Which drawknife?

[Mike Holbrook]

Michael, I will try a little glue on the Weatherby drawknife, should have thought of that.

I believe a 10" drawknife is what I have seen them use on those chair seat cuts. Probably as important is that the knife be very sharp though. I believe this is why they save a specific knife for just that work. Pete and Seth, Pete's cohort at the time, made some amazing cuts on chair seats with those longer slicing cuts. Both instructors encouraged everyone to make bolder, larger cuts even on spindles. It amazed me how they could do so much more in a small fraction of the cuts and time. I was a little freaked out when Pete sat at a horse and made a great spindle from a full blank in maybe 5 minuets when everyone in the class went through three or four multiple hour stages to produce lesser spindles. On the spindles Pete keep suggesting that I take longer deeper cuts. It was like I was playing an 18 hole golf course with a putter while they kept knocking out more precise cuts with a driver.

[John Coloccia]

FWIW, the Pfeil I have may be the nicest draw knife I've used. Yep, I bought it brand new, and yep, I'd buy it brand new again.

[David Ragan]

FWIW, the Pfeil I have may be the nicest draw knife I've used. Yep, I bought it brand new, and yep, I'd buy it brand new again.

The local Flea Market is here in two weekends. I'll go there and see what they have.

For anyone in north Atlanta, the Cumming FM is the third Wkd of the month.

What's up with the straight across handles here:



Certainly, Pfiel is excellent stuff-John, why do you prefer them over any other?

Here are the other two.........Seems like my parameters are blade length, bevel up/down(?), and tilt of the handles.....beside quality of the edge.




The one above is $135.

[John Coloccia]

I have the second one you posted. I just think the proportions are just right for the typical kinds of things I do, and the metal takes a good edge and keeps it for a while. It's just a very pleasant tool to use if your work isn't too big to use it. I don't know what's up with those goofy, straight handles.

re: bevel up or down
Same as a chisel, depending on what you're trying to do, but I would say bevel down the vast majority of the time. Bevel up may help you knock off a high spot here and there, somewhat like a paring chisel, and it's probably useful for debarking a tree, too. For shaping, I'm generally bevel down.