I bought the large, low angle, spoke shave kit from Lee Valley as one of my Xmas gifts using a universal gift card from my parents (Xmas cash). The kit has been setting on the counter for a while and I decided today was the day to try and assemble it. Lee Valley supplies the blade, posts, adjuster nuts and some brass plate. I supply the wood and elbow grease.
Well, this time I did use some power tools.Pretty much just the table saw to rough a blank to width and length, the drill press to get the shank holes square and an oscillating drum sander to clean up some on the handles.
But the blank was prepped for thickness by hand (1" down to 7/8") and that went easily. Actually prepped four blanks just in case I screwed up... The wood is "hububalli" otherwise known as snakewood. Not the easiest stuff to work with, it can be both chippy and stringy in the same piece! But for the most part is is reasonably hard and seems to work well with hand tools.
Cutting the "ware" (that's the deep pocket under the blade) was done by hand and the rough shaping of the body was done by hand with a back saw and chisel. The oscillating drum sander was used just to clean down to the line. After that I went back with a card scraper to get finial surface. The finish is "Maloof Magic", just equal parts BLO, turpentine and beeswax. I'll dunk it a few more times later but one coat for now so I could wipe it down and play. I like the way beeswax feels and it doesn't seem to get slippery like paste wax.
So far it works reasonably well. Since I've never really used a spoke shave very much I'm not entirely sure how it is performing. I can take a thick shaving in a controlled fashion and I can take a thin shaving but I don't have the feel yet so I loose the attack angle. Just takes practice I guess.
The Sharpie marker is for scale.
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