Spokeshaves
The Spokeshave is really a very short soled plane. Spokeshaves excel at created curved work pieces. Smoothing planes have a shorter sole than most bench planes so they can follow the rise and fall of a work-piece closely. A Spokeshave’s sole is even shorter still so it can craft those curves. For an inside curve/hollow the shorter the sole, the more acute the curve that can be created.
Spokeshaves have two main body types. Flat bottom & round bottom. Flat bottom shaves are easier to use, and make it easier to follow an outside curve. Round bottom spoke shaves are harder to learn to use, but are far more flexible. By altering the angle at which they are held they can go from a fine to a coarse cut without altering the set of the iron. The curve also means that only a small area of the sole is in contact with the work-piece, making tighter inside curves possible.
The next major category is high vs low angle shaves. Most metal bodied spokeshaves are bevel down like a bench plane with a cutting angle of 45 degrees. Wooden bodied Spokeshaves tend to be bevel up and with a 25 degree bevel have a 25 degree cutting angle. Both have their uses, bevel down spokeshaves deal with tear out better, bevel up spokeshaves excel at shaping end grain.
The classic Stanley 151 style spokeshave (identical shaves are available from many makers, such as record) are a great place to start. They have an integrated depth adjuster and can be found widely and easily and cheaply.
My own favorite shaves
- The Preston 1394, A flat and round bottom pair are my go to spoke shaves for most work.
- The millers falls cigar shave - Its the roundest of round Spokeshaves, if you need to deal with a particularly tight inside curves, its as good as it gets.
- My Rusty Tchernis wooden shave. This is my equivalent of a finely set smoothing plane. Its the last shave to touch my work, takes an ultra fine shaving and leaves a wonderful finish. Its a tool that takes a little while to learn to use, but rewards the effort wonderfully. Rusty is a talented chair maker and teacher, if you want a fine chair, your own spokeshave, or lessons in chairmaking check him out at www.tchair.org .
A few tips on use.
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Pull or Push? Some hold very strong opinions on this. My own is that it does not matter. I do both depending on grain direction and whats most comfortable for me. Try both and do what works and is most comfortable to you. When I teach children to use one, I always start them on a pull. Its less likely that they lose control of the tool.
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How to hold? I find the the handles on spokeshaves are best treated as rests, not handles. I push with my two thumbs close to the body and my index fingers providing control, again, close to the center. I pull with the same finger positions, but their roles reversed.
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Iron setup. Just like a bench plane, flatten the back and hone to about 25 degrees. With smaller shaves, getting them into a honing guide can be a challenge. I tend to free hand sharpen most small blades, If I need to regrind the bevel, I do it by hand with a small wedge of wood to keep the iron at the correct angle. I dont worry about being a degree or two out. Veritas now sells a dedicated honing guide for small irons. I find the Richard Kell no 1 small honing guide does well with them too. Many advocate setting up a Spokeshave with the blade out further one one side than the other, so you can switch from a coarse to a light cut by changing which part of the shave you cut with. I do this for coarse shaping, but don’t like it for final shaping.
And finally where does the name Spokeshave come from? The common story is that wheel wrights used them to shape spokes. I find this unconvincing and have never come across an account of them actually being used in this fashion. The explanation I find most convincing, is that the blanks for wooden shoe lasts are called “spokes”, and that a spokeshave was originally a tool for shaping the spokes into lasts. Shoe makers have a range of spokeshave like tools in their arsenal so this explanation satisfies me more.
Some useful links A guide to supertuning the Stanley 151 spokeshave https://www2.canadianwoodworking.com/tipstechniques/tuning-and-using-spokeshave
Paul Sellers videos on making a wooden stool. this is a master class on outside curve work. Shaping a stool seat with a Spokeshave will teach you everything you need to know on outside curves and grain reading. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LAZCok9aV4 Ethan Sincox (The Kilted woodworker) talks cigar shaves on Bench Talk 101 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2eqct-UU7o Wood by Wright on using round bottomed shaves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaxQiZ0i9Rk
Stanley 151 style Spokeshaves. Round and Flat bottom. The Dual adjusters make this an easy Spokeshave to use. It might require some fettling to get it working really well.
The Preston 1394 Spokeshave. Available in both round and flat bottom styles. My work horse shaves, and in my opinion, the prettiest Spokeshaves ever made.
The Millers Falls No 1 cigar shave. The king of round Spokeshaves. If you need an ultra tight inside curve, this is the tool for you!
Rusty Tchernis wooden bodied shaves. A modern maker and my ultra fine finishing shave.
A selection of vintage wooden Spokeshaves. Buying vintage wooden shaves is hit and miss. Look at the second shave from the top, the solve behind the iron is heavily worn, and this is not going to work well. Not the next shave down. It has a brass wear plate to prevent this kind of wear. Wear plates of brass, hardwood or ivory are common. Wooden shaves can be found cheaply, so be prepared to buy a few before finding a vintage shave you really like.
Wooden shaves depth of cut is adjusted by tapping the tangs on top with a hammer. Over time the tangs wear their holes and they wont hold their set. This can be repaired, but its another thing to look out for with vintage wooden shaves.
A good grip for a Spokeshave. Note the position of the thumbs and index fingers, these provide all the propulsion and guidance, the rest of the fingers are just along for the ride.
The Veritas low angle metal bodied spokeshave. The only low angle metal bodied shave on the market that I know of.
For a vintage metal/low angle shave, The Rapier is available cheaply on the vintage market. Its an aluminium bodied shave , and depth adjustment is handled by stacking washers on the cutter arms. Requires a fair bit of fettling but works quite well.
The Clifton range of spokeshaves. Not the concave and convex shaves. Concave and convex shaves have been made by a wide variety of modern and vintage makers.
The Stanley 53 spokeshave features an adjustable mouth and is a very popular vintage model.
The adjustable mouth plate on the Stanley 53
Wooden shoe lasts, made from blanks called “spokes”. Where I believe the term Spokeshave originated from.
The Richard Kell no 1 honing guide, excellent for ultra small Spokeshave blades. Its maximum capacity is 1 inch wide, so it will not in fact handle larger Spokeshave blades. There is a larger no 2 model, but I have not tried it.
The Veritas small iron honing guide. Designed for handling Spokeshave and other small blades.
The Stearns Universal Spokeshave. The compass plane of Spokeshaves. The large sole can be adjusted like a compass plane. This is a shave I dearly want to add to my collection. Unfortunately its probably not a great user. It has a reputation for the sole cracking after repeated adjustments.
The flexible/adjustable sole of the Stearns Universal Spokeshave.
