Shave Horse

[ken hatch]

Nice horse Ken. I like the adjustable height of the support part of the head. I think I have it figured out how you did it with a flip up lock but could really use a photo of that particular detail if possible please. I only have a shave pony right now but have wanted a horse for a while.

Don,

A close up of the head and ratchet installed to go along with Mike's photo:

shaveHorseRatchet171206dscf2219.jpg

I hope it helps. If interested do a google on shave horse and the PWW article with plans will be near the top.

ken

[ken hatch]

All I can say is I'm jealous of anyone who has room to keep shave horse in their shop..

Joel,

That was one of the reasons I've just made one. When I cleaned up my wood storage and opened up the floor under the wood rack (put all inside wood on the rack) it opened up a storage spot. If you think about it and move enough "stuff" sometimes you can improve on the ten pounds of stuff in the five pound space.

I went from this:

woodPile171028dscf2083.jpg

To this:

newWoodPile171102dscf2085.jpg

The shave horse just fits where the vac is with the head in the open space to the left.

ken

[ken hatch]

I think Hard Maple will work Ken. I believe the teeth on mine were a little thin and made from Sycamore, which grows faster and softer. When I get bored I stand in the backyard and watch the Poplars and Sycamores grow. It is always a race to see which can grow the fastest.

I think the design Tom used came from a Brin Boggs design that won a Fine Woodworking design award about 26 years ago. Lie-Nielsen actually use to sell Brian's design or one he or LN had made. Brian's design was a redesign of the old English " Bodger's Bench". Drew's original design in “The Chairmaker’s Workshop” was a German “Dumb Head” design, made from parts split from a log and dried in one of his kilns. The problem with Drew’s original design being that few people will split and dry their own wood. Brian’s design incorporates dimensioned or construction lumber which is certainly more readily available.

Drew mentions in his book: “In fact, workbenches with a screw vise were not commonly found in many workshops until the mid-nineteenth century”. He is talking chair and furniture making workshops, back when many people made their own. It is interesting to consider whether the Shaving-Horse or Bodger’s Bench may have been a more common feature in workshops in that period than Workbenches or at least Workbenches with a vise. Certainly a bench takes up less room than a worktable/workbench. Could the Shaving Horse be the original woodworking vise? Certainly the tools used for making chairs and other furniture then were relatively crude hand tools by todays standard.

Mike,

Your memory is good. That is my understanding as well, Tom did a little reverse engineering of a shave horse Boggs had with him when he taught a workshop at Tom's place.

Skill makes up for a lot of LN tools , if you spend any time in places other than our western world you will still see how little it takes to make things.

ken

[Don Orr]

Thanks for all the follow-up info. Nice work all around.