Reply To: Spokeshave chatter

It’s essential, really essential, that the edge is sharp….. that’s already been pointed out.

Whilst the ‘mouth’ gap may not be as important as it is with, say, the finishing cuts on a plane, it can be an influence on the thickness of the shave – and ultimately your control of the tool. Perhaps some experimenting with adjusting the gap with shims or spacers under the blade may help to eliminate the problems. In shaping, many repeated thinner cuts give better hand control than one great slice.

Another very old trick with shaves like this was to arrange the blade so that it was slightly skewed on its bed. This allowed you to take fine shavings at one side, moving over to thicker cuts on the other side where you need to get more meat off in one stroke.

As with everything we do, it gets better with practice.

Good luck.