Veritas Spoke Shave

[jeff crigler]

I’ve been working on an a couple of arm chairs made of walnut and I needed a spoke shave to really get the curvature of the legs and arm rests right.

I didn’t own one…. So I called my local Rockler and Woodcraft franchises. Rockler had a Bench Dog rounded bottom spokeshave so I picked that up. I also bought a round and flat pair of spokeshaves on Amazon hoping they might get to me sooner.

Both the Rockler Bench Dogs and the no-name Amazon set were nearly identical Chinese tools. Crude and blunt… to say the least. Neither came with manuals or instructions or even a guide on the angle to hone or sharpen the blade.

I got out my wet stones and spent an hour sharpening the round bottom spoke shave. I’m pretty skilled at that and I think I got an “arm hair cutting” edge. But locking that tool down in the shave and getting it to “shave” was nothing but frustration. No matter the depth or direction of grain I got bad chatter. The tools were uncomfortable and, while I did get them finally to work… it was a pain.

At the same time I picked those tools up, I ordered a Veritas and it arrived a week later. It came with instructions, in French and English, of course, and some helpful instructions on how to sharpen and even modify the blade.

Picking it up, and using it, right out of the box.. it blew the others away. What a pleasure to use! It was comfortable, much lighter than the others with the wood handles, and much more maneuverable. OMG… what a difference.

Yes, its $135 vs $30. But I’m getting near retirement. $100 bucks extra to have a high quality tool that actually does what you want it to do, feels good in your hands, and is beautiful to look at and clearly carefully crafted. It’s well worth it.

Don’t want to sound like shill for Veritas. But this is like the 4th tool I’ve gotten from them. A honing guide for my plane blades, hold down for my Saw Stop and my router table, and a low angle block plane. I’m really impressed with their stuff.

I’ll send the other shaves back to Rockler and Amazon… thanks anyway.

[Rob Luter]

I own a number of Veritas/Lee Valley tools and all are first rate. Their customer service is exemplary too.

[Tom M King]

Also my favorite spokeshave. Not only works great, but comfortable to use too.

[Ben Ellenberger]

Me three. I used a wooden shave I made from a lot for a few years. I’m retry happy with it, but got the veritas flat bottom shave last year and haven’t used my wooden one since. The blade took a long time to hone on Arkansas stones the first time, but it stays sharp forever. It is also very quick and easy to adjust. I’ll probably get a round bottom one soon for getting into tight curves.

[Rob Lee]

(Rob rushes to check stock levels......phew!)

[Jim Koepke]

Hi Jeff and a belated Welcome to the Creek.

Most of my shaves were purchased second hand. They may have been "tuned up" by a previous owner. Some required a little bit of fettling.

One pair was a boxed set of Stanley knock offs that were beyond getting to work well.

My Veritas Concave Shave worked wonderfully right out of the box.

Read about the rejects here > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?153938

You will need to be a contributor, a good use of $6, to see the images.

jtk

[Michael Bulatowicz]

For whatever it's worth, I'll throw in my voice as well. I have the Veritas round bottom spokeshave. It's an excellent tool and a great value no matter the price comparison. The body provides a comfortable thumb-and-forefinger grip on the casting with the remaining fingers lightly gripping the handles, provides great control, and it cuts smoothly and predictably with great feedback. One can pay $139 (US, as of this post) to get a high-quality lifetime tool, or spend much less to get a "tool-shaped object" (to borrow a phrase) from any of a number of other sources and then end up buying a better one anyway. As I've seen someone else say, my advice is to just get the good one--if you get the cheap one it'll be terrible and you'll just end up buying the good one anyway and end up spending more money in total than the good one cost in the first place. Saying that the Veritas spokeshave outperforms my modern Stanley 151-style spokeshave is like saying that a professional musician (take your pick) outperforms a 4th grade recorder concert.

