Veritas Spoke Shave

[John Keeton]

I don’t own the Veritas spokeshave, though I suspect it is all that has been commented. I own and have owned many LV/Veritas tools and Rob doesn’t produce anything of low quality. Fellow creeker and friend, Robert Henrickson just bought the “151” Veritas shave and I think he is impressed.

I have two Stanley 52s with PM-V11 blades in them. One is set a bit heavy (painted black) and the other light (painted grey.). I like the 52s because the straight handles feel like the Boggs. They are my workhorses. I have extra blades for them and can switch when one becomes dull without interruption for sharpening. I can go through hours and hours of working oak and the PM-V11 just keeps on cutting. Because they are not “adjustable” the center of gravity is lower than the 151 style shaves. They feel much like the Boggs shaves - I have the flat and round with both set for finish cuts. Both are superb.

Most all of my use for spokeshaves is on the Windsor chairs I build and there are a couple of areas that require a tighter radius round bottom than the Boggs. I recently bought the LN small flat and round shaves and I love them!! Other than honing the blade, the round one worked great right out of the box. I had to tweak the mouth on the flat sole, but it now works great.

[John Kananis]

I have a pair of the Boggs from ln and the low angle from lv... all three are excellent tools. I've been eyeing the lv chair devils for years but have yet to find an excuse to pull the trigger. I guess I really just want to make my own.

[James Owen]

I have a pair of the Boggs from ln and the low angle from lv... all three are excellent tools. I've been eyeing the lv chair devils for years but have yet to find an excuse to pull the trigger. I guess I really just want to make my own.

Go ahead and pull the trigger! :-)

I use the LV Chair Devils for (near) final finishing on the spindles for Welsh Stick Chairs, and they leave a finish smooth enough that I usually don't need to sand to finish smoothing out the spindles. Like everything else LV makes, they're just superb tools.

[Tony Shea]

Might as well jump in with my experience.

I own LV round and flat, LN Boggs round and flat, LN small bronze round and flat, and HNT Gordon round. Also have some vintage Stanley's and Preston's. I might have an obsession with spokeshaves. Having said this, my favorite of them all has to be the LN Boggs round bottom. Just the nature of the blade holding and the heft of the tool makes this shave so sweet to use. If taking a full width shaving the Boggs shaves are far less susceptible to chatter. The LN small bronze shaves are also very chatter free.

If I had to sell all of them except 1 I would probably keep the HNT Gordon. Even though the Boggs are my favorite in use I still have no issue using all of them. The HNT Gordon is just so much more beautiful than all the rest therefore gives me even more joy using it. Sounds weird but a beautiful tool that works well is part of the reason I love this hobby.