was referring to, but it is not in that book. I don't know what the source was that defined the difference between a scorp and an inshave, but I am now thinking that opinions of knowledgeable folk vary on this one.

Most of what I found showed a tool with one handle that both ends of the blade curve up and into, but not all do. Some show what I call an inshave to be a scorp. My understanding was that an inshave is a curced draw knife with a convex curving blade, ie: the blade curves below where you hold the handles.

One manufacturer calls what I call an inshave to be a "double handed scorp."

Articles in the two major woodworking magazines show it both ways.

Regards,

Stew

[John Keeton]

Stew, apparently inshave and scorp are used interchangeably with regard to the two handed tool. The one handle tool seems to always be referred to as a scorp.

Jim, from Buchanan’s review in Fine Woodworking - “Out of the box, the scorp was sharp and ready to cut. It came with a knife edge, which means it had a convex bevel on both sides of the blade. A convex bevel on the outside edge was a plus, as the blade exited the cut easier. On the inside of the blade, that bevel had no cutting advantage or disadvantage, but it did make sharpening more difficult.”

[Tom M King]

Looks like there is no single, true definition, or at least, not everyone uses the same definitions. I try to never worry, or argue, over definitions. I certainly never think about it while I'm using any tool.

https://barrtools.com/product/mike-dunbar-style-scorp-516-x-1-14-x-4/

[Jim Koepke]

I try to never worry, or argue, over definitions.

This is a good idea. My experience has been people in different trades call a tool common to their various work by many names.

One example is what woodworkers commonly call a marking gauge people working in framing shops call scribes.

jtk

[Oskar Sedell]

only to second what is already said, I believe working a hollow shape with an inside bevel would not be optimal. For the same reason that gouges for bowl making are outcannel, not incannel gouges.

This would have nothing to do with low angles. The bevel angle is independent of inside vs outside.