A natural, durable finish with minimal coats and fuss popular among woodworkers, flooring professionals, and furniture makers
Articles Forums Gallery Marketplace Videos

WoodCentral Forums

Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge

Nearly 100 Exotic Wood Species, Direct-Imported Since 1972. Shop Slabs & Turning Stock.

Spokeshave and I are now friends.

Posts

Spokeshave and I are now friends.

#1

Spokeshave and I are now friends.

Barry Irby

Several months ago I bought a couple of spokeshaves at a tool auction, because they were there. They have been resting on my bench taunting me.

I was working on an oval coffee table for my son and needed to fair a curve. I was going to put the oval pattern back on it and use the router again, but saw the spoke shave. Picked it up and fixed the curve in a matter of a minute or two.

How dumb was that? I have never even touched a spokeshave before and never seen one like this one and I used it without any testing or practice on a nearly finished project. Sometimes you get lucky.

This is a wooden spokeshave labeled Conover Woodcraft. Are you supposed to push it or pull?

Re: Spokeshave and I are now friends.

#2

Re: Spokeshave and I are now friends.

jesse cloud

Glad you found the spokeshave. Its one of my favorites, too.

As for push/pull, it works either way. If it doesn't feel right on the area you are working, try the other way - gently at first, of course.

There's nothing else like a good spokeshave following and improving a curve. Love it for fairing chair legs.

Re: Spokeshave and I are now friends.

#3

me too

Joseph Piotrowski

i also used mine today for the first time. i picked up the veritas spoke shave kit. i don't use them for anything fancy as your project but use it to make a nice concave relief on the backside edge of 3/4 stock. i made a Japanese toolbox and this helps the finger garb hold.

i just free handed it. no plans or measuring. its fun little tool to use.

Re: Spokeshave and I are now friends.

#4

Re: Spokeshave and I are now friends.

John K Jordan

>>>Are you supposed to push it or pull?

This might be useful, or at least interesting, especially for a used spokeshave:

https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/tipstechniques/tuning-and-using-spokeshave

Towards the end of the article: Spokeshaves – whether standardangle or low-angle – can be pushed or pulled.

JKJ

Re: Spokeshave and I are now friends.

#5

Re: Spokeshave and I are now friends.

Tom Norton

Those are nice tools. Bought one from Ernie Conover 25 years ago. He is located about 45 minutes from my home.

Re: Spokeshave and I are now friends.

#6

Re: Spokeshave and I are now friends.

TomD

You need to follow the grain so if you watch the Boggs video, he is tossing it around in the air to switch it up all the time. I started with the stanley and record, and they were both supposed to be pushed, there are thumb indents that actually get in your way if you pull them. For some reason I always thought they were to be pulled, other than those situations where you spin them around. Clearly when using them in a horse, you are pulling most of the way, and for one fixturing, one is normally pulling the drawknife so would keep with that when changing to the shave.

More recent designs seem to leave the indents off. Here is a pic of Boggs pushing in a horse:


👍 This page answered my questions

Your vote helps other woodworkers quickly find the answers and techniques that actually work in the shop.