I have a Veritas round bottom and a Ln/Boggs flat bottom. They both work great. The first was a gift, the second I got used off this forum.

Old tools if they are in good condition work great. I have a few old hand planes that are awesome. It can take a bit to understand how to tell when scratches are too deep and when rusty is too rusty, but still you can pick decent ones.

I would say whatever you get, look for one that has a blade depth adjustment. The Veritas has one, the LN does not. It is a little fiddly to set the LN, but not impossible. If it is your first one and it has a depth adjuster it will take that variable out of the equation.

Brian

 

Can't go wrong anyway choose really. Ones without adjusters you use a small hammer or tap the back of the iron on the back. It can be fiddy at first but you get the hang of it. I have both flat/convex LV spokeshaves. They're nice. I have a MF #1 for tight curves. Don't use the LV convex much.

It's easy to find vintage spokeshaves in decent shape and they're fairly easy to tune.

 

Love my LV's especially the thicker blades.

 

Thanks guys. The adjuster on the LV looked appealing to me as well. I watched LN video on their spokeshaves and it does seem like it would be something you would pick up pretty quickly when adjusting.

Has anybody used the Pinnacle branded one that Woodcraft sales. It's about $30 cheaper than LV. But I know Veritas stuff and trust it. Maybe that's worth the $30. I'll hunt around on the used market I guess.

I have seen some MF cigars and they were actually nicely priced. I do like old tools as well. I could see myself having a mixture of new and old with spokeshaves.
Thanks again,
JP

 

Mine are the LN. I was concerned about the lack of adjusters before I bought them but it has turned out to be a non issue. I simply place the shave on my bench, drop the blade down to the bench top and tighten the screws. Perfect shavings every time.

 

Just got an English made Stanley 151 off eBay for $25. Put an edge on it and it works like silk. Have not had much luck with a round bottom on eBay, have been considering the Kunz brand which I was able to put my hands on while at Highland Woodworker in Atlanta I didn't think it would get through TSA checked luggage so I didn't purchase, they have a very similar feel to the Stanley, "maybe a skosh lighter", for $25 to $30 I'll likely pick one up after Christmas is paid off.

 

I like my L.N. brass ones, have both curved and flat! Very easy to adjust.

 

Tung oil that's for LN input. It should be something that come quickly when manually adjusting them. I'm still on the fence. I do know I'll end up having a mix of old and new. I'm not seeing much here in DFW on CL though.

Might get lucky on an auction site.

ChefHDan, I saw the Kunz at Woodcraft I think. If I can't get lucky on CL or fleabay, I might go that route for round.

Andre, I don't think I saw brass ones at LN website. I'll have to go back and look again. Thanks for the input
JP

 

The Kunz spokeshaves are okay. Not great, and you might need to touch them up to get them to work well, but Kunz makes an adjustable mouth spokeshave that I like. I can open it wide for hogging off material, or close it down when I'm working tricky grain. As far as I know, they're the only one making the adjustable mouth model, and I use it a lot on elm.

I've also got a LN Boggs spokeshave which is the one I reach for first most of the time. It's nice, and the only time I have to fiddle with the adjustment is when I put the blade back after sharpening it. Otherwise I just have it set to take a thin shaving and leave it that way.

 

Great info Dave, I appreciate it. I haven't seen the adjustable mouth Kunz. I'll look at that, that sounds like it is worth having.
-JP

 

I have several spokeshaves and the one I
like the best is one that has a tanged iron
like the traditional wood ones. Mine is
metal but the orientation of the iron to the
cut is the same - it's at a much lower angle
than most metal spokeshaves, more like
a drawknife.

 

I bought that Kunz adjustable mouth spokeshave and I was so unhappy with it's quality that I would never buy another Kunz tool. It had paint on the "frog" where the iron beds, which makes it a very poor user out of the box. I'm sure that I could strip that off and make a decent user out of it, but I was so unhappy with my purchase and before it even arrived in the mail I had found a few cheap vintage spokeshaves that were ready to go and work well that I haven't bothered so far. In fact, I should fix it up and then either put it to use or sell it off if it does end up being a good user.

 

You can make your own as well.

http://www.hocktools.com/products/kits.html

 

My only spokeshave is made by Draper, which I bought several months ago after Paul Sellers recommended it as a good budget pick. It did need some refining, but it works.