Spokeshave Gloat

[Dave Williams]

When my father was a young patternmaker he worked at a shop where a man was retireing and a fellow patternmaker bought his tool box. Inside he found the patterns for the spokeshaves below. My father and many other workers at the shop had some cast up, only my father and one other guy had the whole set cast. 40 years later we're finialy getting the blades put in all of them. I highly doubt that these would ever go in to production as the man that cast them said he would never do it again as they took too much time to make. Sure glad my dad got them, they're a real treat to use!

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[Bill Houghton]

Must take you ten minutes just to decide which one to use! They're very very very.....very nice.

[Johnny Kleso]

I think some Instrument makers would kill for a set like that.. Your one lucky dog :)

[Jacob Reverb]

Wow, very nice. Thanks for posting the photos, they're going into the vault!

[Philip Duffy]

Wow, I think you win the Gloat of the Year Award! Philip

[John Keeton]

Boy - heritage, memories, uniqueness, utility, art - so many attributes all wrapped up in one story. Now, putting your own use and memories into that group of tools will be icing on the cake.

You don't mention whether your father is living, or whether you have a child that is a woodworker, but these certainly will make a family legacy. You need to make sure the story is written down for future generations.

[Dave Anderson NH]

You have a very unique and special gift there Dave. It is extremely rare to see a set of graduated size shaves made specially for a patternmaker. I've seen small sets in the range from 4 to 6 or 7 pieces, but never such a comprehensive set. You have a valuable artifact of a dying trade.

[Dave Williams]

Well it's not completly a dead trade, my father is still working in a pattern shop, the back room is filled with CNC's and the front has maybe 8 or so guys still doing hand work. Currently I am not able to use these as I am going to college in Connecticut for Forensic Science, and our shop is in New Jersey, and boy do I miss it.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I agree Dave that there are still some pattern shops around, and there will be for the forseeable future. Unfortunately, the heyday where almost every manufacturer who build things with cast iron had their own pattern shop are long gone. From the mid 19th century until the late 1970s, patternmaking was a trade with 10s of thousands of participants. I seriously doubt that there are more than a couple of thousand active patternmakers left in the USA with all of the stuff that's now being made in the far east.