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Craftsman 12" Bandsaw – Fully Rebuilt + Turning Blanks

smoothing inside curves, how?

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smoothing inside curves, how?

#1

smoothing inside curves, how?

bill tindall

>Once again I face smoothing a number of inside curves on the edge of a board after sawing the profile. The typical inside curve has portions that are nearly end grain, and, short of sanding, I have yet to find the tool to smooth these sections by shaving.

Is there a spoke shave that will take wispy shavings from the near end grain sections of an inside curve (concave)? In a relatively hard wood such as cherry or walnut?

I tried a Lee Valley cast aluminium shave but the sole does not accomodate very much inside curvature. I have made both a large and small Hock ironed shave, and both either don't cut, or upon extending the iron a bit they grab and chatter. I suspect the iron is flexing some when it engages the end grain, which increases the bite. I'd buy a Boggs, Lee Valley, or whatever shave if I knew they would be successful for this task.

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

#2

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

joel

>patternmaker's rasp (use a modelling rasp or a rat-tail for a really tight curvature), followed by a scraper for final finish

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

#3

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

William Duffield on the Cohansey

>Between the cabinetrasp and the scraper, I prefer smoothing is steps, using an 8" half round, followed by a 6" half round smooth file and a 6" half round finish file. For smoothing really tight turns, a chainsaw file works well, too.

If doing the bottoms of aprons, I don't go as smooth as the scraper, stopping with the smooth file.

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

#4

Jack Guzman from Maine

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

Jack Guzman from Maine

>I also like rasps for inside curves but there is one shave that will work.The millers falls #1"cigar shave". Joel sells a reproduction.---Jack

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

#5

Spokeshave can work, Bill

Andrew F in Australia

>but you may need to try a convex spokeshave and skew the blade somewhat to the direction of travel.

Failing that, there's always sandpaper - if you go with the rasp route, score the line to avoid breaking out grain

Cheers,

Andrew

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

#6

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

Neal (San Jose)

>I didn't have much luck with the LV low angle aluminum shave either. I bought a Lie Nielsen round bottom spoke shave, and it worked much better, but still not great. Two weeks after I bought the LN, LV came out with their new round bottom spokeshave. What a difference! It is easy to adjust the depth of cut with the blade adjust screws, and they provide shims so you can close the throat for a fine, chatter-free cut. It will set you back $65, or until the end of the month you can get a set of three (round, flat, and concave for oars, spindles, etc.) for $149, which is almost what I paid for the LN. The secret (for me, anyway) is the blade has to be as sharp as I know how to make it, sharpen often, and set the spokeshave for very light cuts. Otherwise end grain and near-end grain makes my shave jump around like the energizer bunny. You will be limited to inside curves of about 4" radius or larger. Smaller than that you'll need a Millers Falls #1, and that is a whole 'nother thread!

No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.

Neal

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

#7

The Boggs shave! *LINK*

Chris Knight

>The Boggs shave does this to perfection. If you need a tighter radius then the small LN shave is great too.

I found the Boggs to be far, far, far superior to the LV LA shave.

Chris


img

http://www.woodgen.com/woodwork/rocking_chair/rock

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

#8

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>I have experienced the same issues with the LV Low Angle shave and inside curves

It's a vicious cycle...As the curve becomes tighter, you have to stop and open the mouth wider. A few more cuts...open the mouth again..

Lather, Rinse, Repeat...

First time I ran into this, I did as Joel suggested and used some rasps. Second time, I was prepared with any number of shaves including the LN Boggs shaves, the small curved bottom shave from LN and the LV shave.

No problems with any of those...

You have a number of options:

1) Rasps work well...

2) Either the LV curved bottom shave or the LN Boggs curved shave will perform nicely

3) If the curve is very tight, you might need the smaller LN shave (I bought it for just this purpose)

4) Some other older curved shave..

Lots of good choices..hard to go wrong with any of them...

Just get a good rasp, Nicholson Patternmakers at the least, if you go that route

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

#9

thanks for advice

bill tindall

>I have never been a fan of rasps, including the pricy kind. When I need to go that route I just wrap a piece of sand paper around a half round file or rasp and grind away. I take care sawing so that "ideally" I am only removing saw marks which go quickly with 100 grit. Sawing errors aren't so quick, or course. When sanding I can get things out of square, and/or lumpy and then the rasp has been essential to correct the situation. But, it seemed a shave would be the route of choice if there was one that worked.

I am encouraged that the more refined($$) shaves work and I will soon own one. The cahir picture was convincing.

Re: smoothing inside curves, how?

#10

Re: The Boggs shave!

cornelis

>I like the LV/LA as a small drawknife.

How is the new LV vs LN? I have the LV and want to buy the concave one, but also know Boggs/LN is coming within a month.

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