Bedeviling questions

Re: Bedeviling questions

Greg B�tit, Vergennes, VT.

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It looks to me that the few pictures I've seen of older chair devils the opening and the blade are not exact semicircles - but more of 1/3 of a circle with the edges of the blade "buried" in the body. Burying the edges makes sense to me as it would prevent them digging into the work - something I noticed mine would do if I started on a piece too wide for the devil.



Good observation!

Practically speaking the sides of the blade don't get much action. I also notice that my exposed bottom edge really does a number on the workpiece if I inadvertantly try to use the devil on a diameter that is larger than the one the devil is made for. So I would say that burying the edge is probably an improvement.

In PWW the author beveled the *back* of the blade at 30 degrees but didn't put a hook on it - I did mine at 90 degrees and also put no hook on it. I *thought* I'd seen here that 90 degrees should work. And it does seem to work on the ones I made. Is there any advantage in beveling the blade? Putting a hook on it? Thoughts any one?



Both of mine (Harris tools and one made from Drew Langsner's directions) have the bevel. It's comparable to the Stanley #80 blade configuration. It seems like the bevel would make it easier to sharpen, and to turn a hook if you're inclined (which would make it sharper?).

I'm also dumping the brass wear plates - it just seems like overkill to me.



If you were making your living making chairs the wear plates might be a good idea. I think it would be safe to omit them if this tool is going to be exposed to occasional use. 200 years ago chairmakers' apprentices spent day after day making spindles, and a wear plates on their chairmaker's devils were a necessity.

Greg

Article

Dan Donaldson

>Skip, you don't have to do a lot of formatting or anything like that for an article. If you can just put your thoughts together , even free flow, and send the pictures along with it (full size), the editors of the articles team will make it look pretty for you. Might save you a bit of time. I think that this is a great idea for an article.

Re: Article

Skip in Falls Church

>Hi Dan,

I've done an article before - it's not too hard and I even don't mind inserting the pictures at the right spot. It's the finding time to get the flow of thoughts down that I haven't had. :)

Skip

Re: Bedeviling questions

john jesseph

>I read through the article a bit more today. I wouldn't really encourage anyone to follow it too carefully. The first thing I noted before I read the article was that the cutout was a much larger arc than necessary, as you said, a semicircle. I agree, about 1/3 should be plenty.

When I made mine, I put the blade in the finished body and traced the profile of the toe and then ground and filed it to a slight bevel. I made sure the blade was just contained in the body, to expose only the arc. Not much thought about that, just seemed intuitive. I also turned a hook without thinking too much about it, just what I do with scrapers.

If I read the diagrams of the article correctly, the author suggested relieving both the heel and toe of the shave, and suggested experimenting as to what angle the scraper worked best. That means there is no bearing surface, and the tool can dig in, and follow and worsen low spots. Really not much different than a bare scaper screwed to a stick. When I made mine, I wanted to make sure there was enough registration in front of and behind the blade to make sure I was just taking down the high spots, and keeping things straight.

more thoughts fwiw

john jesseph

>I like your choice of woods. I used the hornbeam and lignum because that's what I had. I doubt adding brass to it would make a lot of difference. If you use just a dab of wax once in a while, you can make thousands of spindles I would guess without significant wear. Just make another one if you need to, maybe easier than messing with the wear strip?

Re: Bedeviling questions

Skip in Falls Church

>Hi Greg,

Well, since I'm making two devils,I think I'll bevel one blade and leave the other square and see if there's a difference. Although I wonder about putting a hook on at all - wouldn't you have to incline the devil farther forward to engage the hook?

I'm certainly hoping that I won't be using them as much as the apprentices of old did! Although I thnk I'm in trouble - my wife is rearranging the basement and getting her loom set back up. She's making noises about with all these wonderful tools she *really* needs a chair for it. The only excuse I can come up with is that I need to collect or make a few more tools. :)

Skip

Re: Bedeviling questions

Skip in Falls Church

>Hi John,

Most of the devils I've seen are a full semicircle - and I made my first two that way, but less than that seems to make more sense. For the blades on these I think I'll use a slightly larger arc so the bottom edges aren't exposed. I decided to relieve the mouth a little as I found I had to incline the first two I made a little bit forward. After a little thought I didn't see any reason to relieve the back at all.

I've really become addicted to Jatoba and apple. The apple I'm using for these two even has a bit of black streaking in it. I like to use contrasting woods - but I like the way these two blend. I've got some lignum - but I keep saving it for ....... something. :) These things are so easy to make that I don't think I'd mind making more at all.

Skip

Re: Bedeviling questions

Greg B�tit, Vergennes, VT.

>If you think of the devil like it's a Stanley #80 scraper for round stock, you wouldn't be thinking of an incline. I think both the front and back round support surfaces should be on the same fore-and-aft plane.

Greg

Re: Bedeviling questions

Skip in Falls Church

>Hi Greg,

Well, since I only beveled the clamping block I can always make a duplicate with no bevel. That would let me play with both to see which works best for me.

Skip

Re: Bedeviling questions

Greg B�tit, Crown Point NY

>We'll all be waiting for your report, Skip.

Greg

Just be patient!

Skip in Falls Church

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