derekcohen
New Shoots
A spokeshave is an essential part of a tool kit. I use them quite a good bit, for curved parts of chairs and table legs. There were a few considerations when building one:
Firstly, it needed to be compact and light, as with all the other tools included in the tool box. For example, my HNT Gordon weighs 430gm (15oz) and is 280mm in length. A Lie Nielsen weighs 304gms (11oz) and 260mm long. Mine is 240gm (8oz) and 150mm long.
Secondly, there was the choice between bevel up and bevel down designs. I have both types in my collection. My preference is a bevel down for face grain and a bevel up for end grain. Interestingly, at one stage I looked at building a kit, such as the Hock or Lee Valley kits, but both are bevel up types. No one offers a bevel down kit. In the end I decided to design and build my own.
The elliptical shape was chosen since I like to push or pull a spokeshave from behind the bed or in front of the toe, rather than holding arms. This creates a low centre of effort and adds control.
The blade came from a cheap Chinese M2 plane blade.
I have been making and using M2 (HSS) extensively in the chisels, planes and cutters, as it is a very good steel, rivalling PM-V11 for durability. Many appear to fear it as M2 is considered tough to sharpen. Not so with diamond, which is one reason I went with this in the sharpening kit.
The bed is 45 degrees ..
The body is fiddleback Jarrah and brass. I used 3mm angle brass section for the toe and the lever cap. The lever cap is really interesting. I borrowed the design from Terry Gordon, although I have only seen photos and had to work this out for myself ...
The bed received a 0.5mm brass cover, which is really a shim to close the mouth slightly. The mouth ended up a little tighter, or perhaps much the same, as my Lie Nielsen. Overall, a good balance for thick and thin shavings ..
Here is a close up of the lever cap. You can see it is an angle section ...
The inside is infilled with Jarrah ...
How does this work? The angled section is tightened down against the blade (same 45 degree angle), pushing it against the bed.
I found that the thumb screws could be used to make adjustments to the cut, as tightening them added a smidgeon of depth, and vice versa. The blade adjust easily with a hammer. To set up, simply place the bed on a flat surface, insert the blade until it rests on the surface, and lock down. That sets it up for a fine cut (pretty typical for all spokeshaves).
The spokeshave has not difficulty taking fine shavings ...
.. and thick ..
Brass or stainless steel thumb screws? I went with the SS for contrast. Any preference?
Regards from Perth
Derek
Firstly, it needed to be compact and light, as with all the other tools included in the tool box. For example, my HNT Gordon weighs 430gm (15oz) and is 280mm in length. A Lie Nielsen weighs 304gms (11oz) and 260mm long. Mine is 240gm (8oz) and 150mm long.
Secondly, there was the choice between bevel up and bevel down designs. I have both types in my collection. My preference is a bevel down for face grain and a bevel up for end grain. Interestingly, at one stage I looked at building a kit, such as the Hock or Lee Valley kits, but both are bevel up types. No one offers a bevel down kit. In the end I decided to design and build my own.
The elliptical shape was chosen since I like to push or pull a spokeshave from behind the bed or in front of the toe, rather than holding arms. This creates a low centre of effort and adds control.
The blade came from a cheap Chinese M2 plane blade.
I have been making and using M2 (HSS) extensively in the chisels, planes and cutters, as it is a very good steel, rivalling PM-V11 for durability. Many appear to fear it as M2 is considered tough to sharpen. Not so with diamond, which is one reason I went with this in the sharpening kit.
The bed is 45 degrees ..
The body is fiddleback Jarrah and brass. I used 3mm angle brass section for the toe and the lever cap. The lever cap is really interesting. I borrowed the design from Terry Gordon, although I have only seen photos and had to work this out for myself ...
The bed received a 0.5mm brass cover, which is really a shim to close the mouth slightly. The mouth ended up a little tighter, or perhaps much the same, as my Lie Nielsen. Overall, a good balance for thick and thin shavings ..
Here is a close up of the lever cap. You can see it is an angle section ...
The inside is infilled with Jarrah ...
How does this work? The angled section is tightened down against the blade (same 45 degree angle), pushing it against the bed.
I found that the thumb screws could be used to make adjustments to the cut, as tightening them added a smidgeon of depth, and vice versa. The blade adjust easily with a hammer. To set up, simply place the bed on a flat surface, insert the blade until it rests on the surface, and lock down. That sets it up for a fine cut (pretty typical for all spokeshaves).
The spokeshave has not difficulty taking fine shavings ...
.. and thick ..
Brass or stainless steel thumb screws? I went with the SS for contrast. Any preference?
Regards from Perth
Derek
