Fairing a curve on a sanding stick with a spokeshave

Storebought or Homemade: Tell Us!
Post Reply
btberlin
Posts: 61
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 11:53 pm

Fairing a curve on a sanding stick with a spokeshave

Post by btberlin »

One of my favorite tools in woodworking is a spokeshave. This simple two-handed plane is designed for shaping wood into curves. The tool comes in two easily available forms (from Amazon -12-951 is a flat sole shave, and I believe 12-151 is the curved face one - but you can just enter "Stanley Spokeshave" or even "spokeshave" in the Amazon search box and you will find the tool). The round-faced tool (not the concave spokeshaves also shown in amazon, the convex "round faced" one) is ideal for making smooth curves like those in a sanding stick, or at the ends of braces.
roundfaced spokeshave.jpg
To make a 50-foot radius approximately spherical curve stick, I used one of the numerous calculators available on the web, which show how to bend a flexible straightedge between three pins to form a nice curve (Please no rebuttals about that not producing a truly spherical arc - it's close enough) and carefully traced the curve onto a stick of sapele which i had cut square on the table saw. If the radius of the curve were smaller, and the curve deeper, i would first hog off the curve on a bandsaw, but, for a 50 foot radius arc, on a 24-inch stick, the kerf of the bandsaw blade is wider than some parts of the curve. So, i used the flat-faced spokeshave first to remove material fast, and then round faced spokeshave to fair the curve. Photos show the process.
roundfaced shave-in-use.jpg
To check the progress, i used the edge of the long straightedge, and used a marker to highlight areas that needed more planing.
checking the curve with a straightedge.jpg
When completed, i cut strips of 80-grit 3M pro-grade sandpaper, and sprayed the stick with 3M type 77. After letting it tack up a bit, the rubber-backed sandpaper sticks to the stick very nicely.

Photos show the steps. The shave is used with two hands, but i needed one hand to work the camera!

One other thing - ignore nasty comments in some of the reviews about the curved face spokeshave. Hone the blade, smooth the sole, like any other new plane, and practice with it. YOu have to tilt it just right to get it to cut, but with a bit of practice you can cut nice shavings. It's a venerable old design that still works fine. No need to spend a hundred bucks on a Lie-Nelson to make a one dollar sanding stick.

Bert
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Post Reply