Spokeshaves

[Harbo]

Having brought back from the States, some Rockler brass fittings for Norm's deck chair I have resurrected a postponed project. But constructing it from local oak and not teak.
As there is hardly a straight piece in it, I have been cleaning and sharpening my old Stanley 151's but then read a feature on Finewooding.com titled "Soup up your Spokeshaves".
It describes how to replace a blade with a new type, make a new cap iron and thirdly flatten the bed with epoxy and paper - this last one seems quite easy and cheap - has anybody tried it?
Carrying out the other two improvements is quite expensive - £30 for a Hock replacement plus some brass for the cap plus lots of filing, drilling etc. etc and its getting very close to the cost of a new shave?
Another feature on FW reviews a number of spokeshaves and recommends the Veritas shaves and a Woodjoy. I know Alf has reviewed the Veritas ones (and did not like the handles too much?) but has anybody experienced the Woodjoy? Both available from CHT.
I suppose working in oak might suit the higher angled Veritas?

Rod

 

[woodbloke]

Rod - I had a go with my Record 'shaves at the epoxy thingie on the bed.....forget it it's the messiest thing you'll ever do in the 'shop and at the end of the jour it don't work (or at least I couldn't get it to work). Much easier, and better IMO is to use layers of veneer to build up the thickness so you get a nice, close mouth and then use some double-sided tape to stick it to the bed. It's easy then to use files to shape it to the profile to the 'shave bed. If you have the standard type of crappy 'shaves that I've got then you'll have to bend the two screws up a fraction by wacking them with a tapometer so that the slots in the blade engage in the adjuster nuts. The 'shaves work better but are no substitute for these which is what I'm after next - Rob

 

[Alf]

Rod - I had a go with my Record 'shaves at the epoxy thingie on the bed.....forget it it's the messiest thing you'll ever do in the 'shop

Nah, there are tons of things that make more mess. Anything involving something spinning is frequently much worse. DAMH...

I've done the epoxy thing on a block plane (see the Groz block plane review) but it wasn't standard epoxy but "JB Weld" which is possibly a little better suited? Whatever, it wasn't very messy at all. Worth it? Dunno, generally with even bad spokeshaves the pressure from the cap iron is over an area of solid bed anyway, so possibly not. On the other hand it might be easier than filing the bed flat. For shimming shaves closed I use cut up drinks cans fwiw. Easier than trying to build up epoxy without any means to contain it. A bit of work with a file on the front edge of the cap iron (like removing excess paint :evil so it bears evenly on the iron and doesn't catch the shavings is going to achieve much the same thing as making a new cap iron from scratch. Perhaps more importantly - sharpening and taking notice of grain direction. Practice! Must confess I've got rid of all but one of the 151 varieties of shave I had. If I still had them I'd be inclined to remove the depth adjusters (still dithering over doing so to the Veritas) - more trouble than they're worth IMO. Also if you've got a radius soled one best to learn how to manage the flat first - curved sole shaves have a steep learning, erm, curve :roll: so don't be disheartened if you struggle at first. Did I mention practice? :wink:

No experience of the Woodjoy shaves (think maybe Chris has?) but don't recall hearing anything but praise for them. Wooden shaves have been happily used in oak for centuries, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Harbo]

Well I have ground, honed and polished the blades to my 151's and had a play!
I have 4 of them - two belonged to my father and two that I bought in the late sixties? When you examine them closely they are all badly made - the older ones worse than the 60's ones. They all have a cap iron that seems to have been cast on a sand bed - a tiny lunar landscape which would take lots of grinding to polish out.
I tried them out on some scrap oak - the flat bottomed one was not too bad especially with the grain, but the round ones were something else! As Alf said practise makes perfect but I wonder about these?
As I have about 40 pieces to shape up (and do not want just to sand them all down at this stage) and I want to get on with it, I bought a pair of the Veritas shaves - glad I did with the forecasted price hike? The quality of manufacture by comparison is just amazing.
I may be wrong but years ago when we bought "Stanley" we thought we were buying quality- perhaps there was nothing else to choose from I cannot remember?
Perhaps later I will another go at improving the Stanley's - but purely for sentimental reasons?

Rod

 

[Harbo]

The thought of shaping up 40 curvy bits of oak had left me less than enthusiastic and I was again having doubts about what I had started on?
But I could not put it off any longer and started shaping up the oak - starting with 7 curved footrest slats 1.5" wide by 1" thick and about 18" long. (I had already P/T'd them from sawn boards and cut them out roughly with my bandsaw at given them time to "relax").
My new shaves worked really well especially coping with the varying grain rotation (not something I had considered when cutting them out). A bit of use as well with my block plane and my ancient pillar drill bobbin sander to "polish them off" and I managed to do 5 in about 1.5hrs.
So I am now quite excited about the project and can't wait to get stuck in again. 35 other bits to go!!
Veritas shaves - highly recommended!

Rod

PS I was slightly wrong about the Woodjoy's - CHT do sell them but they do not have any of "The Master" type which was recommended in FW - they are too new.