Spoke shave not taking a shaving?
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- This topic has 8 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 11 months ago by David B.
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I just finished making a wooden spoke shave following Paul’s videos. Mistakes abounded, but I finished it (pending getting some longer adjustment screws). Then the moment of truth arrived when I went to take a shaving. I got nothing. Not even a hair of shavings. Looking at the front of the spokeshave, I can see the blade protruding a little bit, but it won’t bite into the wood. Any help getting a shaving? Could someone take a picture of the front of their spokeshave to show rough placement?
Help appreciated.
Hello Austin,
These Blogs could help.https://paulsellers.com/2014/07/a-lighter-touch-on-wooden-spokeshaves/
https://paulsellers.com/tag/spokeshave/
Could the Angle of the toe be your problem?
https://paulsellers.com/2014/07/on-closing-the-spokeshave-series-last-one-for-now/Thanks. I took a look at those posts as well as adding the adjustment screws. That seemed to help a little bit as I can now take some shavings off the corners of wood, but I still can’t get anything flat across an edge. It seems the blade is sliding along the wood instead of cutting into it. Do I just need to take a bit more off the “mouth” in front of the blade so I can get a steeper angle of attack?
On the blade itself, my cutting edge is about 32 degrees and isn’t exactly razor sharp. Would that be an issue?
“…isn’t exactly razor sharp.” Almost certainly the issue.
You can’t really investigate other causes until your iron IS razor sharp. Eliminate that first, making sure is doesn’t have a micro-bevel on the flat underside which causes it to ride the surface. Your spokeshave will pick up on corners, but so would a blunt screwdriver, or a fingernail. To get it to bight into a flat surface it needs that keen edge.
Check all aspects in turn; Flat bottom, Honing angle, Sharpness, Depth of iron, Spokeshave Toe.Ok. I’ll work on getting it sharper. I’ve also noticed that the blade is tilting in the spoke shave. The toe comes up higher than the heel and I can level it out with finger pressure, but it tilts again. The screws are also not grabbing as well, so this may end up being a remake.
Thanks Alan.
A skewed blade in the spokeshave is typical, if not desirable. It allows you to take finer shavings on one side and heavier on the other–very normal. I’d say it is more unusual not to have a bit of variance in the degree of blade protrusion from side-to-side. Just make sure the screws are cinched tightly and that the screw holding the cap-iron on the spokeshave is also well tightened–sometimes I have to fiddle with that one a bit more to get the blade to hold firmly in place.
EDIT: I just read back and realized you were referring to a hand-made wooden spokeshave. Not that my comments aren’t still true but there is obviously no cap-iron on the wooden spokeshave. It is likely either due to your angle of attack (i.e. even though you see a bit of blade exposed, you are not approaching the work with the blade at an angle that is catching–perhaps you should shave off a bit more of the wood in front of the blade.
Here are the 2 that I have made (both work)–hopefully these pics help?
- This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by David B.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.Thanks David. Those pictures do help. It looks like your iron is more set than mine. It also looks like you have a bit of an angle from front to back with the toe lower than the heel. Mine is the opposite which I think is part of my problem. I can’t get the right angle with it because the iron edge is skewing up into the body of the spokeshave. I don’t know how to fix the front back alignment though because the screws don’t hold it tight enough.
[quote quote=547943]It also looks like you have a bit of an angle from front to back with the toe lower than the heel. Mine is the opposite which I think is part of my problem.[/quote]
If your toe is lower than your iron I imagine it would be quite challenging to present the spokeshave to the work at any angle that will easily remove any shavings.
Start watching at the 15:00 mark.
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