Restoring and preparing the cutting iron and the cap iron The #151 flat-bottomed spokeshave is now the commonest of all spokeshaves in use for general woodworking and the traditional wooden pattern from 17th century origins is no longer a production model because it generally ceased being produced in the 1920s because of the #151 success….
I am often concerned that when people discuss hand tools of different types someone declares that a particular make or type is the only one to get because of a particular quality that that tool might have. All too often and in the same breath they then dismiss other types in order to bolster their…
Sharpening Spokeshaves Needs Good Leverage All too often punching a keyboard doesn’t strengthen the right finger, hand and arm muscles for sharpening super short blades like spokeshave blades. I do freehand-sharpen without any such associated problems but I have taught enough students through the decades of training to know many do find great difficulty applying sufficient pressure…
I bought three #151’s via eBay recently to show what could be had for under £10 knowing the steel cutting iron, cast body and associated adjusting mechanisms will be original Sheffield steel of quality rather than an Asian import under the banner of say Irwin or Stanley or whatever. In this series I want to…
More on spokeshaves – How I Got Started With One Growing up in the 50s and 60s and then throughout my apprenticing years in the mid 1960s I worked considerably in restoration work on older houses that had settled more solidly through two world wars, much demolition from bomb droppage and of course normal settlement…
Here is the way forward for making the Paul Sellers’ Spokeshave Blade Extender There is a lot more besides hurting fingers and hands when it comes to freehand sharpening small blades like spokeshave blades. Applying effective pressure is hard and keeping even pressure across the width of the iron with just fingertips is nigh on impossible….
We use spokeshaves a lot at the school. From the Foundational Course projects through to rocking chairs, these tools prove invaluable for shaping arches, rounding over and other multidimensional features we woodworkers configure in our work. Though these tools are very forgiving when it comes to sharpness; they are at their peak if they are…
Flat-bottomed and Round-bottomed Spokeshaves Hi Paul, It was a pleasure to meet you at the Fredericksburg VA Woodworking Show. I hope to be taking your beginner course next spring. However, I have two questions to ask. 1. Are all of your spokeshaves flat bottomed or do you use a rounded bottom spokeshave also? If so,…
Muscle development in the hands I meant to take pictures of a common problem with spokeshaves bedded at 40-45 degrees. This type includes almost all of the metal-cast models we know and love including Veritas and #151 models and more. People who tend to sharpen with micro bevels would best just sharpen a single bevel…
Three years ago a woodworking guru in a British woodworking magazine gave advise to a new woodworker because he had asked why he couldn’t get good results from his Stanley #151 The tool kept digging in and gouging the wood. The guru gave no remedial advise to the writer. He actually stated that you cannot…