Building a Knock Down Shavehorse

[ken hatch]

My old shavehorse is a PITA to travel with. It does not fit in any of the bins of the motorhome unless taken apart and it is really a PITA to take apart and put back together. We leave for a 5 to 6 month trip in the motorhome next June and I really want to have a shavehorse to go with the portable bench. I've found a dead head shavehorse that with a few mods can be made into a knockdown horse.

I've started the build, here is the table glue up:

shavehorseTable.jpg

Most of the horse will be Honey Locust because there was enough in the wood pile and it is a miserable wood to work. Making a shavehorse is a good way to get rid of it.

ken

[Jim Koepke]

Looking forward to see the details of the build on this. There is a piece of lumber in the shop that could make a great shave horse.

jtk

[John Keeton]

Great idea, Ken. Elia Bizzarri recently had a blog entry about a knock down shavehorse - http://handtoolwoodworking.com/knock-down-shavehorse/

[ken hatch]

Great idea, Ken. Elia Bizzarri recently had a blog entry about a knock down shavehorse - http://handtoolwoodworking.com/knock-down-shavehorse/

John,

I've been stealing ideas from both Jason and Tim for my build. I think it was Picasso that said "everyone borrows, Artist steal". I'm not sure which side of the divide I'm on but I'm using both the basic design from Tim and the knock ideals from Jason.

ken

[ken hatch]

Looking forward to see the details of the build on this. There is a piece of lumber in the shop that could make a great shave horse.

jtk

Jim,

The build should go quickly, it is pretty simple and the wood has been dimensioned.

ken

[John Keeton]

I built my horse from Tim’s plans and at the time thought about a knock down version, but I have the room in my shop for the stand alone and don’t have the traveling situation you have. I look forward to seeing the finished hybrid!

[Oskar Sedell]

there is also the folding version, as opposed to the knock-down. Did you consider this?

I would love to make a folding (or knock down) shaving horse that gets so flat it can slide in under my Roubo (very small shop).

[ken hatch]

Slow progress is being made on the shavehorse.

Glue up of the rails:

shavehorseRailGlueUp.jpg

Platform head is mostly finished:

shavehorsePlatformHead.jpg

Next up is gluing the other rail to complete the rails and making the front leg and rear legs.

ken

I haven't a clue why the attached third photo is there.

[Phil Mueller]

Even though it’s knock down, it still looks pretty beefy. Looking forward to the updates.

[Jack Frederick]

Looks like you are pretty far down the road, so to speak, but the Boggs Horse might be a good candidate for modification as well. The photo came out of the 12/99/ #139 issue of FWW. I’ve dragged that around and finally built it a couple years ago. The riser stem pops right out and the clamp arm could be made removable as well. Will you be using the receiver hitch for mounting? I don’t have a lot of experience with shaving horses other than my own, but I have found it to be excellent

[ken hatch]

Even though it’s knock down, it still looks pretty beefy. Looking forward to the updates.

Phil,

It is, Honey Locust is really heavy and hard, miserable stuff to work. Something like a shavehorse was about the only way I could get it out of the wood pile other than the fire pit. If, knowing me, when I make another I'll be less interested in getting rid of bad wood and more interested in using a better wood for the project. This time it doesn't matter too much because it is in reality a prototype.

ken

[ken hatch]

Looks like you are pretty far down the road, so to speak, but the Boggs Horse might be a good candidate for modification as well. The photo came out of the 12/99/ #139 issue of FWW. I’ve dragged that around and finally built it a couple years ago. The riser stem pops right out and the clamp arm could be made removable as well. Will you be using the receiver hitch for mounting? I don’t have a lot of experience with shaving horses other than my own, but I have found it to be excellent

Jack,

Your Boggs horse looks nice.

This build is mostly a Tim Manney derived horse with liberal stealing of Jason Gallagher's changes to make it portable. I'm not sure about your "...receiver hitch..." question.

ken

[ken hatch]

The day job is slowing the shavehorse build. The good news is I will be hanging up the navy blazer, white shirt, red tie, and gray slacks for the last time in a couple or three months. BTW, we haven't worn that uniform for a few years but when I first started it was required.

A photo of the front leg install and the platform on the rails:

shavehorseWithPlatformAndFrontLeg.jpg

The seat is off my old horse and will need to be remade. The rear legs are next followed by making the "dead head" and swing arm. If I can find a few free hours the fat lady can start warming up.

ken

[Prashun Patel]

I have been thinking about making a shavehorse for a couple years but have always been put off by Dunbar's "shavehorse invective" where he argues that there are better methods for workholding.

So, from you users who have used them, what say you? I'd actually like to set one up permanently in my yard. But is it useful for anything but drawknifing skinny things down to dimension?

[ken hatch]

I have been thinking about making a shavehorse for a couple years but have always been put off by Dunbar's "shavehorse invective" where he argues that there are better methods for workholding.

So, from you users who have used them, what say you? I'd actually like to set one up permanently in my yard. But is it useful for anything but drawknifing skinny things down to dimension?

Prashun,

Dunbar could be correct and I guess if I wanted to see how I could watch a lot of you tube but instead I'll just enjoy using my horse. There is something enjoyable about sitting on a horse and turning big hunks of wood into smaller shaped pieces. Until I made my first horse I used the vises on my bench, the horse is easier, it may not hold as firmly but it holds well enough and is faster to use.

ken