Drawknives anyone? Spokeshaves?

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Square_peg

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Feb 1, 2012
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OK, I know you guys have drawknives & spokeshaves. Lets see a few pics of what you've got.

Here's my only drawknife. I forged it last month out of 1085. I turned the handles on my drill press using it as a vertical lathe. The ferrules are scraps of electrical conduit flared on the horn of the anvil.

I wanted a big one for peeling logs when working on trail projects for the Washington Trails Association. This has a 17" cutting surface. Sadly I quenched it wrong and created a few small cracks in it. I'll use it till it fails and then make another one.

Drawknife.jpg
 
My freshly peeled cedar log. I haven't decided yet if I will hew it into a beam, saw it into lumber or split it into rails. I'm leaning toward hewing it.

Peeled_log.jpg
 
I use to use one at our old family saw mill to strip off bark from corners of railroad ties. The rail road didn't mind a corner missing from a tie but they would cull them if they had bark because it would prohibit proper creosote treatment to prevent rot.

I alos have an old spoke shave or two but I just can't get them tuned up just right. If anyone around here had a tip or two, I would be listening
 
Here are a few pics of draw knifes for different purposes. The first pics are of crooked knives used by first nations for shaping ribs for bark canoes. The knives on the yellow I just finished for a local canoe builder, the other one in the better picture I made a few years ago. The second group are draw knives for harness making used to cut specific widths of leather for straps, harness and belts. The harness tools are both marked Osborne Co 1826 from Newark NJ. This mark was used for many years before it was changed. I did some research after buying a whole set of harness tools at auction about 40 years ago. The harness maker whose estate i got them from was opened in 1830ish so these ones are early. The last pic shows the handle of the better knife with a cased brass and rosewood handle with great wear from the leather being drawn across the brass and rosewood.

Regards

Robin

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Wow! Those leather drawknives are over-the-top cool. Never seen one before.

The handle of that first knife almost reminds me of a burin handle. How is that tool used? Pushing, pulling or both?
 
omniviking said:
I also have an old spoke shave or two but I just can't get them tuned up just right. If anyone around here had a tip or two, I would be listening
Click to expand...

I have an old Stanley No. 60 combination spokeshave. Still has much of the original paint. I haven't had it long so I can't help you with tune up info. My best guess would be to hone it razor sharp and adjust it so that the blade is just barely proud of the table.

I have another no-name combination shave that looks almost exactly like this one.

Stanley_No_60_spokeshave.jpg
 
Square_peg said:
Wow! Those leather drawknives are over-the-top cool. Never seen one before.

The handle of that first knife almost reminds me of a burin handle. How is that tool used? Pushing, pulling or both?
Click to expand...

Hi there square peg. The crooked knives and the Draw guages for leather are both pulled toward you. The concave area on the crooked knife handles is for your thumb. They can be pushed but the angle of cut changes a great deal as they are ground on the top edge only. They usually have a curved Up tip. The skew tipped one is just something I was playing with.
The Osborne draw guage with the brass and rosewood handle is pretty rare, i have never seen another. The iron one is still being made to this day.

Regards

Robin
 
omniviking said:
I use to use one at our old family saw mill to strip off bark from corners of railroad ties. The rail road didn't mind a corner missing from a tie but they would cull them if they had bark because it would prohibit proper creosote treatment to prevent rot.

I also have an old spoke shave or two but I just can't get them tuned up just right. If anyone around here had a tip or two, I would be listening
Click to expand...
i actually just got a spokeshave today... so i havent 'tuned' a spokeshave before, but i have tuned a few block planes...
which is, from my understanding, basically the same thing. polish and true the sole, tune the blade. its hard to explain (for me anyway, over the net). just google wood plane tuning or spokeshave tuning and you come up with some good 'utube' stuff...:)
hope all is well, j
 
Hey Robin, those are the sweetest strip gauges I've ever seen!!!! Amazing. Are they your users or just collection pieces????

I have one spoke shave, but four more in the mail. I'll get pics up when they come in. If anyone would like to buy one off me, that could be arranged. I don't really need five.
 
I recently aquired 2 Stanley no.54 spokeshaves after it being suggested by nickzdon. I haven't tried them out as of yet, but j.Hollywood edge co and the HHS have been dropping packages off for the past week, so I have a lot of working material @ the moment... Any suggestions as to how I can post pics of them from my phone?
 
M3mphis said:
Hey Robin, those are the sweetest strip gauges I've ever seen!!!! Amazing. Are they your users or just collection pieces????

I have one spoke shave, but four more in the mail. I'll get pics up when they come in. If anyone would like to buy one off me, that could be arranged. I don't really need five.
Click to expand...


Hi Bro
I used to use the brass and rosewood gauge but I retired it and now use the iron one. I have quite a few other tools from the same harness shop, all of them are beautiful tools. If I get a few minutes today I'll post some pictures of the group.
I've been pretty busy lately with some weird custom orders and i'm going nutsy with cabin fever. I have to make some time to hang here with the crew ;-)))

Best regards Bro

R
 
Here is what I have:

Draw Knives Greenlee 10 in. & Oakleaf 8 in.
168967_183858778315183_100000731875005_480397_6585619_n.jpg


Metal spoke shaves
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Wooden handled spoke shaves
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Shave horse
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thanks for looking
 
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RJ, cool stuff!!

Do you have a set of plans for that shave horse that you'd be willing to share???
 
I have a bunch of both, I use them for making handles a lot. 2 spoke shaves are stanleys, one I am not sure of the model, the other is a No. 63 with a convex sole. I've got an old coopers shave as well but its in rough shape. I've got 3 draw knives, a Pexto, a P.S.&W. Co., a Witherby, and an old 10" one that is worn out but still cuts beautifully. I'll snap some pictures tomorrow.
 
Grand dad's. Him n Dad were both blacksmiths and had THE BEST tools. Youngest daughter wanted a sword last weekend so out came the drawknife.

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