drawknife

[westbj2]

Recently a TV cable program visited the Holland and Holland shop.  Shown was the stocker using a drawknife to reduce the blank to a recognizable shotgun buttstock.
The process looked very efficient and apparently quite controllable.
Would appreciate comments from any of you who use this tool.
Also in looking about a bit on the net, I see that drawknifes come with straight blades and also with a slight radius.  Is there a preference?
Thanks,
Jim Westberg

[Dennis Glazener]

Recently a TV cable program visited the Holland and Holland shop.  Shown was the stocker using a drawknife to reduce the blank to a recognizable shotgun buttstock.
The process looked very efficient and apparently quite controllable.
Would appreciate comments from any of you who use this tool.
Also in looking about a bit on the net, I see that drawknifes come with straight blades and also with a slight radius.  Is there a preference?
Thanks,
Jim Westberg
   

Jim,
I have 2 hand forged drawknives with straight blades. One you can adjust the depth of cut by raising or lowering the blade. The other is just a plain blade with handles.  I also have a modern made one with a concave blade. I rarely use either of them. I used to use them for roughing out work but have had problems with them "digging" in in softer wood like walnut or cherry. On hard curly maple I have had them leave "chatter" marks and sometimes the blade would "dig" in. I quit using them and use block planes in place of them, I just feel more comfortable with the planes than the drawknives. I suspect if I used them more I would have gotten more comfortable with them. You can really take off the wood with the big straight bladed one!
Dennis

[David Rase]

Jim,
I have a wooden spokeshave that I use a lot when I am shaping a stock.  I prefer the wooden handled spoke shave over the metal ones because the blade is pretty much flat i.e. parallel to the stock.  I have a small draw knife but I don't use it as much since I started using the spoke shave.  The draw knife is a good tool but it takes a lot of practice to control it, especially in figured maple.
DMR

[Eric Krewson]

I have used draw knives extensively for the last 15 years for bow making and have gotten pretty good with one.

I prefer a straight blade instead of a curved one and use a heavy debarking draw knife for mostly of my work, even the delicate stuff.

Use your draw knife bevel down and it will be less likely to dig in or chatter. 

[northmn]

Using a draw knife can be a bit tricky in that sharpness is an issue.  Too sharp and they can dig as described.  I use spokeshaves and planes to bring down a stock because of this.  I remember the scene in the Gunsmith of Williamsburg where Gussler used a hatchet to start shaping a stock.  To each their own.   There ain't no quick easy way that won't come back and bite you.   I would think a draw knife used on the figured stock worthy of a H&H would chatter a bit.  I use mine mostly to debark posts.

DP

[Jim Kibler]

You can't have a drawknife too sharp for stock work.  There are lots of ways to shape a stock.  A drawknife can be useful.  You must watch grain direction carefully and I've found it best to use it in a shearing fashion to cut the cleanest with the best control.  You want to slice the wood cleanly and not split it.  It will work in some areas of the stock but not others.

[J. Talbert]

I have one that I use in the preliminary stages of wood removal, since my experience with it is still rather limited.  Also it was given to me by a friend and is rather large for gun work.

I have started using a spokeshave recently also and I have use it a bunch on my current project.  I'm quite impressed with the efficiency of it.

Caution!  Either of these can take off a lot of wood in a hurry.  I nearly got into trouble removing more wood than I should have a couple times by not paying enough attention.

Ditto what Jim said about: sharpness, grain direction, and a shearing cut.

Jeff

[rich pierce]

I'm skeered to use a drawknife on curly maple.  Works great on walnut or cherry that doesn't have crazy figure.  I expect eventually I'll start using a hatchet too, just for fun.  Hatchet and drawknife sure work for me while roughing out bows (archery) but the wood is always straight grain and the bow follows the grain.  On a gunstock, there are so many transitions where this is not the case, so I'd limit the use of roughing tools to safe areas.  The spokeshave gets a lot of use when I rough stocks out.

[Jim Kibler]

The idea is to not follow the grain.  With a sharp edge a shearing cut and respect for grain direction you can slice the wood rather than split it. 

[Acer Saccharum]

I've used a hatchet on greenish maple with some success. But on fully dry wood, that little hatchet wants to bounce, twist and bite the nearest flesh.

I saw an old longrifle blank at a KRA show that had been roughed to near shape. No inlet, just a hockey stick. Maybe 1/4" extra wood all around.

You definitely want to watch the splitting effect of a hatchet. Some of those splits may go below your finished surface, and then you'll be mad.

Tom

[northmn]

As Jim states if you watch the grain carefully things should not happen, but I still have visions of of things splitting out that should not using those tools.  They take practice and experience but I will stay with my planes and save my draw knife for peeling or straight grained wood and not on curly maple.

DP

[rick landes]

I have three of them here at the shop from a local log home builder. The boys are going to turn out some new handles for him. He has broken these.

I would not use these on a stock. Too aggressive for my tastes. I can just see a huge chip coming out from a slight twist of the wrist!

To those that can do it I am VERY impressed.

[Elnathan]

I have one and use it a fair bit. I have only used it on one stock so far, where I found it useful for roughing out the stock from the lock back to the buttplate. I was very cautious about removing too much, so no real problems (albeit one close call that made my heart run a bit faster for a moment). On other projects I have found it enormously useful for roughing out a shape before progressing to finer tools, and really prefer to use it instead of a rasp. My one complaint, apart from the difficulty of clamping some of the objects I am working on (a problem not limited to drawknives), is that my that my Flexcut brand drawknife has "ergonomic" handles that prevent me from using it bevel down, which limits the work I can do with it. The handles are just stuck on with glue and have a flat tang design that makes it difficult to make new handles, otherwise I would just swap them out for something better. Even with this problem, it is an awfully useful little tool. One of the things on my "to make" list when I get access again to a proper forge is a little 6" drawknife with full-sized handles. John Bivens used a little drawknife much like mine.