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Thread: Round bottom spokeshave
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2nd March 2013, 05:45 PM #1Rank Beginner
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Round bottom spokeshave
I've recently spent some time tuning up two $12 vintage spokeshaves.
One is a Stanley Sweetheart Era flat-soled shave. As a result of being under pressure from the cap iron for eighty odd years, the blade was pretty far from flat and took a lot of time to lap. I established the bevel with a hand grinder and then moved through 120, 240, 400, 1000, 6000 and 10,000 grit stones on the face and bevel. Waste of time, in retrospect - not enough meat left to justify the effort. Never mind.
I also cleaned up the bed with an auger bit file, although not much work was required. I'm guessing it had been linished. I also flattened and polished the cap iron and lapped the sole a little. Cleaned up the whole thing with Autosol, which lightly cleans and leaves a light waxy finish. It's the best rust-fighting stuff I know. I use it on pretty much everything.
It is now my new favourite tool. I'm delighted by how responsive it is; with a light touch and a heavy skew it can be used to create a nice finish, with a more direct approach and more pressure it can remove timber pretty quickly. I've used it a fair bit with pine, jarrah and Tassie oak, all of which behave nicely. It does need a very sharp blade to avoid chatter. I'm not sure of the model number, but it doesn't have an adjustable mouth or blade adjusters. I've been adjusting it by tapping it with whatever comes to hand (butt of a chisel, mallet, workbench, steel hammer).
I performed all of the same operations to a Pope Falcon round-bottomed spokeshave, a copy of the Stanley #151 in most respects. This was not a very nice tool. The bed was painted cast steel, with a "grainy" texture that needed a lot of correction with a file. The dusty black paint came off onto my hands in use. The cap iron was (and remains) ill fitting. The mouth is very, very wide open. The blade adjusting mechanism is annoying - I removed it.
I still can't get this tool to work very well. I've learnt how to get it to "bite" properly, which is by using very little downwards pressure. I find I can make it work best by pushing, whereas I generally prefer pulling the other shave.
Should I continue to practice with this tool, or should I consider modifying it (closing the mouth with brass or plastic, making an epoxy bed, something like that)?
I will not buy a new tool.Cheers,
Eddie
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2nd March 2013 05:45 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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2nd March 2013, 06:28 PM #2
Oh dear ... more Falcon bashing ... did auscab put you up to this?
You realise ASIO will be monitoring this ...
I don't know much about spokeshaves ... but can think of two possible elements.
1. maybe the (similar) 151 wasn't such a brilliant performer anyway (even with flat sole)? and
2. is it to do with the rounded sole?
I have a stanley 67 with just the rounded sole (that came from SG) and I had to play about with it for a while before I started getting a bit used to it. I certainly don't have it 'mastered'.
How about a photo?
Cheers,
Paul
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2nd March 2013, 06:46 PM #3Rank Beginner
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I have had a number of Australian-made tools. I have promptly got rid of all of them, except for a Carter plough plane - but that was only because I'd put so many hours into fettling it to a basic useable state that I couldn't bear to part with it. It is still only a barely passable tool. I had the Stanley equivalent and it was night and day.
I did have a Pope Falcon #6 a few years ago that was alright. The finish was rough as guts, but the casting was heavy and accurate. I also had a Turner, which was a genuinely very nice tool (I'd actually recommend these over Stanleys any day, if you don't mind the curious plastic handles).
As far as my spokeshave goes, I know that technique is the likely culprit. These are famously tricky tools. Still, I can easily enough use epoxy to bed it more soundly, or close the mouth. I'm a bit sceptical that a tight mouth is really so important with shaves, but don't really have enough experience to judge.
