Miller Fall's reproduction spopkeshave

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H

HSteier

Well-known member
I recently completed a Connecticut bonnet top highboy. The the circular scroll board cut outs were done with a jigsaw, and then I used a spokeshave to smooth to the line. I purchased a Miller's Falls seproduction circular ("cigar") shave from Tools for Working Wood. I believe it was made by "Woodjoy" tools. In any event I was able to get it to work quite well and I got a very smooth surface. However as I progressed around the inside of the circle into the end grain the blade started to chip and leave multiple tracks in the wood. The piece is cherry, not that brittle or dense, so I was surprised at the chipping. I honed out the chips, resumed work and the same thing happened again. I returned the tool but asked both the vendor and manufacturer for comment; were they aware of a problem with some of the blades,etc? I received no reply.
I liked the tool. I was able to get a good finish in a tight radius but had to keep resharpening. Any thoughts or ideas from the hand tool junkies out there? Is there another source for this type of spokeshave, or a replacement blade?

Howard Steier
 
Howard,
I have been using a traditional wooden spoke shave I got several years ago from Dave's Shaves www.ncworkshops.com.  I love this shave.  Seems to work well for anything I might use if for and I have had no problem with the blade.  I have several others from other producers and a few antique ones as well.  Dave's is the most functional one of the lot.
Chris Hazard, Member 413
 
Hi Howard,  The biggest thing about all of the circular shaves is that they rely on a pretty acute angle to allow them to get into tight radius concave areas like inside curves.  This means a blade which is thin at the cutting edge and doesn't have much backup support to prevent it from dulling quickly and chipping.  The other issue is one of grain direction.  You always have to be going "downhill" on the grain which means that you need to go a maximum of halfway and then start workng from the opposite end (also going downhill).  Personally I use the old Miller's Falls #1 cigar shaves which are the originals upon which Kelly's is based and even they have areas where they won't work well.  Most of the time however they are a charm to use...though a real pain to sharpen.

I doubt that there is a problem with the steel quality of the Woodjoy shave.  Glenn Livingston is painstaking in making sure that his products are of top quality.  I own one of his miniature cast bronze shaves and it works almost as well as the MF #1  on concave sections due to its curved sole.  As to Chris' comment on the Dave's Shaves, the makes very fine tools, but AFAIK he doesn't make a shave for tight concave curves.
 
Thanks to all. I can't find a "Kelly's tools" that is involved with spokeshaves with Google. Does anyone know how I can get more info?

Howard Steier
 
Howard, let us see the CT Highboy that you mentioned in starting this thread. I'd like to make one myself.
John
 
Hi, Howard:  In similar situations I put the fixed throat spokeshave away and use an adjustable  mouth shave along with varying the angle of attack.  Also, bevel the edge from front to back.  If that doesn't work, and sometimes it does not, put the shave away and did out the files and rasps. Progressing from coarse to fine makes the work go quickly.  Hope this helps.
 
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