Thursday, April 28, 2016

The Shavehorse

I realized recently that while I had published my book with shavehorse plans in "Chairmaker's Notebook", that I'd never "shown" the advantages of it. There are as many plans and ideas about shavehorses out there as there are users and I've had a lot of fun thinking about the tool, especially as I've traveled and seen so many in action. When I sat down to put a design in my book, I felt that I should revisit the idea with the priority of making an easy to build, bullet proof and simple to use shavehorse.

 I thought long and hard and got some design influence for the body of the horse and the materials from Tim Manney and Brian Boggs. I had realized a while back that the narrow body of the two rail style is comfortable and that it also resists vibration in the direction that I pull the drawknife, which gives smoother cuts. There's nothing terribly new in the body design, but I think the adjuster that I made has proven to be a worthwhile addition.



 Of course, pulling the pin to raise and lower the head is not a huge deal, but as you'll see in the video, the toothed adjuster is very simple to use and fast as can be to adjust.


I chose this over my earlier design for the ratcheting head that I made because it's easier to make, and it can be retrofit to any dumbhead shavehorse just by cutting the mortise, drilling a few holes and filing the wood (or on my horse, aluminum) pins to ride smoothly around the pivot pin.  I have 9 of these that I use when teaching at North Bennet Street, and to me the true sign of success is that there is never any conversation about them, they just hold the work solidly and let the users focus on the real job, which is shaving the wood.

4 comments:

Greg Pennington said...

I need to build this horse so I'll have one of every kind. I certainly miss assisting you in classes and inventing new ways to make wheels turn.

Virginia E. Vang said...

Thanks PETER GALBERT !!!!!!!Working on a this project now and your tutorial has been so helpful! What to you use to get the bajillion staples out?? Right now im just hammering a flathead screwdriver into each one but im sure there is an easier and less time consuming way!! PLease let me know! Thanks!

Peter Galbert said...

Virginia,
I suppose you are referring to the staples in the pine? Sorry, some folks just go nutty with that stuff!

calumdblair said...

Could you possibly send me a copy of the plans to make the shave horse please