# chair devil or scraper, for final shaping of drawknifed chair parts



## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

I'm about to try my hand at making a greenwood chair (ladder-back, woven seat). I don't have a lathe so will be shaping all round parts by hand. I had pretty much decided to make a couple of chair devils but recently stumbled across the Veritas chairmaker's scraper (http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?cat=1,310&p=54886). Price seems reasonable and with interchangeable blades that are also pretty easy to customize on a drill press it looks like a good idea to me. I was looking for a bit of advice - do people think that this will replace a chair devil and do what I need it to do?
Any thoughts would be appreciated, especially by those with chairmaking experience or those who own or have used the Veritas scraper.
Thanks.


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## stevo_wis (Feb 10, 2010)

Jeremy,
Glad to hear you are diving into green woodworking.
I first learned chairmaking from Curtis Buchanan who learned from Dave Sawyer. I asked Curtis if he used a scraper on his spindles. His reply was that it would ruin them. What he does is use the drawknife to first square and taper the spindles and then go back and knock off the corners to an octagon. After letting them dry for a day or more, he then uses a spokeshave to finish them. The sharp spokeshave cuts and slices the finish instead of scraping. The net result is much better in my opinion than touching it with a chair devil or scraper. 
I do use the scrapers on seats that will be sanded. 
Curtis has a series of videos on youtube that shows how he does spindles. Please contact me if you have more questions.


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## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

Thanks for the response, Stevo. Would you do the same thing with the four posts and the rails on a MACFAT-style chair? I know that in Windsors they have to be turned, but I guess that if round and smooth is possible with a spokeshave on the spindles it would work on the larger round pieces too.


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## stevo_wis (Feb 10, 2010)

Jeremy,
I am not sure what you mean by macfat. I did do a ladder back from white oak that has curved slats in the back, and a hickory woven seat. Everything there was done with froe, drawknife, carving axe, and spokeshave. My posts turned out beautifully with just the spokeshave to finish and they turned out round. A really sharp spokeshave is just a relaxing kind of whittling for me. There is not reason i guess that the straight pieces couldnt be turned, but we just decided to do it all by hand. One guy used his drawknife vertically as a scraper and that worked well too. By the way, weaving the seat was fun. My wife and I did it in about 6 hours. I am sorry I dont have a picture, but if you are really interested I can post one. Feel free to ask if I can help at all and keep me posted on your progress.


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## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

Sorry, "MACFAT, Make a chair from a tree" John Alexander's book. Basically a ladder back. I got the wood last week, some nice hard maple. I've split up half of one of the 4 foot logs and have started using the draw knife to make the posts. I can't believe how fun and easy green wood is to work, even maple, which is not ring-porous. Within the next couple of days I hope to get the four posts finished to square.


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## stevo_wis (Feb 10, 2010)

Jeremy, I love using the drawknife. I have picked up some used ones on ebay for $20 or so and especially the Witherby I have is just incredible. 
I met John (now Jenny) Alexander a few years back. He was a quite a person and really opened me up to green woodworking. 
Please keep us posted.


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## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

Here's a picture of the two back posts for my ladder back that I just steam-bent. The wood bent very easily, but it buckled some on the inside. Is this salvageable one dry, with the drawknife and spokeshave, or do I need to start over? Any suggestions as to why it happened and how to avoid it? The wood was still fairly green (cut down about a month ago) and I steamed the posts for about 45 minutes.


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## stevo_wis (Feb 10, 2010)

Jeremy, I just saw this yesterday and sent you a message


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