A little spokeshave

Spoon in vise with spokeshave blade facing up

Spokeshave, blade facing down

The other day I was re-watching a video on spoon carving.  It's another Paul Sellers video and in it he takes advantage of the holding power of his vise to carve a spoon.  Instead of the axe and curved knives that are used in the traditional bushcraft method of making spoons, Sellers uses a carving gouge and a spokeshave.  A spokeshave has been on my tool wish list for quite a while but as I watch more and more of Paul Sellers' videos with his emphasis on a minimal set of tools and his preference for buying used rather than new tools, I thought I'd take out the small spokeshave that belonged to my maternal grandfather who died before I was born.

A few years ago when we built our shop, my uncle gave me three of my grandfather's planes, a marking gauge, a wooden folding rule and a the little spokeshave. Two of the planes are a set used to cut tongues and grooves in half inch stock.  The other plane is a wooden jack plane.  I tried all of them out and then hung them on the wall where I could admire them.

I didn't hang the spokeshave up with the other cutting tools.  Instead it went into one of the drawers in my tool box. When I decided to try Sellers' way of making a spoon I needed a spokeshave. I tapped the blade out with a brass hammer and used the same ceramic stones I use to sharpen all my carving tools to put a new edge on it. The edge was pretty chewed up but it didn't take too much work to get out the worst of the dings. Because the wood in the body of the shave has worn away, I can't set it for a really thin shaving but that didn't matter since what I wanted to do was smooth out the facets left by my chisels. I tried it first on the handle of the spoon and it cut very well.  Next I moved to the bowl and was surprised at how nicely it took off the facets and what a wonderfully smooth surface it left.

Geordie's name

I'm not much of a history buff, but it gives me a thrill to work with this delicate little tool that is over 100 years old. I don't know if my great uncle Geordie bought the shave new or even if he made it.  I do know that he passed it on to his younger brother Dave, my grandfather.  Both names appear stamped into the wood of the handles. Did my grandfather buy it from his older brother when he was an apprentice and was collecting his own set of tools?  Did Geordie give it to Dave to help his brother on the way to mastering their shared craft?  I don't know and I don't really need to know. I'm delighted that the tool, for the time being, is in my keeping.  I imagine the feeling of pride and gratitude I get when the blade bites cleanly into wood is akin to the feeling a violinist has when he draws his bow across the strings of a fine old instrument.

Dave's name

I wish the spokeshave could tell its story.  What did my grandfather use it for? Clearly not making spokes for wagon wheels; it's much to small and delicate for that.  Perhaps he made rungs for chairs and used it for other tasks I haven't thought of.  It has seen quite a bit of use over the last century yet the pins on the sides of the blade still fit snugly into their tiny square mortises. I've toyed with the idea of making a new wooden body for it but I know mine would fall short and it fits my hands so well in its current form. Did my grandfather have small hands or did he balance the tool gently using only his finger tips? When I pick it up I wish that, somehow, I could go back in time and meet my grandfather as a young apprentice and later as a master of his trade.  How I would love to talk with him about wood and tools. How I would love to watch him cut the dovetails in the sides of his toolbox, the one that carried his tools from Scotland to Canada in 1910. Since we are separated in time I can't have those conversations or watch him work but I can use his tools and so as I pick up the spokeshave to refine a cut I think, "Thanks Grandad. I'll take care of your tools.  I'm learning and I'll do the best I can."