spoke shave and plane blades

[smylee grouch]

Just curious how every one adjusts the blades on their spoke shaves and planes. One old timer told me he puts various amounts of paper under the rear of the plane between the base of the plane and a flat surface then runs the blade down to the flat surface and locks it in place. I haven't tried that yet.

[borderdogs]

I haven't tried that but in the past I bought old planes that old paper or cardboard in that place so there might be something to it. I have used planes and spokeshaves in woodworking for many years but only recently tried using them when building rifles. I have a violin plane that I find I am using a lot but I also use a couple of different spokehaves in building rifles. I find that at least for me I am constantly adjusting the blades on the spokeshaves and even on the planes more than I ever have done in furniture building. Maybe that's because I am using curly maple?
Rob

[P.W.Berkuta]

I adjust the irons by eye - try it and if needed readjust it - simple ---

[Craig Wilcox]

I'm with P. W. - set by eye/feel.  Make sure that your blade is VERY sharp, and even across the blade.  Then adjust to just take a thin sliver off the length of whatever you are planeing.

[45-110]

My grandfather was a master carpenter from the 1880's era, and showed me how to sharpen plane blades, router planes, draw knives, spoke shaves etc. Sharpness to him was if the blade could easily slice a piece of paper, he set plane blades and such by eye and feel.

[Wingshot]

I just restored an old spoke shave that I used years ago to shape primitive self wood bows. It was a flea market find. This go around I flattened and polished the sole and then stoned the back of the iron flat. The iron/ blade in a spoke shave is very short and won’t fit into my Veritas jig so I honed it by hand. It’s scary sharp.