Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on April 13, 2011 at 6:42pm

So I first bought a metal spoke shave with a flat blade.  It had the little depth adjustment wheels and whatnot.  I tuned that sucker till I could shave the hairs off the back of my hand.  It worked well enough but didn't give me the feel I was looking for.  Then I went to an antique store and bought a couple of boxwood spokeshaves (one large, one small).  They were turn of the century stuff with gummed up blades and a lot of TLC needed.  I brought them home, sanded down and polished up the metal blades, and sharpened them up razor fine.  In both case the blades are very slightly convex but I suspect they were originally flat when they were forged.  At any rate, the old school boxwood spokeshaves are some of the finest tools I've ever owned.  I can't tell you what kind of fine control I can get with these things.  I think a large part has to do with the fact that they'll work both on the push and on the pull stroke.  Anyway, I advise you to google "boxwood spokeshave" and explore that fully.  They still make them today.  The more expensive ones have height adjustment wheels but the ones I bought just have two tines that push through the wooden handle.  Old school, baby.

Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on April 14, 2011 at 3:18am

I have 2 spokeshaves, one is an old Stanley from the 30's. It has an adjustable front plate and works great. Its flat not concave. I did a lot of reading online before getting it and it seems old is better with these unless you want to spent a buch of money. Ebay always has a few decent old stanleys.  I also have one of the wood ones Josh is talking about. Mine is over 100 years old and the blade is a bit worn. I like the Stanley better but I can see how a good wood one will get into some tighter corners.  With my stanley I can cut on the pull and push no problem.  There is a place that makes the blades for the wood shaves and you make your own handle, saves some money and should be another fun project. 

As luck would have it both my spokeshaves were in my parents garage. 

Permalink Reply by Edgel R Gillespie II on April 14, 2011 at 4:13pm

My first thought was to use a spoke shave, but no one around here had one for a decent price, so I opted to get a router and table set up, along with some variety of bits. I finally found a spoke shave today in the local classifieds on-line. It is 70 plus years old and has 2 extra blades for $10.00. But for now, I found the router with a shallow round over and long leg edge will do the job with great finish cuts, a lite sanding for the finished neck. Once I get the spoke shave sharpened up and tuned, I will use it more so for blending the finish cuts.

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on April 14, 2011 at 6:00pm

Hal,  I start most of my necks using a 1 inch roundover router bit on a router table.... then I use a combination of scrapers and dremel to hand finish the neck to the customer's specifications...  just be careful, work slow and smooth... that why you don't take off too much wood or meat.... the best,  Wichita Sam


Hal "PairsNPaint" Spalter said:

What about using a quarter-roundover router bit?

Permalink Reply by Jon Pruett on April 24, 2011 at 3:39pm

I start with a router as well to take off the lions share of the waste, and then move into a little finishing work with a nice shoulder plane, spoke shave, and lots and lots of sanding.

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