On that note, here's a brief summary of the mistake I made of buying a modern Stanley 151-style spokeshave. That was (mostly) a waste of money. The bed is poorly machined (I took care of that part with fettling) and includes a nonsensical bevel right near the mouth--the most important part of the bed to be flat and supportive of the blade. Instead of supporting the blade in this critical area, the bed instead drops out from underneath the blade near the mouth. There is no support for the blade--at all--for the last ~0.1 inches above the end of the sharpening bevel on the blade--even farther above the actual mouth. Maybe someday I'll improve it with JB Weld filling in the bizarre bevel to make an actual flat bed. The "lever cap" (thumbscrew cap, really) is far too short--it doesn't extend anywhere near the sole--well above the bed-bevel, maybe as far as a quarter inch (I didn't measure). Altogether, this is a wonderful recipe for scalloped/intermittent/digging-in cutting with anything other than very light cuts. It's not even close to smooth or predictable with anything other than very light cuts in soft woods. I've haven't so far been able to get this monstrosity to perform well (maybe it'll be better using JB Weld or similar to fill in the missing parts of the bed--I keep telling myself I'll get there someday), and it was not eligible for return to the vendor because I had "modified it" (sharpened the blade and flattened the bed). Improvement is apparently equivalent to damage. So, it's been relegated to a rough-work-and-training-only spokeshave that I'm happy to let my kids use whenever they want on whatever wood they want. It works well enough for my kids' skill-building with pine, but I don't use it for anything close to a finishing cut. It's a shame, really--the blade seems to be good steel. It's just--massively--held back by the deficiencies in the bed and screw cap. Whoever designed that iteration of the casting and screw cap clearly had no idea of what makes a good spokeshave.

Long story short: I bought the cheap one, regretted it, and then bought several good spokeshaves. To anyone reading this who hasn't yet bought a spokeshave, my advice is to skip the tool-shaped objects and buy a quality tool from a reputable vendor. I have two Lie-Nielsen spokeshaves and two Veritas, and I don't regret one penny of the cost of any of them. Other quality brands or vintage may or may not be comparable, but I have no experience from which to judge.

To emphasize: contrast my modern Stanley with the Veritas. For the Veritas, I sharpened the blade, inserted and adjusted it, and it cuts smoothly and predictably with great control, comfort, and feedback. A wonderful tool. I won't make that mistake again.

[lowell holmes]

Go to Lowes and Home Depot to look for one. I did and had good luck, Lowes had what I wanted. I went to Lowes and found one.

[Michael Bulatowicz]

One what? Stanley spokeshave? Other brand cheap spokeshave? Was it any good?

[Jim Koepke]

Go to Lowes and Home Depot to look for one. I did and had good luck, Lowes had what I wanted. I went to Lowes and found one.

Lowes web site indicate any spokeshaves. They do show a tempting 5" draw knife…

jtk

[Ryan J Carpenter]

To add to other's comments here, I have both the LN Boggs and Veritas spokeshave. In my experience, the LN holds the blade a little tighter to prevent slipping under really heavy and repetitive cuts.
At the same time, I teach a class on green woodworking and I reccomend the Veritas for beginners as it is easier to adjust and and a bit cheaper.

[Frederick Skelly]

I have that spoke shave and it's a nice tool - right out of the box.
You cant go wrong with Veritas tools. I have many!

[John Keeton]

Lowes web site indicate any spokeshaves. They do show a tempting 5" draw knife…

jtk

Jim, at HRC 30 that drawknife won’t hold an edge long enough to accomplish much.

[Michael Bulatowicz]

Jim, at HRC 30 that drawknife won’t hold an edge long enough to accomplish much.

Wow. HRC 30 for an edged tool? Sounds like they just built a drawknife-shaped object from annealed steel and called it good. No heat, quench, or temper.

I'm not the least bit tempted, even if it was free. A good drawknife--nicely sharpened--is a pleasure to use. While I can't speak from experience with that particular "drawknife" I'd be very surprised if it's useful for much.

[Michael Bulatowicz]

The LN spokeshaves I own are the Boggs flat and round bottom. I agree that these are wonderful tools as well, for many reasons. I might *prefer* a different steel for the blade, but it's still quite good and each tool overall is superb.