# Drawknife Virgin



## Kv0nT (Jul 29, 2012)

I have seen numerous demonstrations from windsor chair makers on the glories of drawknives. However, they tend to exclusively work in green wood.

I want to shape a number of spindles and 4 table legs out of dried butternut. Is this stupid? Is there a trick to using a drawknife on dry wood? Is one drawknife better for dry wood and another more suited for green wood?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

-Kevin

PS am I up sh*t creek without a shavehorse either way?


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## jap (Oct 10, 2012)

I'm pretty sure drawknives work best with green wood. But there's no harm in trying.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Most of the time I use my knife with the bevel down and the blade skewed a bit to make slicing cuts. Sometimes the wood won't cooperate, so it's bevel up time. Ya just gotta feel your way thru the wood.
A SHARP blade is a must.
And be careful.
Bill


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Maybe a drawknife for rough work and a spoke shave for fine work?

No *need* for a shave horse, but it does make the work much easier.


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## paratrooper34 (Apr 27, 2010)

Butternut is pretty soft wood. I made a cradle from butternut a while back. I was pretty surprised how soft it is, especially given it is in the walnut family. You should have no issues shaping it with a drawknife.

You can use pretty much use any vice and do your work with a drawknife. The down side is it will take much longer than having a shaving horse setup.


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## Kv0nT (Jul 29, 2012)

Thanks for the feedback. I just ordered an Auriou 9" curved drawknife. While I'm waiting for it to arrive I'm going to make a shave pony. It just looks like way too much work to shave out of a vice alone.


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## xwingace (Apr 25, 2011)

I've been working a dry hickory bowstave with the drawknife. It works, but you gotta keep it sharp! That and take small bites. The main thing is practice, you might want to play with some scrap first.


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## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

A drawknife definitely works best in green wood - but traditionally coopers did almost all of the shaping of staves with a drawknife, and they work in exceedingly dry wood. As Bill says you'll get nicer cuts if you skew the blade a bit and slide it not only toward yourself (if on a shaving horse) but also from side to side. 
I've found that bevel up/down mostly depends on how the handles are attached. Any knife can be used in either configuration, but if the handles are in line with the blade it will be very awkward and uncomfortable to use bevel-up for any length of time. 
Go from square to octagon (I use Pythagoras to calculate the distance in from the edge and then use a marking gauge) and then round it.
You can definitely do it with a vice, but I think you've made the right decision to make a shaving horse. Plus you may get addicted to drawknifing…
You'll need to clean up the pieces with a spokeshave, as Dallas mentioned. You could probably sand or scrape instead, but spokeshaves are much nicer to use. I thought I needed a concave shave and bought a nice one from Veritas, but have pretty much decided that it can all be done with a regular straight, flat-soled one and rarely use the concave one at all. Also, a drawknife can only be pulled toward you, and as you get closer to the final dimension there are places where you'll have to push to avoid tearout (close to the ends where you can't turn it around and still have purchase in the horse). Spokeshaves can be pushed.
Have fun…


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## Tim457 (Jan 11, 2013)

I read an opinion that the utility of shave horses has been blown way out of proportion and that all the turning and moving wastes time and thus it would have wasted money so a vice is better. I was surprised by the opinion but it was some fairly renowned woodworker, and now I can't recall who it was or where I read it. To me the shave horse seems to be able to do anything the vice can, you don't have to move the work often, but it is quicker when you want to.


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## Kv0nT (Jul 29, 2012)

Well the shave pony works great. Unfortunately I cut myself on my new draw knife about 2 minutes after I took it out of the box. That thing is piano wire sharp.


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