spokeshaves

[UserNameTaken]

So, I filed down the imperfection in the cast iron body, which leveled out the blade. Now I just need to get it sharpened up. It doesn't cut for s$@t.

Sounds like it's pretty common for these things to have imperfections.

[bowtarist]

"......and he talked for 45 minutes and nobody understood a word that he said." 

oh, UNT, sounds like you got your problems in control.  Good luck on sharpening...I'd bet you can get it done.

it's an anti-massacree movement!

[JW_Halverson]

In three part harmoneeee

And we'll all sing it when the guitar part comes around again.

[Canoe]

Howdy Group,

Yeah, once you get a good edge on your spokeshave it seems to stay sharp for a really long time.
Here's a link on blade sharpening.  (This guide seems technical but don't worry about that.  From this sight, I made a cheep, simple honing jig that works like a charm.)

http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sharpen/sharpen.html
 

Note:  Although your spokeshave blade may be 2-1/4" wide, you can't get that wide a ribbon - you'll just get a lot of chatter and frustration.
Working lengthwise along the back of your bow, you start by removing wood on the outer edges creating a slight rise (or hill) toward the middle. Then you focus on removing that raised portion along the middle to again get a flatter back.  Then you start again toward the outside edges, creating a rise.  As a result, you should be removing long, paper-thin ribbons that are around 3/4" to an inch wide with very little effort.

I hope that's helpful.

All the Best,
Canoe

And, yes.  I got the reference. "...it was a typical case of American blind justice."  -  Arlo Guthrie

[JW_Halverson]

I recently bought a Veritas brand spokeshave from Lee Valley Tools.  Cost the better part of an arm and a leg, but I didn't have to do a thing to the tool once it arrived.  Straight from the box the blade shaved hair from my forearm and the cutting blade mated with the tool bed like a custom fit.  It's almost impossible to get it to chatter. 

I did find that working with softwoods it would choke out.  I used a needle file to open the throat of the tool a little to allow deeper cuts of wood to pass more easily.  On well cured hardwoods such as osage a high quality spokeshave is a pleasure to use. 

Hope you enjoy yours for years to come.  By the way, as a word of caution.  Don't be too ambitious about sweeping up shavings under your bench when working with a spokeshave.  That cast iron body is brittle as glass!  Those shavings may prevent the took from shattering if it gets dropped on the floor.  I lost both of my old Stanley's in one week due to concrete floor impacts!!!  Besides, my legs don't ache from standing on 3" of shavings like they would from standing around on concrete.  Just being practical, not lazy, ya know.   

[John D]

This discussion may have answered a question I've been wanting to ask.  It seemed taboo to tiller with a spokeshave.  But I've been using one because its the tool that I have on the board bows I've been building.  I've learned that its easy to remove too much too fast, but in general, I can adjust it to remove paper thin shavings and a spokeshave has been working well for me. 

Those of  you who use a spokeshave, do you use it all the way to final tiller?  Are there non-visible benefits to scraping verses shaving? 

Thank you,

John

[JW_Halverson]

This discussion may have answered a question I've been wanting to ask.  It seemed taboo to tiller with a spokeshave.  But I've been using one because its the tool that I have on the board bows I've been building.  I've learned that its easy to remove too much too fast, but in general, I can adjust it to remove paper thin shavings and a spokeshave has been working well for me. 

Those of  you who use a spokeshave, do you use it all the way to final tiller?  Are there non-visible benefits to scraping verses shaving? 

Thank you,

John

John,

I've tillered with a spokeshave all the way to the end...usually not on purpose, and generally achieving an underweight bow!  But you can, and should, go to thinner and thinner shavings the closer you get to final tiller.
-John Halverson

[M-P]

Back when I first thought to make a bow the texts I had  (Pope and Thompson) both recommended spokeshaves.   Of course they both recommended yew, osage or lemonwood as the only woods for making a decent bow, though I seem to remember mention of hickory in dire straights.   The local lumber yard had none of these woods and the local hardware had to look up a spokeshave in their catalog.  It was all just too much for my 15 year old self and so I sort of put off making a bow for the next 35 years or so.
Anyway the point is that spokeshaves have certainly been used for tillering bows.   And dang but mine works so much better at nice long shavings since I turned the blade over.   Ron