Popular Woodworking 2003-11 № 137, страница 41

From the Bench

Wooden Spokeshaves

Pick up an antique version (or make your own). These tools are unbeatable for curved work.

Many woodworkers might find the traditional wooden spokeshave invaluable for working curved and shaped surfaces. But many others often overlook this useful tool, despite its having undergone something of a revival among Windsor chairmakers during the past several years.

The wooden spokeshave's association with a fairly specific type of work (spindles, spokes, etc.) may help explain this oversight, but I suspect it's mostly because of some uncertainty about how the tool is supposed to function and wondering how to sharpen and tune it. I hope to dispel some of the mystery surrounding wooden spokeshaves and encourage you to discover that they can be ideal for shaping and cleaning up a wide range of circular and curved work.

Chairmakers can use them to shape their spindles and chair seats. Cabinetmakers can use them to fair curves or shape complex work, such as cabriole legs. In short, any woodworker who does any curvilinear work will find them useful.

How a Spokeshave Works

Though it has some unique features, the spokeshave has a key characteristic that identifies it as a type of plane, albeit a very short one. Namely, it has a blade secured in a wooden stock (the body of the tool) and the stock regulates the cutting action.

Many of the tool's more unique features are fairly obvious and require no additional comment. But the significance of some aspects of the blade and its relationship to the stock may not be quite so apparent.

Spokeshaves excel at shaping curved surfaces and can be either pushed or pulled over the work. Wooden tools, such as the one shown here, can be constructed easily yourself, or you can purchase a vintage one.

At first glance the lower face of the blade appears parallel, front to back, with the mouth plate, or sole of the shave. In fact, it could be mistakenly assumed that the lower face of the blade is intended to function as the rear sole of the tool. However, my examination of little-used older spokeshaves reveals that the lower face of the blade is slightly canted (I've observed 5° to 9°) from the sole of the shave (see the drawing on the next page).

This slight cant provides a clearance angle for the blade, which is required of every plane. There is a slight compression of the material being worked under the focused pressure of the cutting edge. The spring-back just be-

by Don McConnell

Don McConnell builds furniture and does ornamental

carving in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Formerly at the cabinetmaker's shop at The Ohio Village, he remains an avid student of the history of the trade, tools and shop practices.

hind the cutting edge would tend to push the blade up off the material if there was no relief angle. While learning to use a spoke-shave, it is helpful to be conscious of registering the sole, rather than the blade, on the material to maintain this relief angle.

This orientation of the blade also means it has a low cutting angle - roughly equal to the amount of cant, or clearance angle, plus the angle of the cutting bevel on the blade. This unique feature results in a very sweet cutting action when working with the grain, especially on end grain. Predictably, this is less than ideal for working against the grain or if there are unpredictable grain reversals.

Luckily, in doing curved work, grain direction is generally more pronounced and the direction you are working in can be adjusted. Because the spokeshave can be used by either pushing or pulling you can accommodate these changes in grain direction without having to change position or turn the work around.

40

Popular Woodworking November 2003