Some time ago I got a book containing a compilation of articles from Fine Wood Working magazine out from the library. One of them focused on upgrading your run of the mill Stanley or Record spokeshave. If I can remember it all correctly I'm thinking of doing something similar with an old Stanley I have.
Firstly I'd get a new replacement blade from Lie Nielsen. This is partly because of the better A2 steel and greater thickness, etc. but also because the side of the blade that sits facing down is likely to be dead flat which would allow for the next step. That's using the blade to mould a new bed out of epoxy.
The author explained that if you strip the paint off the bed, covered it in epoxy and then inserted a piece of cardboard before replacing (and tightening up) the blade you'd get a smooth level bed with any casting indentations filled. I was thinking of varying this approach slightly. Firstly I'd stick parcel tape to the blade instead of the card board as this doesn't stick to epoxy and so will come away when finished leaving a smooth glued surface. However, I have colloidal silica for mixing into epoxy to turn it into a filler as well as glue so I could also build up the bed to reduce the mouth opening - a big failing with the Stanley/Record spokeshaves by all accounts. I'm just not sure at the moment how I could not tighten the blade fully down on the squidgy bed of wet epoxy while at the same time maintaining the correct slope/even height on each side, etc. This problem is all eradicated if you just tighten the blade down fully - but then no smaller mouth. Hmm...
The final alteration in the article was replacing the cap piece with one made out of 1/4" thick rectangular brass bar. Unfortunately, I can't remember the justification behind doing this. It couldn't be to position the cap closer to the blade's edge to simulate a chip breaker.... you can simply do this with the original by filing the corners and lengthening the keyhole slot. So there must have been another reason - would it just be to increase the weight of the spokeshave? Would that aid performance? I also remember that he just drilled the one hole through the new brass cap for the retaining screw and didn't tap a second one higher up for a thumscrew. So instead of sort of pivoting about the retaining screw with only the front edge of the cap pressing on the blade the entire thing was tightened down onto the blade. Would this have been to aid stability or increase dampening or more likely just because it's easier to drill one hole instead of two?
Ps. just realised that moving the blade towards the front edge of the mouth using epoxy 'packing' probably won't work as this would cause the slots in the blade to disengage with the two depth thumbscrews. So I'll only just be able to level out the bed with epoxy. However, I'm now thinking that this is where an old Preston shave might be a better choice for 'doing up' as the ones with the lateral adjustment knobs have a longer piece of metal passing through the blade's slot which would better accommodate the blade being moved up and towards the mouth's front edge. Stuff to ponder... :?
Firstly I'd get a new replacement blade from Lie Nielsen. This is partly because of the better A2 steel and greater thickness, etc. but also because the side of the blade that sits facing down is likely to be dead flat which would allow for the next step. That's using the blade to mould a new bed out of epoxy.
The author explained that if you strip the paint off the bed, covered it in epoxy and then inserted a piece of cardboard before replacing (and tightening up) the blade you'd get a smooth level bed with any casting indentations filled. I was thinking of varying this approach slightly. Firstly I'd stick parcel tape to the blade instead of the card board as this doesn't stick to epoxy and so will come away when finished leaving a smooth glued surface. However, I have colloidal silica for mixing into epoxy to turn it into a filler as well as glue so I could also build up the bed to reduce the mouth opening - a big failing with the Stanley/Record spokeshaves by all accounts. I'm just not sure at the moment how I could not tighten the blade fully down on the squidgy bed of wet epoxy while at the same time maintaining the correct slope/even height on each side, etc. This problem is all eradicated if you just tighten the blade down fully - but then no smaller mouth. Hmm...
The final alteration in the article was replacing the cap piece with one made out of 1/4" thick rectangular brass bar. Unfortunately, I can't remember the justification behind doing this. It couldn't be to position the cap closer to the blade's edge to simulate a chip breaker.... you can simply do this with the original by filing the corners and lengthening the keyhole slot. So there must have been another reason - would it just be to increase the weight of the spokeshave? Would that aid performance? I also remember that he just drilled the one hole through the new brass cap for the retaining screw and didn't tap a second one higher up for a thumscrew. So instead of sort of pivoting about the retaining screw with only the front edge of the cap pressing on the blade the entire thing was tightened down onto the blade. Would this have been to aid stability or increase dampening or more likely just because it's easier to drill one hole instead of two?
Ps. just realised that moving the blade towards the front edge of the mouth using epoxy 'packing' probably won't work as this would cause the slots in the blade to disengage with the two depth thumbscrews. So I'll only just be able to level out the bed with epoxy. However, I'm now thinking that this is where an old Preston shave might be a better choice for 'doing up' as the ones with the lateral adjustment knobs have a longer piece of metal passing through the blade's slot which would better accommodate the blade being moved up and towards the mouth's front edge. Stuff to ponder... :?