I put a post on FWW in my search for some heel shaves. My search has been good and hopefully I will find a few more for other chairmakers. Thought I would post a few photos so maybe the unfamiliar will see what value these might have perhaps in their work. Maybe?
Some chair photos with familiar tools: compass plane and the travisher. I use the travisher a great deal after the inshave. To get the tight radius near the back of the seat many like the compass plane(curved in the fore and aft axis and the lateral axis) to work the tight curve. I have tried the tight heel shave and favor this tool. Some of you may have seen Curtis Buchanan demonstrate the use of this tool on the Woodwright Shop or maybe you have had the pleasure of seeing him work with this tool. Its a good one.
As you might see the handles were not designed for chairmakers– they were made for shoemakers. The handles do get in the way. Solution: some cut them off. I would like to heat the casting and hopefully bend them up. We’ll have to see on that one. Either way the handles do need to be modified for the work at hand.
In the photos you’ll find the wooden travisher with the slight curve for seat shaping. You’ll see the inshave(2 black handles) a former drawknife bent into this shape by another more skilled person(not me). The wooden compass plane(might be out of a job if the heel shaves perform as I hope) which is a nice tool but just not enough for me. I work with it more than it works for me. I have a dog like that too…
Enough. Hopefully you see something of interest??
dan
Replies
I don't think I am too far out when I say that if you attempt to heat the casting and then bend it to a new shape it will tear apart rather than bend. If these are forgings then there is a chance but they do look like castings to me. One could cut them and then braze the parts back together in the new handle orientation using brass brazing rod.
Thanks for posting these pics. ! Interesting !
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Or what I always say is : Any tool is just a blank. Take it home and make it into something useful to you.
Thanks for the input. This was my original thought. I was thinking of cutting the handles shorter and brazing the end back on at some point. I am real anxious about heating a casting and stressing it. Not much luck in the past. Some just cut the handles off and use the center portion of the shave(Curtis B), I'd like to keep the outboard handles for a little extra control.
At some point, I'll post a photo. $uccess or disaster.
dan
Danmart, I think you are right about the shaves and its nice to see your work. Do you know about Curtis's upcoming classes and some of the chairmaking blogs? If interested please email at [email protected].
Stevo
I used the tool with the black handles in your pics on my saddles, they called it an "inshave". Got it from Woodcraft, it was cheaper than alternatives. It was useless out of the box. I thought of bending the handles and so forth, but ended up radically changing the grind on the blade on a white grindstone, then freehand honing with a japanese stone. That got my knuckles off the wood.
After hogging away most of the wood with a nice, I think it is a #8 spoon gouge from Lee Valley, (I turned a large knobbed handle, drilled it, then press fit the gouge handle into it. Didn't need to use a mallet because of all the leverage my homemade handle gave. Great control.) Then I cut with the grain, and sort of lightly scraped against the grain with the in shave. That got things to the point where I could do final smoothing with different card scapers, starting with a thick one and ending with a thin one. I also made a plywood template that I used to drill press depth holes into the blank with, so all the chairs would come out more consistent. Great pleasurable exercise.
So it went: 1)use the template to put depth holes into my glued up blanks , 2)Hog out the waste with the "improved" gouge, 3) refine with my modified shave, finish with card scrapers and sandpaper.
Sorry this narrative is a little confusing, should have had Lataxe rewrite it.
Tom
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