I suggest you check out Dave's Shaves. They are a little pricey, but very, very nice.
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I suggest you check out Dave's Shaves. They are a little pricey, but very, very nice.
Contributor
I was just getting ready to recommend Dave's Shaves. His tools are outstanding. I have five different shaves and I reach for his more than my LN or Stanley. Fantastic - I can't recommend them highly enough.Originally Posted by Dave Parkis
Member
I have the same Lee Valley shave. It is a sweet shave.
Depends on what you plan to use your shave for. Do you want to take heavy or light shavings? Taking heavy shavings may benefit from an adjustable blade/mouth? Inside or outside of curves, which benefits from some some curve or angle at the mouth? Will you need to get down into hollowed out chair seats, which may require a curved blade and/or mouth? WoodJoy Livingston shaves are the most adjustable shaves I know of. Woodjoy makes a wide variety of shave types, including large shaves that come close to doing the work of a drawknife.
The Boggs shaves, as Mike Henderson explains, have very tight mouths that remove minimal amounts of wood if not modified. I suspect they are designed that way, as adding material to a metal shave is harder than removing it.
Most, but not all, shaves are designed to clean up behind a drawknife or plane so they take small shavings. You might also look into a Travisher if you want to be able to get down into rounded, concave surfaces. LV makes a couple unique offerings, designed to get into concave areas.
Last edited by Mike Holbrook; 07-16-2018 at 7:27 AM.
[OP]
Contributor
The usual stuff, cleaning up curved edges following sawing for one.
I'm looking for something that's able to take a fine cut. Members of my current stable of vintage metal shaves are difficult to get adjusted properly. The amount of tapping and tweaking I need to do in order to make them perform acceptably is excessive in my opinion. They're easily knocked out of whack if I hit a hard spot or the blade grabs too. The cutters are just not held that securely.
Sharp solves all manner of problems.
Contributor
Looks like the Veritas shaves are out of stock.
(I was wondering if they were among the veritas products impacted by the need to find a new wood species for the handles)
Let us know what you end up getting! (and even better if you get two and can compare!)
Matt
[OP]
Contributor
I hadn't heard that. Any idea why they're looking for something different?
Sharp solves all manner of problems.
Contributor
CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) prevents specified woods from being shipped across international borders. Some of the woods Lee Valley was using have been added to the list.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
Just a thought here before you run out and spend more money, but have you scuffed up the blades? Many of my irons that are held by friction I give them a subtle scuff horizontally with some 100 grit sandpaper. Nothing crazy, just a few swipes on both sides because if you go crazy it will grip so freakin' tight that you won't even be able to adjust it by tapping. Works for any friction held blade, whether it's a metal body tool or a wood body tool. It also makes it easier to adjust the depth of cut because it makes it harder to overshoot your setting when tapping.
I have several Boggs/LN shaves. I like them but I would not consider them easy to adjust.
I like all the shaves I bought from WoodJoy Tools. One of the things I like is they use small allen wrench adjustable screws to adjust all the parts. These locking screws seat at the height of the woods surface or below, which translates into them not being in the way when the shave is in use. There is even a shave kit, but the locking mechanisms may not be as unobtrusive.
The two shaves on left are Boggs/LNs. The next three are: Woodjoy 85, Woodjoy Master, Woodjoy Livingston. The far right item is a Travisher, made by Elia Bizzarri.
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Maybe you can see shavings jammed under the larger Boggs shave (below). The smaller one is worse about jamming shavings. I need to widen the mouths more. The smaller shave has had a little work, trying to “sneak up” on the best mouth size for the work I do, keeping in mind that they are designed to be finishing tools. Still constant jaming of shavings is not exceptable. Keep in mind I tend to work green wood which may stick in mouths worse.
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The next two photos show why my Livingston shave is my favorite. Easy to adjust to work exactly as needed, without adjustments in the way when in use. The brass plate at the mouth is set at an angle. The set screws allow adjustment of the blade up & down, forward & back, even allows for setting the blade at an angle to the mouth. The set screws allow for very precise blade adjustment, yet hold the blade very securely.
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The Woodjoy #85 (top) allows the user to adjust the height of the rest in front of the mouth. The blade position is adjustable too. The brass rest in the Master comes loose and can be rotated to a flat or rounded side. The Master is, as the name implies, a little harder to master in terms of keeping the relatively narrow rest at a workable angle, like a round shave.
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The Livingston shave with a 3 1/8” blade is good size, until it is photographed next to a shave with a 5 1/8” blade. The “Big Spokeshave” will do many things a drawknife is typically used for. The mouth of the Big Shave is 1/8”, which will pass a thick “shaving”.
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Cobblers Shaves can be hard to find, but if sharpened well can get into even deeper areas than most Travishers.
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Last edited by Mike Holbrook; 07-17-2018 at 8:39 AM.
Member
I like the LN Boggs shave. It't really easy to adjust once you figure it out. I almost never tap the blade, but the body of the shave. They are a great tool, in use and appearance!
Contributor
Here's a picture of two LN Boggs spokeshaves (one flat, one curved) and one LV concave shave. I made new handles for them out of ebony and cocobolo.
I was taking a class on Windsor chairs and trying to use a Stanley 151 spokeshave. A friend lent me his LN Boggs and I was hooked. It just worked wonderfully.
Mike
2018-07-17-Spokeshaves001.jpg
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
[OP]
Contributor
After much thought, I went with the LN Boggs shaves. They arrived last night and I put them to work this morning. I honed a quick secondary bevel on super fine media and gave it a swipe or two on the strop and they're razor sharp. I found them very easy to get adjusted properly and the thumbwheels held the blades in place very firmly. I'm working on a live edge charcuterie tray for my wife that's made of a mulberry crotch slab. They made short work of cleanup around the perimeter and transitioning live edge to sawn edge. I'm very pleased with the purchase.
Sharp solves all manner of problems.
Thanks for coming back and closing the loop on this. Enjoy your new tools.
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
Contributor
Let me just add a comment for anyone considering a Boggs spokeshave. They are intended for fine shaving, not hogging off wood. There are many cheap spokeshaves that you can set up for hogging off wood, then take the Boggs for fine final work.
I'm sure you'll enjoy using that spokeshave, Rob. Congratulations.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
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