Inshave advice

Had my eye on..... *LINK*

A.J. Byrd

>.....this one for a while, fan of Barr tools (had a chance to try out the chisels, very impressed but had just found and bought my dream set of E.A Berg tang chisels, mini gloat). Don't think Iwould use it enough to justify the cost right now, but then thats never stopped me before :-).


Barr Tools Scorp Inshave.

Re: Had my eye on.....

Kevin Adams

>I haven't seen the Ray Iles inshave yet, but I understand he makes good tools. I've been using a Genuine Forgery inshave for a few years that I like quite a bit, but he's not making them anymore. If you have the money and are truly interested, I would say the two best new ones out there are the Barr shave (great tools) and the one that Drew Langser sells (www.countryworkshops.org).

Please let me know if you have any specific questions. Are you a Windsor chairmaker?

Kevin Adams

Re: Had my eye on.....

john jesseph

>I have both the Barr and one from Drew. I much prefer the one from Drew. I don't know about the others, but by looking at the pictures, the Ilses might be the best cheaper alternative...

I have the Ray Illes...

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>...and it's sweeeet. Very sturdy, has a good amount of mass to it. Honed it to a mirror finish with a drum sander and 600 grit paper. Haven't had to rehone yet, but I haven't really done anything but hack every available piece of poplar I can find into nice little shavings. My experience is limited to two other scorps, both no-name, home-forged ones. Neither could hold a candle to this one. It's uniformly curved all the way side-to-side, and is double beveled. Some folks like these things, others don't.

The Barr one's s'posed to be nice, but coming from Barr, you'd expect that.

There's one newbie's $0.02...

Wannabe chairmaker

Steve Kubien

>Hi Kevin,

Chris Schwartz wrote an article a year ago about his experience making a Welsh stick chair at a small school near Ottawa. Since then, I've been fixated on the idea of trying my hand at it. I've been pouring over Langsner's book and slowly getting a few tools together and an inshave is pretty high on the list right now. Who knows, I may make a chair and hate the experience. That makes me leary of investing in a Barr or one from Drew (besides, my tool budget is pretty low). Currently I am leaning towards John and Scott's advice and going with the Illes. Still rolling it around my brain though.

On another note, I have a small piece of O1 steel and intend to make a travisher blade out of it. I'll keep you updated on the progress (once I get a forge up and running).

Also be sure that I'll have chair related questions soon!!!

Thanks,

Steve Kubien

Ajax, Ontario

Re: Wannabe chairmaker

Kevin Adams

>Steve--

The place that Chris went to up your way was with Dave Fleming. I know a tool designer at Veritas (Lee Valley) that also went and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you're interested, Dave's site is www.spokeshave.ca.

Making a chair or two is great fun and you'll be surprised at how few tools you really need. I would take a class first, see if you like it, and then figure out your tool needs. Some folks just use a large gouge, some use planes, heck I even know someone who uses an electric chainsaw to saddle the seat.

Hope you get to give it a try one of these days.

Kevin

Re: Inshave advice

Mike Jurnigan in Suffolk

>My best inshave that I have is one that I had a blacksmith make by reshaping from an old drawknife. He reworked it and sharpened it for me. Much to my surprise, he sharpened it like a knife and as I said is the best cutting of all my inshaves. Paid 2 bucks for the drawknife and $40.00 to have it reshaped. Not bad when you look at the price of some of the others.