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As a woodcarver - the spokeshave is one of my favourite tools. I mean it. I love using a spokeshave!
The trick with all these bench, 'edge' tools is in making sure the blades are correctly sharpened and 'set' right, especially planes and spokeshaves - and, if you can sharpen a carving tool correctly, you'll find these bench tools a doddle! After that, as always, it's practice. And I hope you find, like me, that there is something about the spokeshave that makes it a joy to use - for shaping broad surfaces or chamfering edges.
| 02 October 2019 08:13
Imran - It depends how flat you want the board...
I've certainly used my spokeshave to clean off a wood surface, ready to draw on for carving, or to clean up an edge. But those surfaces wouldn't be good enough to join together. That's because the 'sole' of the spokeshave in contact with the wood is so short, so it can't even-out the surface in the way a long-soled plane could.
By the same token, the short sole of the spokeshave allows it to work around corners, where the plane would really struggle.
Horses for courses?
| 01 October 2019 02:50
Hi Chris. You demonstrate the spokeshave rounding the edge of a block. Can this tool also be used, for example, to plane an edge or surface of a board? Thanks
| 20 April 2016 20:18
Useful, incredible what you can learn in a small time.
| 05 June 2014 16:15
I love it! I bought it after your shirt video and I've just used it on the back of an uneven piece of wood to prepare it for a sculpture. I'm glad to have learned it from Chris Pye!
| 20 August 2013 19:34
Sorry, another slip of the keyboard. That should read, Dennis Watts
| 20 August 2013 19:28
Chris, I couldn't agree more. When properly setup, spokeshaves are an absolute delight to use. Colleagues may be interested in a booklet called Wooden Spokeshaves by Ken Hawley and Dannis Watts published for The Hawley Collection Trust Ltd by The Tools and Trades History Society. I use several of these old wooden spokeshaves and they are a joy to use.