Does anyone here use one of the old Stanley round-bottom shaves with success?Cheers,
Eddie
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2nd March 2013, 07:43 PM #4
Well, depends on your definition of 'success'. I have a round-bottomed 151 that was bought new about 25 years ago, or p'raps a little more. Like you, I took some time to get the hang of it, but I can usually get it to make good shavings, now. I also found that for many operations, pushing was a better option, but it's so with the flat-botomed shaves, too - pushing often gives me more control over potential chatter. I'm also a bit unsure of the importance of a fine mouth on a shave for many operations, but it may be important at times. I needed a replacement blade for my old 151, and got one of the thicker blades LV sell. Wasn't expensive, & it closed up the mouth a bit & improved the performance of the 151 noticably, but it could be due solely to the more solid blade - I couldn't say for sure.
I bought a pair of Lee Valley shaves some years ago. They took me a while to get used to! Those round handles were the subject of much criticism by a number of users, & it seemed not many others liked them either! I bought a couple of kits of the brass screws & nuts to make my own handles, but before I got the round tuit, I sort of got used to the round handles, & still haven't 'fixed' them (I intend to do it some day). I do find the LV shaves do a nicer job on some woods than the 151 shaves, & they seem much happier pushed than pulled, too. Their better performance has a bit to do with the finer mouth, and a bit to do with the better blade bedding (I think!).
Have to relate a funny story about the round-bottomed 151. As I said, I just couldn't get on with it at first, and found it quite frustrating - darn near threw the thing out in disgust, a few times!. One day, my then 7 or 8 year-old son was hanging about & wanted to make himself a wooden sword. I was half-helping him & half leaving him to find his own way, & at one stage told him to use one of the spokeshaves to shape the 'blade', but forgot to say which one. By chance, he selected the round-bottomed shave (perhaps because it looked new). Imagine my surprise when I looked around, to see the little b*gg*r working happily away, making perfect long shavings with it....
So, Eddie, I think the moral of the story is that technique is pretty important, & you either have it straight off, or you have to work for it.
Cheers,IW
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2nd March 2013, 08:20 PM #5Rank Beginner
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Round bottom spokeshave
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1362215936.912474.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1362215964.896338.jpg
You can see the work that I've done with a file on the bed of the Falcon - wasn't necessary on the Stanley.Cheers,
Eddie
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2nd March 2013, 09:22 PM #6
Ha ha .
I do love Aussie gear , but some of those planes
I do use a falcon spoke shave and I like them. I have a Stanley and a Falcon favorite . I don't remember which is my flat sole or my curved right now, the Stanley or the Falcon but I prepare them the same way for work, and that is that the sole is polished , I dress them up on my linisher and then polish on the buff. the leading edge is curved up like a ski like a 3mm radius, and the blades are ground curved so that I am using about one third of the blade cutting at any time . and I always have a piece of paraffin wax ready to wipe the sole with. Tight curves in hard wood can be the most difficult and I usually traverse at about 45 degree from both directions, using only one third of the blade means when the middle gets dull I adjust and use the left side , when it's dull I use the right. The shaped work is finished with a scraper then sanded with 280 grit lightly .
Another way I like using them is I set up the blade so that it is taking a big bite on the right hand side down to nothing at the left ,still with the curved blade. It's not really for shaping tight curves but if I wanted to make say a broomstick from a square length of timber I can knock off the corners with big bites and as I get down to finishing it round I move across to the fine side, then finish off with a curved scraper.
Rob
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7th March 2013, 09:40 PM #7
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8th March 2013, 03:19 AM #8GOLD MEMBER
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I bought my first spokeshave about a month ago. Stanley #64. $50 with shipping. Crude and nasty little piece of work with a very soft blade. Hanging on the wall.
Instead, I have a pair of $14.50 Samona spokeshaves which cut smooth, fast and clean with a very durable blade. The soles were painted and the mouth of the castings needed a little file work but no big deal.
Really sort of fun to use.
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8th March 2013, 08:43 AM #9Rank Beginner
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Round bottom spokeshave
I'd agree that the later model spokeshaves are rubbish. My Stanley is 1915-30 vintage and, as mentioned in first post, very nicely made.
Cheers,
Eddie
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