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manufacturers have entered the market for chairmaking tools. And there are a lot more new hand tools on the drawing board that you’ll see in catalogs in 2005 and 2006. Look for travishers, compass planes, specialty rasps, rounding planes and even more specialized spokeshaves. As I’ve become enamored with building stick chairs, I’ve put a fair number of these new tools to the test. Some of them are so good that I think they also deserve a spot in woodshops that don’t (yet) have a chairmaker working there. Superior Spokeshaves Chairmakers use a variety of
spokeshaves to shape the sweeping curves and spindles that are
part of every Windsor chair. When working with green wood that
has been rived from the stump, most chairmakers prefer a
traditional wooden shave with a low-angle cutter. But thanks to
the urban chairmaker, a good number of us work with air- or
kiln-dried wood that has been sawn instead of split. And so the
metal-bodied spokeshave with a higher-pitched cutter has become
an important tool. When I first started making frame chairs years ago, I went hunting for vintage shaves for my tool kit. After examining more than 70 old-timers I was struck by how poorly manufactured many were.
Here’s where you can see the difference between the premium shaves and the inexpensive ones and many vintage ones. The bed of the premium shaves has been machined flat. The bed of the inexpensive Indian-made shave is simply a rough casting. With the exception of a few Preston shaves, most tools had their irons bedded on a rough casting – there was no machining or even finishing beneath the iron. It was no wonder my Record shave chattered like a set of false teeth when faced with anything tougher than poplar.
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