As usual, Mr. C. is right on the spot with exactly the appropriate counsel for me. Skewing! What a revelation.
I had just about accepted that the undersides of my radiused rails were going to remain rough and chattery. Then on a whim I put one of them back in the vise. Something happened to my stroke with my one and only spokeshave. I eased up. A sweet little shiny patch revealed itself. I moved into it. Then it rained joy.
Boggs edge.jpg
I am reminded of these thoughts from James Krenov*. Although he was talking about using a plane, the words are à propos, because after all a spokeshave is a form of plane, too:
"After it becomes natural and right for you, the experience of planing is an inner dimension: A condition rather than an activity. A state of serene satisfaction. Your attention is on what is happening, on the changes taking pace in the work rather than on your hands or the plane or the fact of an effort you are making. You watch the results of your movements instead of thinking about them ... You will see a surface change from dull to clear: rough-sawn or even machined it is dull and as you plane it clears in little waves, the burnished patches are spreading like sunshine touching a field under scattered clouds.
"Another time you watch an edge as you round it, see its shadow lines behind each stroke, stop to run a finger along it, cock your head to catch the light a little better as you relate this edge to a proportion, a shading, a part of something no drawing and no machine can convey."
*The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking, p. 98
Thank you, again, David. Thanks also to Kim Koepke.