I nevegr got in to them too much.Thinking of getting one. What are you using? We are just doing regular stock stringers in US blanks. Nothing fancy or wide.
I've made my living working wood, metal and plastic for 30+ years.
All the boards I make are wood and my spokeshaves get plenty of work.
It's much easier to control a full sized tool that fits your hand as opposed to one of those small ones you have to grip with your fingers.
I have several but the one I like best is the Lee Valley / Veritas Low Angle Spokeshave
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=44834&cat=1,50230&ap=1
The mouth is easy to adjust and it can be set to take VERY fine shavings.
They aren't cheap but for tools like this it pays to buy quality and keep 'em sharp.
My 2 Cents.
…hello Cleanlines, for normal building, they are very good for the noses, more on shortboard noses, but not good in the rest of the length of the stringer/s because they follow the bumps.
I use Stanleys that are decents
Grumpy, hey man thanks for posting that link I've been looking for that exact spoke shave!
I have a full quiver of planes. Only want the spokeshave for some extreme concaves and up in the nose rocker. I am not a beginner shaper…just a beginner spokeshave user. What is the model number of the Stanley’s you are using? I like vintage pre WWII hand tools.
I had a nice stanley spokeshave(one where you could grab the handles with your whole hand) and dropped it in my garage. the handle cracked into two pieces. I have a small finger held one now that I don’t like as much, so I end up using a mini plane most of the time. I would not buy the finger held spokeshave again
…Nº64 made in England
This is a pic I posted on another thread. The two spokeshaves are on the right. The smallest is from a modeling set of exacto tools I got back in the 70's. I have tried a bunch of others but the castings arn't right, blades don't tighten right, etc. So that is what I go with for the thinest of noses. (and I have snapped a few, LOL). The other is an old spokeshave that clark sold back in the day. I will look it up when I go out to the shop for the model. It has hardened steel blades that stay sharp for a lot of boards. This is the shave I use on all longboards. It is too heavy for shortboards past a certain point of nose thickness, you know what I mean!! The blades are replacable, sarpen-able (is that really a word), and on ebay. I hope this helps, glad to see you are back in the shaping bay! I'm still looking for an adjustable dentists chair tho, let me know if you hear of any out here on the west coast!
BKB
I use two different brass finger planes, one with flat bottom and one with round base. The flat one is to level the stringer to the foam and round one is for the nose areas and inbetween concaves.
Round brass planer
I have one with the rounded bottom, they really work well...except the thing is so damn small! I dropped it a time or two and hell it just disappears in the foam dust! But it is one of my favorite tools.
Thinking of getting a Stanley. Lots of them on Feebay. I have little finger planes but they are just to small and hard to control. Those hydraulic dental/beauty/barber chairs are often found at auctions. Check out auctionzip.com and find the ones nearest you. I still have my old “pump up” glassing stand that I used in the video. Saves my back.
The "old school" spoke shaves are cool provided they are razor sharp. If they are not they will tear foam on either side of the stringer. Which means you will lose thickness of your shaped blank if you keep taking off foam to get the stringer and foam leveled and screened to finish. So if you have a blank that you are trying to plane to a specific thickness you just keep "whittlin". A blank that you intended to whittle down to 2 7/8" winds up 2 1/2". This is primarily because those old spoke shaves are too damned wide. Great for wood, but not as good for foam as a Stanley mini plane or a cheap ass narrow spoke shave of the type that you can buy at FoamEZ or Greenlight.
Ditto..
Just going to use it up in the nose rocker of some extreme tweaked noses. Thinking about grinding a radius in the blade like my little modelers planes. I have been woodworking for 30 years and shaping for 40 so I am pretty good at sharpening. Some of the spokeshaves i saw have a convex bottom that looks kind of interesting. I really appreciate all of the input.Swaylocks has survived for sure!
Try finding them at flea markets and garage sales. Most people don’t enen know what they are. I have a few stanleys and they all feel good in hand. the numbers are 151 M, 51, and 53. All are flat bottomed, and the 151 m has a iron that adjusts with two knurled hand screws. If you are comsidering buying a new one Kunz makes a decent shave at a reasonable price. You can also buy new irons from Hock.
If you are a woodworker you can try and make your own. Years ago I found a sight www.shavings.net/TEACHSHAVE.HTM that gave plans and instruction.
Surf Source has spoke shaves in three profiles that look to be better quality than most that you buy from supply houses. They also sell replacement blades which is not the norm for most suppliers. I've yet to try one from SS, but am definitly going to.
Just got a PM from someone telling me the Surf Source spoke shaves are Dull China Crap. I guess it doesn't matter who you buy 'em from; FoamEZ, Surf Source, Fiberglass Hawaii, Greenlight or Fiberglass Supply. They all carry the same dull Chinese tearin' scrapin' crap.
These 'David'planes are handy..theyre wide enough to sheer cut stringers , and they hold an edge for a long time.....I like that I can just throw out the old blade and put in a fresh one.
Yeah those little razor planes with disposable blades are much easier to use and sharper then most small spokeshaves.