Spokeshave blade sharpening

[Eric Smith]

I have a wooden spokeshave I bought on Ebay. It has a 3" blade. It is slightly convex, very slightly. I have sharpened it using my pocketknife sharpening skills  and have tried using it to shape my buttstock blank. However, either my technique is faulty or my blade is still not  sharp enough. It tends to "bite" and not produce nice long shavings. Any advice on sharpening or using the thing would be helpfull.

[Acer Saccharum]

The blade should be set to take a very shallow cut.

The blade should be well supported from behind. If the backer is worn, and the blade rocks the slightest bit, you'll have chatter and grab.

The throat opening between blade and sole ideally should be a small gap, 1/32 or less for hard maple with curl. I doubt you'll get a spokeshave with an adjustable gap, which is rare on a spokeshave.

Maybe your sharpening angle is too steep?

[Curtis]

Have a look at this, lots of good info.  Scroll down the page near the bottom for sharpening advice.

http://www.ncworkshops.com/sharpening_tips.html

And of course then there's the video.



and yet more:

http://www.woodenspokeshave.com/about-wooden-spokeshaves/sharpening-and-care/

Hope this helps,

Curtis

[rich pierce]

It also takes practice and a steady hand.  Teaching a friend to make bows, I was amazed that he could not become adept at the spokeshave, which works great for me.  I think he was rocking his wrists or something, but never was able to correct it.  I use a good bit of downward pressure and a very light cut.

[Eric Smith]

Thanks for the tips and links. I can allready see a lot of things that need correcting.

[billm]

I think woodcraft has a jig that will work.I havent bought it yet but its on the list.It can also be adjusted for the micro bevel for you chisels.If that fails they will sharpen it in the store for you.Hope this helps. A spokeshave is the go to tool  for sure.Also the really little, cheap ,like 7 bucks, stanley plane is pretty good for alot of stuff.

[Chris Treichel]

I like to polish the edges on my cutting tools with a modified strop after removing the burr by pushing it into a piece of wood.

I take a piece of scrap maple, glue on a piece of thin tooling leather (vegetable tan) to the wood.

To use it, wet the leather and rub polishing compound into it (red compound works well). Then you can polish the edge of the tool. 

For concave tools I carve the maple to shape and glue the leather etc... presto curved strop ish thing.

The cutting edge should be mirror bright and cut very well. 

[David R. Pennington]

no amount of technique can make up for poor sharpening. I like to test an edge on my thumbnail. I draw the blade across with only the weight of the blade bearing down. If the edge bites in all along the length it is sharp. If there are any dull spots the blade will skate over. My wooden spokeshaves are among my favorite tools. The blade in mine adjusts with spring tension in the wood and is easily fine tuned with  light hammer taps.
Remember the blade on the spokeshave is only beveled on the backside and the outside should be flat, like a plane iron. I have seen them ruined by someone trying to sharpen them like a pocket knife and put a bevel on both edges.

[William Worth]

Is it bevel up...or bevel down...?

[tuffy]

The bevel should be up, facing the plane. The flat side should face the wood being worked.

       CW

[Eric Smith]

Have a look at this, lots of good info.  Scroll down the page near the bottom for sharpening advice.

http://www.ncworkshops.com/sharpening_tips.html

And of course then there's the video.



and yet more:

http://www.woodenspokeshave.com/about-wooden-spokeshaves/sharpening-and-care/

Hope this helps,

Curtis

These are very good links. I even leaned a thing or two about drawknives by following them.

[smart dog]

Hi,
Is your spokeshave blade shaped like a short plane blade or is it a narrow blade situated between two threaded posts that go through the handle (my antique spokeshave is such).  If the former, the bevel should be sharpened (and only the beveled side)  like a plane blade such that the bevel is flat and even all the way across the blade.  The bevel angle is often 45 degrees on a spokeshave.  Use a good flat stone at least 2" wide and place the blade so that the bevel is flat on the stone.  Simply stroke the beveled side forward over the stone making sure you do not rock the angle of the blade.  The slight convex shape is accommodated by slightly rocking the blade side to side as you stroke. Go slow and do not push too hard.  I currently do not use stones rather a flat surface and sandpaper.  I work my way up to 3 micron 3-M sanding film to get a razor edge.  If the spokeshave is set up as my latter example (a tool that is really called a contour shave), you can elevate a stone on top of similar sized block of wood or in a narrow-jawed vise so that the threaded posts can stradle the stone.  Then stroke the bevel on the stone.  I do this using sandpaper placed on the stone.  The paper is wet so it stays in place as I stroke.

dave   

[Eric Smith]

Sandpaper is an Item I have not really explored. I have some 280 and 160 I use a little, but I dont have any really fine grit for sharpening, polishing, wood or metal. Didn't see any thing really fine at the local store. Where is a good place to buy some online?

[BrianH]

i've found the best place to find the finer grits is a auto parts store that sells bodyworking supplies

[ottawa]

the sandpaper idea is a good one and easier to replace then a worn stone I use 400 and 600 wet dry at work to keep my work knife sharp I cut a lot of fiberglass .