Thread: Sharpen Stanley spokeshave 151 blade

I have been using a pair of Samona spoke shaves. I have pulled them more than a mile in birch.
In terrible need of fettling when new but no complaints ever since. Crude castings, paint on the soles and so on.

One set to cut thick, one set to cut thin, to kiss off the ridges left by #1.
This saved no end of time screwing around (literally) with adjustments when needed.
Sharpening.
28 degree factory bevel. I stuck with that as they cut so well.
Freehand, I used a 25mm paint-stirring stick, a short carriage bolt and a wingnut as a blade extension.
For abrasives, I'm using silicon carbide wet&dry sand papers to 1,500 grit before honing.

Some of the 70 spoons and 30 forks with handles cut with the spoke shaves.

I have drilled locating bolt holes in the 3mm thick metal bar for the Stanley spokeshave blade at one end, and the Veritas spokeshave blade at the other end.
This morning I tried them out on the Tormek, and found it possible to make a bevel at 40 degrees on either blade, no problems. 50 degrees is a problem

So, my process is now to do the hollow grind on the Tormek, then manually hone by hand on waterstones until such time as another hollow grind is necessary.

If I am using a spokeshave blade with 25 degrees, I can use the Veritas Mk II guide for the primary and secondary bevel. Don't need the Tormek for that.

I spoke with Joel at Dubbeld Studios in Townsville, our local Veritas tool supplier, and he confirmed the Veritas small blade holder as mentioned by Chief Tiff in #2 above, is not available in Australia.

Been an interesting exercise, learning how to sharpen a spokeshave blade safely.

To flatten the backs, I use a heavy duty double sided tape to fix the blade to a small block of 42 x 19 pine, making sure the blade does overlap the block slightly on one edge at least, so the block can be put in a vice and the blade can be prised off with a wide blade screw driver

Originally Posted by Dengue

Thanks Graeme. I think I may have a problem with your 2nd solution Graeme. How would I fix the blade to the 3mm thick plate I am using as a jig? The Veritas Mk II will hit the screws positioning the blade. ....

I would try both double sided tape and plumbers silicon to stick the spacer and the blade to your jig plate. Omit the two rear screws; the whole shibang should be held in place by a combination of:

• the single screw at the front, plus
• the "gluing agent", plus
• the contact with the leading edge of the spacer, plus
• the clamping action of the Veritas Guide.

I think that you would need a different spacer for each thickness of blade.