spokeshave newbie - help

Re: spokeshave newbie - help

paul womack

>I have heard that shellac is not a good thing for wooden planes.

Where from? AFAIK it's a jolly good finish for planes.

BugBear

Re: spokeshave newbie - help

Greg Bétit, Vergennes, VT

>I built one to the LV recommendations too. A shorter front to blade distance will indeed help in concave geometry. Some shave makers radius the sole to facilitate this as well. Both of these variations will make them much fussier on flat workpieces. But that's why you need more shaves.

I threw on some wax on mine after the BLO and called it quits.

Got any pictures of yours?

Greg

Re: spokeshave newbie - help

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>I think that shellac is not a good finish for any tool held by hand, since the hand-to-shellac interface would tend to create blisters when sweat and rubbing is involved.

I leave my Japanese planes unfinished.

Pam

Re: spokeshave newbie - help

MikeW

>Hi Steve,

Making the distance less may help somewhat in getting into an inside radius. One the other hand, using a pipe held in a vice and *slightly* curving the brass around it and making where it mounts to match is probably a better method.

I would also make a radiused one into a bevel up version (screwing the bolts for the blade adjustment into the other side of the blade) and make appropriate changes to the wood blank.

Not sure what you mean by "filing down the sides of the screw heads holding the plate?" If you are referring to the brass plate, the brass should have been countersunk to allow the full depth of the flathead screws to be below the surface.

Where exactly would you use the epoxy? For what? Please explain and someone can maybe help here. Make sure you do not interfere with the bolts being able to go up and down--that's how the blade adjusts.

BLO on Jatoba is great, isn't it? If you want to shellac it, that's OK from a technical standpoint--after the BLO has had a good amount of time to thoroughly dry. Personally I would just wax it, if anything. The oils from your hand over time will impart a nice glow to it anyway.

As for shellac on a wood plane, it's fine to use but I wouldn't put it on the sole. After a couple flattening of the sole it would be gone anyway.

MikeW

Re: spokeshave newbie - help

Steve Kubien

>Hi Mike,

The area that the plate is recessed into is very narrow, about the width of the head of a flat-head #8 screw. As such, when the plate is adjusted (filed or sanded) to be flush with the front face of the shave, the brass surrounding the screw is thinned out enough for the inside of the screw head to show. Man, I hope that makes some sense because the only other way I have of describing what I mean is wavy my finger and hands about. Can you see them? Is it clearer now?

As for the epoxy, I am filling in the screw heads on the plate and a slight gap at the side of the plate. Nope, not the adjustment screws although that sounds like the kind of thing I would do.

Steve Kubien

No pictures yet...

Steve Kubien

>...as I have not joined the truly digital revolution. This computer thing is all a fad anyway. My stone chisels are ready to go (for the stone tablets we will be reverting to any day now) and my flock of carrier pigeons is healthy and well.

Steve Kubien

But I thought...

Steve Kubien

>...that blisters were a concern? Perhaps I am mistaken...again. What is AFAIK anyway?

Re: spokeshave newbie - help

Steve Kubien

>Hi Pam,

I thought about leaving it unfinished but the jatoba is really pretty when oiled. I couldn't resist.

Steve Kubien

Re: spokeshave newbie - help

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>If you use the right countersink the screws will sit flat. Personally I scraped the brass and used some very hard Backwood for the mouth of the two I made. It's alot easier to tweak than the brass was. BLO or any oil finishes work well. Personally I made a toatal of 7 before I found the two designs that I kept.

Re: shellac

Warren in Lancaster, PA

>I am rather surprised to hear that shellac could cause blisters. I get blisters from a rake or a hoe, but not from a chisel, plane or saw. I have tools with oil, with shellac, and with nothing. Of those that have been used hard, the ones with shellac look the nicest after a number of years.

AFAIK=As Far As I Know...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>

Re: shellac

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Maybe so, none of my regular users has a shellac finish; but it is a hard, smooth, almost impermeable surface. I do get a blister from using the horned scrub, in my web between thumb and first finger on the hand pushing; but it's not finished.

Pam

Re: But I thought...

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I only tend to get blisters from hard, plastic film finishes (e.g., gloss polyurethane), or from really rough, unfinished weather-beaten, cracked and chipped wooden handles. A penetrating oil finish or wax is better in this regard, I think.

As far as the suitability of shellac or shellac and oil, the problem here is that the oils and salts and acids in your hands can attack the shellac, significantly reducing its durability. How much of a problem this will be depends on your particular skin chemistry, the weather, how much using a particular tool causes you to work up a good sweat, and whether you have a tendency to turn over martinis on your workbench. If you put on the shellac and don't like it, you can take it right off again with a little alcohol and put on some more, or replace it with some more BLO or better yet, tung oil.

Re: shellac

Steve Kubien

>Hmmm, I guess I am mistaken about the shellac. I know polyurethane is out. I thought shellac was in the same camp. BLO and wax it is!

Thanks for the help.

Steve Kubien

Re: But I thought...

Steve Kubien

>Hi William,

I sweat if pick up a pencil so even light spokeshave work will bring it outta me. I hadn't thought about the chemistry (too many flash-backs to high school). I've already put on 2 coats of the BLO. Depending on how it feels after the 2nd coat cures, I'll probably opt for a light wax.

Thanks,

Steve Kubien

Re: But I thought...

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>In any case, it's easy to put the shellac on over the BLO, and if you find you don't like it, it's just as easy to take it off again without doing any damage to the oil finish underneath. It's not like you were stripping a whole tabletop that had orangepeeled (DAMHIKT).

Re: spokeshave newbie - help 

MikeW

>

Re: spokeshave newbie - help

Steve Kubien

>Well Mike, that's cleaner than mine. I figure by tomorrow (or late tonight if I am impatient) I will take mine for a test-drive. We'll see if it functions as it ought.

Thanks,

Steve Kubien