The Drawknife

[Bob Smalser]

The drawknife is among the most useful and versatile tools in boatbuilding, but is also frightening, because it can behave like a power tool and get the beginner into a lot of trouble very quickly. That trouble, however, is merely a matter of sharpening the tool and learning to read the grain of the wood.

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As my stones live their life out on the bench where they belong for daily use, they are filthy from saw and metal dust and need cleaning. A simple stiff parts-cleaning brush and a pan of kerosene does the trick. I’ll relube them generously with cutting oil as I use them.

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Then I simply mount my stones on a board extended from the Workmate so the drawknife’s handles have clearance, and clamp everything down firmly. The blade back is flattened first, using coarse and fine stones….the single most important phase of sharpening….do it thoroughly. Handle clearance is critical because sharpening is best done with both hands holding the blade, not the handles and close to the stone for better feel.

This drawknife is an ancient family piece from Granddad made by Braun in Switzerland…the blade has about half its original depth, one tang has a silver braze repair and these are the third set of handles I am aware of. I suspect my Great-grandfather brought it with him when he immigrated. It’s the only one I own…or need, as it still works just dandy.

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The blade bevel is 20 degrees…we’ll hone that next and add another 5 degrees or so of secondary bevel.

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The primary bevel is honed on the coarse stone and secondary bevel on the fine stones. With a bevel this large, with proper hand position as shown, it is simple to “feel” the bevel so as to not add rocker to the primary bevel.

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Then I strop both edges on the 8 inch buffing wheel with Knifemaker’s Green Rouge….you should use a leather strap if you haven’t done a lot of freehand buffing, as catching an edge and throwing this piece downwards is an excellent route to arterial bleeding.

Continued…

[Bob Smalser]

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Now we do the second critical part…reading the work piece. Pushing a felt tip pen against the board firmly will cause ink to seep along the grain line where it is not obvious. On this plank of Red Alder I have marked the grain…you can see the grain runout that occurs even in a properly milled board around the knots….

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….and where there was a knot nearby even though it isn’t evident in the board. I’ve also marked the on direction the drawknife will successfully cut.

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Moving to the shaving horse, it becomes obvious that the drawknife will cut cleanly with excellent control slicing in the direction of the grain….

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….and will dig deep and gouge (below) when slicing in the wrong direction:

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But if this were a rough planking bevel on a strake you just spent an hour getting out, can we clean the gouge and recover? Sure….

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…we just switch to the direction dictated by the grain, and we regain our precise control and can rough cut clean, accurate bevels that only need a touch with a finely-set smoothing plane to make perfect.

Handles up or handles down? Push or pull? All of the above. The angle of the blade’s attack doesn’t change when the tool is upside down, but cutting with the bevel down gives better control in taking thin shavings….and cutting with the bevel up is several fold as fast as using a plane to hog wood rapidly. It’s also a mistake to think these tools are only suitable for tapering riven softwood shingles….a little practice pushing as well as pulling and you can rapidly trim with precision a piece too big to move into the shop….

…once you master reading the grain of the wood.

[Roger Myers]

Bob,
Great article and pics! I really appreciate this post!!
Roger

[Tyler Howell]

Bob,

Just in time. I found this wonderful old antique at a flea market.

[Marc Hills]

I said it before, you had better be working on a book, because this stuff is excellent, and publication quality! If not, you heard it from me first: You and Dave Anderson should hook up and pull together a printed primer on hand tool making and restoration, and sell it to all of us as a SMC fundraiser. I'll even propose a title:

"Keeping the Faith: Restoring and Recreating Handtools of Yore." -- SMC Publications.

Like Tyler, I have a beautiful old drawknife I recently acquired that lacked only some TLC and operating instructions. You just delivered in spades.

I'm also echoing Gavin; we need a "Best of SMC" section for this site.

My admiration for you grows weekly, Bob. Many thanks.

[James Carmichael]

Bob,

Thanks for another awesome and informative post.

As Marc said, you should be writing a book, I would gladly pay for it (though I would expect an autographed copy!)

[Bob Smalser]

Das Schnitzelbank, by Drew Langsner, chairmaker...I built it to his plans using old-growth DF with Madrone dumb head/treadle and lined the wear surfaces with brass or copper:

http://www.countryworkshops.org/CWshavehorse.html

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