Good Morning Friends,

A fellow asked me the following; A spoke shave seems to be the little brother to the draw knife, and I've seen both used to make spindles. But, do they both work the same? Should I add both to my tool collection?

 

Edited December 8, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston
tags added

They are similar to each other, but different.

The Spoke Shave is smaller with a narrower and fine blade used typically to shape curved edges like wooden spokes on a wagon wheel.

 

The Drawing Knife is much larger and more robust with a wider blade to shape larger pieces of wood like beams or removing bark off of a log.

Allen's right. And yes, you should have both in your tool collection! The more the better!

John

They come in handy, somedays...

Used bevel up, or bevel down, depending on the direction of the grain.    Making a square post into a round one..

Clean the facets round with the spokeshave, might not even need sandpaper...

Just to make a four poster rocking chair...

All because my lathe wasn't long enough.   Both tools also helped with the rockers.  Mainly to remove saw marks. 

More to the point:  Drawknives are more about "hogging off" waste, and rough shaping items.   Then the spokeshaves can come in and refine the shapes, and remove any tool marks.  Depending on the wood, the type of drawknife, and the user, quite a lot can get done quickly.   One has to learn how the bevel up vs bevel down types work, and when they should be used.   

 

Spokeshaves are more of the finesse tool.   Tune up a surface.   Clean up tool marks.    Shape an edge into a simple profile.   Have a small part than is too small for a plane to smooth?   Shave it.

 

Both tools should be in a shop.   Be careful, though...like handplanes, these can be addicting...DAMHIKT...LOL

Steve gave you your answer and why did you leave out Scorps and Travishers???

The other guys have answered this one pretty well

Someone correct me on this (not arguing with anything said above)...but i thought the spoke shave was a scraper, and the draw knife was a, well, knife.

Fred they both cut with a blade.  On a draw knife the blade is from handle to handle and is totally exposed. Spoke shaves come in several configurations from flat to convex to concave and can give a very fine shaving. Spoke shaves are fun to use and drawknife will give you a workout.

I'm not a master at the use of a spoke shave but I have used them a lot faring curves and shaping arms on chairs. The draw knife I haven't used hardly at all as I don't have a  the proper set up for one yet. 

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

Someone correct me on this (not arguing with anything said above)...but i thought the spoke shave was a scraper, and the draw knife was a, well, knife.

I always thought the spokeshave was a type of plane. The blade is bedded the same way as in most, if not all, planes. The drawknife, on the other hand, has a fully exposed blade, so it is technically a knife.

John

Years ago, when my youngest two girls wanted to make bokken, i roughed out the blanks on the table saw and gave them a couple of spokeshaves to work the curves and handles to their liking.   It was (and is to me) a much easier tool  to control and use, especially for kids.   I didn't want them working with the more "open blade" of the drawknife.   They both got what they wanted at the time (and thankfully didn't use them on each other...).

 

On reading further, they actually made what are better described as Suburitō.

Great replies all and Stick he didn't ask about those two tools. 

Happy New Year everyone.