Wood for spokeshave?

Re: Wood for spokeshave?

John K in Hastings, MN

>I'd look for something highly figured like fiddleback maple or curly cherry, myself. Plain wood leaves something to be desired. It doesn't take much wood so you can get something exotic.

John

FWIW

Ellis Walentine

>You can't go wrong with the maple, but I can't imagine there is any penalty for using something harder or more exotic. Why don't you experiment and make two? Then you can see which one you pick up first when you need to shave something.

Ellis

Re: Wood for spokeshave?

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I agree with Ellis. You want something hard and onto which you can work smooth surfaces.

For it's wearing properties, lignum vitae would be best, but it is expensive and difficult to find in large pieces. A good compromise is a lignum vitae wear block defining the mouth opening, and whatever highly figured, fancy wood you have available for the body of the shave.

Re: Wood for spokeshave?

Tony Zaffuto

>Bob,

Take a look at ALF's review of the spokeshave kit--very impressive reporting on the construction and well documented with pictures. I believe her site is "A Cornish Workshop". Recently there was a thread on a neighboring forum that had the kink. Alf basically walks the reader through the complete building of the kit and gives a few hints where to stray a bit from the L-V instructions.

Anyhow, she used apple which will be ny choice as I have lately been bitten by the spokeshave bug (along with drawknives and rasps).

Good luck and please post your results!

T.Z.

Boxwood is my favorite, if you can get it.

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>

Thanks Tony and ALF

Bob Fawcett

>Thanks Tony.

I looked at the site. There is a lot of good information and lots of pictures, but (you knew there would be but) either there is something wrong with my browser or the site has lost its organization. It is arranged as a series of boxes with a photo and text in each box. Somehow the sequence of thr boxes is lost. Maybe ALF will see this and fix it.

Re: Wood for spokeshave?

Todd Hughes

>I think with highly figured wood there is more danger of it breaking where it is thin like on a spoke shave's arms. I know with rifle stocks figured wood is not near as strong as plainer wood and often when it snaps it is along the figure.Most vintage spokes haves were made out of beech or better quality ones box wood. I'd go with the maple that you have and use a brass wear strip....Sometimes the beauty is in the function and form and not always the material....Todd

Re: Thanks Tony and ALF

Alice Frampton, UK

>Bob,

Thanks for the heads up. I think I've sorted it now, but if the default setting is still mucked up you can select "File Name +" from the menu top right in the Album, which should "sort by name ascending" (such catchy descriptions). Using the album is less than ideal really, but it's quick and gives me thumbnails automatically for the original posts on UK Workshop. Sorry for the difficulty.

Cheers, Alf

Re: Thanks Tony and ALF

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Alf, I just this minute got done going through your review/tutorial. Great stuff, very informative.

Pam

Re: Thanks Tony and ALF

Bob Fawcett

>Thanks ALF.

I used the sort by name as you suggested and that works great. Between your site and the Lee Valley instructions I am about half way through building my spokeshave.

I used my drill press to chuck the tap and tap the holes. This works great and guarantees that the tap will follow the same path as the drills.

Site?

Tony - Memphis

>How can I see that? I've got the kit waiting to get started....need all the help I can get.

I'm going to use curly maple that I have laying around left from a turning square.

Thanks,

Tony

Re: Site?

Alice Frampton, UK

>Tony,

Cornish Workshop is the main site, and making the kit can be found here.

I approached it with some trepidation too, but once you get into it's really good fun. And there's nothing like the "I made that" effect to really give you a buzz when you use it :~)

Cheers, Alf

Re: Site?

Bob Fawcett

>

Thanks!

Tony - Memphis

>

Alf, what is a "jobber bit"?

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>

Re: Alf, what is a "jobber bit"?

Alice Frampton, UK

>Don,

Just a common twist drill, like, erm... these.

Cheers, Alf

Re: Alf, what is a "jobber bit"?

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>"Jobber" originally referred to a specific length (length ratio, actually - length to diameter), but it's such a useful length that it's become the standard. You can get long bits fairly easily, and certain sizes of short bits are still popular - for instance, autobody supply shops and similar places carry (or used to - it's been a while) pretty short 1/8" bits to drill through sheet metal for pop rivets, useful because they don't break as easily and are less likely to plunge through and hit something they shouldn't.

Re: Wood for spokeshave?

MinSac

>Probably a little late to be commenting on this thread, but here goes anyway. I bought one of the kits when they were first released. It sat around my shop for about nine months. I finally got inspired by a thread on this forum, and built according to the supplied directions. It was more fun than is legal in three states.

After I was finished, I thought the shave itself was a little kludgy. It was so much fun though that I purchased tool steel and made a low angle wood block plane (thanks James Krenov and Dave Marks), I'm currently making a dovetailed Spiers pattern shoulder plane (thanks to many on the internet), and I plan to make the cigar pattern spokeshave featured in April 2005 edition of Woodwork.

The kit spokeshave, the block plane, and the cigar shave have been/will be made from some cocobolo I got in a grab box at Woodcraft ($10, including some ebony). None of them require much wood, and with the kit the only thing you are committing is the brass wear plate material. If you don't like the result, get a different piece of wood and make another. Good luck and have a great time.

Re: Alf, what is a "jobber bit"?

Alice Frampton, UK

>Bill,

I'm ashamed to say I've only just discovered it refers to a particular length. We've just always called them "jobbers" chez Alf regardless. Possibly because "twist drill" would have had me passing along anything from a brad point bit to a 1" auger when I was a kid and being "helpful"... :~)

Cheers, Alf

An interesting etymological question arises

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>"Jobber" was once a fairly common American slang term (don't know if it was common in England or any of the other colonies) that meant, generically, some kind of object ("Hand me that jobber there."). Wonder if that's the origin?

Re: An interesting etymological question arises

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>I've heard that expression here too but on reflection these were mainly expatriate Brits. I do not recall hearing that expression from an "Australian" mouth.