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Thread: Wood Body Spokeshaves

  1. #1
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    Wood Body Spokeshaves

    As if there weren't enough spokeshaves in my shop, recently wooden bodied spokeshaves have been popping up and at prices cheap enough to get me to take out my wallet.

    The small one on top was my first one that worked. There is an old broken one someone gave me somewhere. It was so nice straight from finding it in the wild that it made me think maybe more should be acquired:

    Wood Spoke Shaves.jpg

    The bigger one was found at the same antique store in Scappoose, OR as the small one. Since the first one was purchased a bunch more showed up on the scene. This was the best of the bunch. My thought was to maybe buy a few more, then my inner voice asked how many are needed and how much work will be involved?

    Settled for the one. The wear on the toe caused it to take very thick shavings in the middle. It also had a tendency to clog. Comparing it to the small spoke shave showed the escapement was much tighter on the large spokeshave. The angle on the escapement was opened up a bit without changing the mouth in the area of the blade.

    The pencil line on the larger spokeshave in the image above is the edge of where a rabbet was planned to install a brass wear strip on the toe to correct the worn wood.

    It seemed that lining the shave to the edge of the bench and using a Stanley #45 was a good way to get this done:

    Cutting Rabbet.jpg

    It worked quite well. The rabbet was checked with some brass strip material:

    Checking Rabbet.jpg

    The brass was marked and drilled before cutting to length. In all three drill bits were used to cut a shank clearance in the brass, make the countersink in the brass and then to drill a pilot hole in the wood. It would have likely been a good idea to drill a little shank clearance in the wood, but all worked out okay.

    Here is the finished job:

    Wear Plate Installed.jpg

    The shavings are much more controllable and they do not tend to clog.

    Making Shavings.jpg

    There is a little bit of fettling left to do, but it is the minor part of gluing some wood shims under the blade to regulate the setting.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 11-04-2018 at 6:34 PM. Reason: spelling
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  2. #2
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    Just to settle my curiosity a quick search was done on that well known auction site. One of the spokeshaves was listed as "Famous No Name Spokeshave."

    One would think if it was famous it would have a name.

    The image looks like it may be infamous:

    Famous No Name Spokeshave.jpg

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  3. #3
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    I too have a lot of shaves. The wooden ones get used the most when I make chairs. Lighter, feel better in the hand and they are easier to adjust with just a tap or two on top of the shaving horse. Nice save of the shave above. Bob
    Life's too short to use old sandpaper.

  4. #4
    You can buy a spokeshave kit from Lee Valley and make your own wooden spokeshave. I made a number of them.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Henderson View Post
    You can buy a spokeshave kit from Lee Valley and make your own wooden spokeshave. I made a number of them.

    Mike
    Those are nice but cost more for the wood blanks than mine cost. One thought on a worn spokeshave is if it has a good blade a new handle could be made. The next time my travels take me through Scappoose, when the antique shop is open, another spokeshave may come home with me.

    So far this one seems to be doing well with a new home made toe plate.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    Just to settle my curiosity a quick search was done on that well known auction site. One of the spokeshaves was listed as "Famous No Name Spokeshave."

    One would think if it was famous it would have a name.

    The image looks like it may be infamous:

    Famous No Name Spokeshave.jpg

    jtk
    Jim, that looks like a Stanley #84 or similar. I have a #84 and #85 ...



    Something familiar ...



    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  7. #7
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    Thanks Derek,

    To me it looked like something someone put together with a bit of angle iron and a bad dream.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  8. #8
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    Jim and Derek,

    That "repaired" spokeshave reminds me of the saying: "the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray."

    That picture from the aucion site may be the answer to the question "What do you get when you cross a spokeshave with a corner chisel?"

    Stew
    Last edited by Stew Denton; 11-05-2018 at 10:34 PM.

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