51 and 52

[Ryan Cathey]

Stanley spokeshaves number 51 and 52, what's the difference? And is a 52 worth 20 bucks?

[jonathan snyder]

Ryan,

Just different shaped handles. Check out Blood & Gore for spokeshaves.

http://home.att.net/~the_tinker/oldtools/spokeshaves/leach-spoke.htm

Jonathan

[Ryan Cathey]

Oh..thanks alot!!

[Bill Houghton]

The 51 has curved handles; the 52 has straight ones. Unlike the 151/152, which have knurled adjusting nuts at the top of the iron, these are adjusted by fiddling with them. HOWEVER, in my experience, they're better shaves - the lack of adjusting nuts means they'll go into a tighter curve without binding.

I slightly prefer the 52. Patrick Leach says the 52 shows up broken more often - don't know, my only example isn't broken - but I find the straight handles actually feel better in the hand after a while. This may be a matter of individual taste, though, and is probably not critical. Given the choice between a $1 51 and a $10 52, I'd buy the 51; given the choice between a $9 51 and a $12 52, I'd buy the 52.

I learned from a Fine Woodworking article some years back - don't recall the author - that the right way to hold a metal spokeshave for most work is to grasp the body of the shave, about at the edges of the iron, between thumb and index finger, using the handles as a place to rest the remaining fingers. You are then using your thumb and index finger to control angle of attack. I found switching to this grip over the intuitive grip (treating the two handles like motorcycle handlebar grips) improved my spokeshave use tremendously.