Draw knife, need a good one.

[burchett.donald]

JW,
      When you chose a draw knife, start out bevel down...I use mine as a scraper and wood remover...Bevel down will give you more control in the beginning...Bevel up tends to dig n quickly if your not skilled with it...
       Just my 2 cents, Don

[Pat B]

John, go to an antique shop, garage sales, etc. and find an old one. Be sure the edge isn't pitted. You should be able to get one for $20 or so.

[M2A]

I Agree with many who have already posted. Look at flea markets and garage sales. 20- 30$ should find you a good vintage draw knife.

But for taking off fine shavings, there is nothing like a good edge on a card scraper. Use mine all the time.

Mike     

[George Tsoukalas]

What Pat said. I have 3 draw knives. One I inherited from my dad. The other I bought at antique/ second hand  tool places.
Jawge

[Eric Krewson]

The best scraper I have found for hogging off wood is a half pair of scissors, the bigger the better. A draw knife makes a lousy scraper in comparison. I like to keep my drawkives very sharp and don't use them for scraping.

I sharpen my scissors scraper with an Accusharp scissors sharpener at a steep angle which rolls the hook on the edge for scraping in the process. It is the hook that does the cutting

These make a rough cut that will need a going over with a cabinet scraper for a final finish.

[Badger]

   Once I get to scraper work I prefer to set the bow on my lap and sit down in a chair. I like to hold the bow with one hand and the scraper with one hand. For me the regular 3X5 card scrapers seem to work best for this. They take nice clean very thin rolls of wood off which is what I am looking for I don't want them too aggressive. I use a draw knife of spoke shave and in some cases a rasp for the bulk wood removal. The spokeshave and rasp I can use with one hand so tend to prefer those when I am at the intermediate stage right before floor tiller.

[Pat B]

John, you can buy a scraper set from Lowe's or Home Depot. The one I got years ago had a plain rectangular, one rectangular with one concave and one convex end and a goose neck scraper. I don't use the goose neck often but when needed it comes in real handy around knots and dips.

[osage outlaw]

I make scrapers out of large band saw blades.  There is a how-to post on here about how to roll a burr on the edges.  It really helped me out.  I roll a burr all the way around and on both sides.  The rounded ends work great for concave backs. 

[Danzn Bar]

I've got one of the Outlaws and it's the best scraper I've ever used.
DBar

[Yard Dog]

I have an old Blue Grass draw knife, that I have made every bow with since 2001..... It was old when i got it off Ebay, and I have hit it with a file, maybe twice....

[JW_Halverson]

Lemme add my support to everyone that says buy an OLD drawknife. In order to get a good modern draw knife, you are going to pay a heck of a lot of money.  I spent years cussing, swearing, and resharpening a cheap piece of modern crap draw knife that had to have been made of some form of iron that was semi-liquid...even debarking a green piece of pine would roll the edge or dull it to butter knife sharpness.

Every second hand store, junk shop, flea market, and garage sale that had a draw knife wanted $25 or more and the blades were always ground down until there was nothing left. Never did score a good find.  So I bit the bullet and purchased a good one from Lee Valley Tools. It is the drop forged Austrian model that is Rockwell hardness of 58-60.  It came sharp enough to shave a newborn frog's buttocks and all I have done for 8 years is lightly hone with a very fine grit diamond hone.  It sells for $50 these days, but I wouldn't hesitate to spend that again if I needed to.  I am sick to death of cheap/bad tools.  Say what you will about a workman never blaming the tools, but nobody builds fine architecture with a rock and bone.

[JWMALONE]

JW, I feel your pain brother. I've gotten lucky in flea markets and stuff with old hand planes and saws. Needed a good dove tail saw, had to break  down and buy a Veritas, cost me $80 but well worth it. Cant remember if it was lee valley I think I got it from Rockler.  I'm going to keep cruising around eBay and see what's up. But ill check out lee valley, I've bought from them before.

[NorthHeart]

At what point in the bow building process do yall set your draw knife down and not touch it again?  And being somewhat new to the use of scrapers im curious, do any of you use them for your final finish(avoiding sand paper or steel wool altogether)?

[osage outlaw]

I put mine down when I'm done chasing a ring on the back.

[Pat B]

Basically the same as Clint. Sometimes, early in the process a little draw knife work is needed but generally once the back ring is chased it's a rasp and scraper to the end. Now, I do use my bandsaw to cut out the profiles and I guess a draw knife can be used for that.