Sole Nitty Gritty (Unlocked)
Here is a post from the early days of my substack, I hope you find it interesting.
So after all that exposition in the last post, I figured I had better pony up and explain how I go about shaping the spokeshave and travisher soles with built in adjustability.
If I had to guess, and I am, I would propose the shape of the sole is somewhat a result of the wear pattern that naturally occurs in the use of the tool. Anyone who ever bought an old wooden spokeshave or used one for an extended period will attest that the sole wears quickly and opens up near the blade quite a bit in use. Keeping a wooden sole flat would be a full time job.
Here’s how I shape the sole to get the variable cut just where I want it from the start.
Avoid making the sole too curved, this makes it difficult to maintain a consistent depth of cut in use. Think of it as a flat sole that curves a bit, it’s best to creep up on the desired shape.
I understand why manufacturers put adjusters in their shaves, it makes manufacturing easier by putting the setting in the hands of the end user. It’s a bit of a hassle to carefully shape each sole to relate to the fixed blade, but in use, it’s so much nicer to sharpen up, tighten down the blade and get to work without fussing about with a depth adjustment. If the deepest cut isn’t quite as aggressive as you want, you can scrape the shiny area near the blade, or you can get to work shaping parts, it will open up pretty quickly. I’ve always been surprised but how large a gap can open up on one of theses soles near the blade, yet I can still take fine cuts. Happy shaving.