Wooden Spoke Shave Needs Help

[Richard Line]

This morning I bought a wooden spoke shave at a garage sale. It looks to be at least somewhat old and has been used. It is about 12 in. long overall, with a 3 in. blade edge, 4 in. between prongs. The only marking I can find is on the exit side of the throat. The marking looks to be done by punches. The marking is "XXXIII", roman numeral for 33?

I'll say it is generally in good shape, but a couple of problems need to be addressed. The easier problem, or at least I'm sure how to handle it, is it needs sharpening.

The other problem is that the blade has a small bend between the prongs. About 1/32 to 1/16 in. out of straight. Yeah, it can be used with the bend, but …. I'm thinking of trying to straighten it by squeezing it in my metal vice, it will just fit. Any thoughts on this. Stupid idea, better & safer approach, let it be ….

[Richard Coers]

First you will have to over bend it to make it straight. No way will squeezing it do that. Second is the hardness of the steel and will it crack when you over bend it back. Test the steel with a file to check hardness. You may have to anneal it, get it straight, then harden it again.

[Derek Cohen]

Have you tried using it as it is? Perhaps the previous owner had it working perfectly.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Richard Line]

Thanks for the response Richard. The file test did show that it is pretty hard; a die maker's file I have, made only a slight mark. I did try a simple bending, being careful on how much I was bending the blade. Not enough to make any noticeable correction. I'm afraid that annealing and hardening are beyond both my equipment and confidence.

Now, I'll have to decide if I use it as is, well with better sharpening, or try to find a replacement blade.

[Richard Line]

Derek, yes I have tried using it. It works and can remove material, even leaves a smooth surface, but there is a noticeable concaved surface due to the bend of the blade, and because of the bend it removes too much material (can't reduce the thickness of the cut any more at the center of the cut).

I've got other spoke shaves, so I'm not out of luck. I just wanted to try this type of shave.

[Derek Cohen]

This spokeshave was set up for a purpose. Think of it as a "jack" - for rapid removal of waste. Get another for finishing work.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

Richard, your spokeshave looks like the problem maybe more of worn wood than warped blade.

Richard Line Spokeshave.jpg

To me the wooden sole in the center looks worn. In effect, if this part of the sole was made with the same curvature as the blade it would act more like a slightly cambered blade on a plane.

One of my spokeshave acquisitions was similar to this > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?269044 < My solution was to lay in a piece of brass to repair the sole. A piece of hardwood could work just as well.

jtk

[Richard Line]

Jim,
The forward, center of the sole is definitely worn from use. Probably from taking heavy cuts to remove material quickly. However, the area near the throat isn't worn (much) and is straight. This area is about an 1/8th wide (at the narrowest area) and the 3 in. width of the blade's edge.

I suspect the blade was bent while trying to hog off a lot of material.

I've been trying to use this flat area for my test cuts. It's clear that the blades bend keeps it from taking thin cuts that would be desired for this type of shave. By the way, I have 4 other shaves, all metal, including one of the Veritas low angle shaves, which is functionally similar to this wooden shave.

Thanks for you comments, they did make me go back and verify the info above.

[Richard Line]

Late this afternoon, I tried again to straighten the bend in the blade. I somewhat refined the holding of it in the vise, slowly bent it until there was some reverse bent, and then let it stay in the vise for about an hour. I seem to remember that some metals will slowly adjust to stress with time. Anyway, this worked to reducing the bend to less than half of what it had been; now less than 1/32nd. The shave does work better, good enough to put into my set of working shaves. This is all assuming that the blade won't return to it previous bent shape.

With this improvement, the wear on front of the shave's mouth is more noticeable. This has been an interesting undertaking, even if the bend returns. The next task will be to improve the sharpening.

Thanks all for you comments, they were quite helpful.

[Tom Bender]

My technique for bending this would be to tape small blocks of wood to the ends on one side and center on the other then clamp in the vise or just down to the bench.

[Richard Line]

Tom,
That is close to how I did the last bending effort. The only difference from your technique, was that I used 3 nuts of the same size - they were handy.

[Derek Cohen]

Richard, if you wish to sort the mouth, you could just inlay wood or brass. Here are two travishers I made with different mouths ...








It is a standard procedure with wooden planes. Shooting plane ...



Jack plane ...



Use a hard wood instead of brass.

Regards from Perth

Derek