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View Full Version : Just A Whisker on Shaves



Jim Koepke
12-04-2010, 10:18 PM
A few times when the subject of spokeshaves has been brought up, my comments often include calling two that were given to me junk.

So, my inquiring mind wanted to know just why they are junk.

Here are four spokeshaves. At the left are the two spokeshaves that do not want to work well with wood. On the right are a Stanley #63 curved bottom spoke shave and a Stanley #51 flat bottomed spoke shave.

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In my opinion, the craftsmanship in making the box is of a higher degree than what is in the box.

The casting on the AMT is not as smooth as on the Stanley spokeshaves. One thing that is interesting is the AMTs have thumb rests cast into the body, but they are only on the side that would be used if the shave were being pushed. Sometimes I wonder if AMT actually consulted with someone who has used a spoke shave for comments before they were put on the market.

The soles are bigger than the Stanley soles. The convex sole AMT shave has a larger radius than the Stanley. For a flat bottomed shave a larger sole may not be much to consider. For a convex bottom shave, I think I prefer a smaller radius to allow working in tighter places.

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The AMT shaves do not work well at all. They chatter, they seem impossible to adjust. My luck was much better with my Stanley shaves just using my fingers or a small plane adjusting mallet. A quick investigation revealed many problems with the AMT shaves.

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I tried to get a picture showing the light on both sides of the blade, but that was not possible. The lever cap does not seat anywhere near the edge of the blade. The Stanley shaves both clamp the blade much closer to the action. Though a little light can be seen in a spot or two under the Stanley blade on the #63 round bottom shave, it is nothing like on either of the AMT shaves. The AMT lever caps not only do not seat near the edge of the blade, they do not seem to touch the blade very much at all. Looking at one, the edge where it should seat on the blade is beveled the wrong way. The casting on one is actually convex and seats about a quarter inch from the edge of the lever cap. The keyholes in the lever caps are also poorly finished and could be fettled to make them seat a little closer to the blade's edge.

I could not find a comparison price for these on the internet. My thoughts on this is if you want a couple of good user shaves, the Stanley models are plentiful and relatively inexpensive. The offerings from some of the modern makers such as LN and LV are sure to be a bit improved over the Stanley models.

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The blade was removed and replaced and with just adjusting the blade with my fingers and a few taps of my mallet, it was adjusted to take some nice shavings from end grain.

jtk

george wilson
12-04-2010, 11:11 PM
Wholesale Tool offered very similar spokeshaves for about $1.50 each in the 80's. Chinese,of course.

Pam Niedermayer
12-05-2010, 8:39 PM
Wholesale Tool offered very similar spokeshaves for about $1.50 each in the 80's. Chinese,of course.

The Chinese make some pretty cool chisels but you never see them here, guess there's no audience. And from personal experience, they make great sporting shoes, for water walking/light hiking, hiking, and playing tennis.

Pam

Johnny Kleso
12-05-2010, 9:02 PM
I bought a ATM Mini Router Plane and it was more like a started rough casting kit with all the work it needed :)