Anyone here use a spokeshave?

[bigcountry]

I love my spokeshave, i just have the cheap kunz. you can make any spokeshave work a lot better by tuning it:

tuning:
1. flatten blade and sharpen
2. flatten cap iron
3. flatten bed
4. flatten sole
5. grind a "come to a point" bevel on the cap iron so it acts like a true chip breaker.

these are all simple and free tips that can make a cheap spokeshave act like a quality spokeshave.

there are also some things that cost a little money but can make your shave even better:
these include:
1. make a new cap iron out of 1/4" brass or steel.
2. buy a new aftermarket blade such as a Hock.
3. flatten the bed even more by forming it to the blade with a bed of epoxy.

Ok, what is a cap, sole and bed?

And what does chip breakin mean?

[bigcountry]

Well, tried it out last night on osage roughed out bow.  And think its going to be nice to get a bow floor tillered.  I then tried IPE, and that was little tougher. 

I like it. 

[nickf]

I have a kunz one, Just love it!

Nick

[mole]

Canoe, maybe you put the blade in upside down.  The bevel goes down.

John

[AKAPK]

Those things chatter if ya don't get the Cutting angle lower than 30, I use mine to rough out and then the scrapers,sometime the rasp.

[ballista]

yeah akapk, i like the rasp alot too: i like how the angle of the grain won't affect how it works a whole lot

[richpierce]

Spokeshave is fast and controlled.  I use it more than anything else.  I don't favor rasps as either they don't take enough off or they leave a lot of cleaning up to do.  With a good spokeshave the limbs are ready for scraping and finishing w/o losing any draw weight.

[mullet]

  I'm with RyanO, I never was happy with it, I used it on Osage mostly. It seems like I spent more time unclogging it. I gave it to somebody at the Classic or Pat's first Camporama, don't remember which.

[AKAPK]

I also notice if I use the spokeshave that i cut at an angle one side grip further up front takes a slimmer shaving but seems to work for me and also reduces chatter.

[longshot]

I love my spokeshave.  I just made a huge pile of shavings that look like gift wrap ribbons last night on a hickory backed walnut bow I am working on.  It is very important to get everyting square and to set the cutting depth just right.  It took me some time to get used to it in the beginning but once you have the hang of it, you can make very precise paper thin shavings.

[Badger]

   I had a question regarding my spokeshaves in a PM. I made the statement that I have never sharpened mine after hundreds of bows. I have one stanley spokeshave and one other common brand one. When I first got them they didn't work so well and I had a friend who is very good at sharpening do both of mine. That was the only time they had ever been sharpened. They could use another sharpening now but still work well. I don't sharpen my drawknives very often either. Everyone else I talk to says they need theirs razor sharp but for me they seem to work fine with just a good edge. Steve

[JW_Halverson]

I've got the Stanley 51, I spent an afternoon with finer and finer grit emory cloth on a glass plate to get the sole really trued up flat and smooth.  I spend an hour or so once a month sharpening kitchen knives and wood working tools, so I just add the blade to the pile.  I found that I do not have to sharpen much once I got a really good edge, most of the time I just run it across a leather strop that has been rubbed with a polishing compound. 

I have learned more tricks for getting good results just by using the tool on everything I can get my hands on.  If you have grain reversals (and who doesn't?) just work outwards from the middle of the problem spot.  Problems with chatter?  Tune it down to take less and less material, and keep changing the angle of the blade across the material (lead with the left side, then lead with the right side, etc.).  When reducing the thickness of a limb, I don't try to make a level cut across the whole limb, I angle the tool to take off one side, then the other, then the middle...taking less material per stroke is much easier than trying to hog it off in chunks.  It can be a fine tool or a frustration, and often I lay it on the bench and take up my heavy farrier's rasp when I cannot get the results I want.  Ultimately, I wouldn't get much done without it, and I think it is a good basic tool to buy when you start out.   

My tool kit could be reduced to my tomahawk, spokeshave, drawknife, buck folding knife for scraping, and a pocket knife.  And for that matter I could probably get by with just the drawknife and spokeshave.