Mid-range spokeshaves (and hand tools in general)


TheFatBaron

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It seems like there's no real middle ground here. Either you're buying from the bottom of the barrel and hoping you can get it into workable condition, or you're jumping straight to the high end tools.

That seems to be the case at Rockler, Woodcraft, Highland Woodworking, and Lee Valley. Am I missing something here - a specific brand to look for, or somewhere else to shop (and yes, I'm checking Craigslist and eBay for used tools as well)? Or do I need to reset my expectations - and start thinking of say, Veritas, as a mid-range tool?

Seems to be the same for chisels, planes, whatever.

For the record, this is after a couple days of hunting for a round-face spokeshave that won't break the bank. I ended up buying a Kunz flat spokeshave after reading that its issues were fairly easily fixed (and they were), but apparently the round ones are a different story entirely. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks!

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Not necessarily...I've bought several vintage Stanley's and they work exceptionally well. At one point, I thought that the high end LN type would be radically better; so I bought one. And, nope--it doesn't work a whole lot better. If I had to start over, I would buy the 3 LV spokeshaves and be done with it. Buying, fettling, and adding replacement blades for vintage planes has been educational and just as expensive (in the long run) as buying premium first.

just my 2 cents....

Archie

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This is a result of a market that as a whole doesn't use many hand tools. In the "golden age" where every craftsman from furniture maker to house carpenter was using hand tools, there were many manufacturers to meet the demand and the wide variety of tolerances and budgets. Hence a greater echelon of offerings. Today, it is rare to see a general contractor using a hand saw or hand plane and the market consists of high end "fine" furniture makers and hobbyists.

The truth is many hand tools are precision instruments that require careful manufacture. This comes with a price tag. I would consider WoodRiver to be a mid range brand and yet you are still going into 3 figures to buy a plane. This is what it costs for a quality manufactured tool. Lie Nielsen and Veritas are still at the premium end of the spectrum but even they are eclipsed by the boutique, one man operations like Sauer & Steiner and Brese Planes.

The good news is that the emergence of WoodRiver shows that maybe the market have gotten large enough for a mid range manufacturers to exist again. However, there are still so many homeless vintage tools to be put back to work that I partial to going that route first. Archie has a great point however in that the cost of tune up and time invested doesn't necessarily make it a cheaper option.

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This is a result of a market that as a whole doesn't use many hand tools. In the "golden age" where every craftsman from furniture maker to house carpenter was using hand tools, there were many manufacturers to meet the demand and the wide variety of tolerances and budgets. Hence a greater echelon of offerings. Today, it is rare to see a general contractor using a hand saw or hand plane and the market consists of high end "fine" furniture makers and hobbyists.

The truth is many hand tools are precision instruments that require careful manufacture. This comes with a price tag. I would consider WoodRiver to be a mid range brand and yet you are still going into 3 figures to buy a plane. This is what it costs for a quality manufactured tool. Lie Nielsen and Veritas are still at the premium end of the spectrum but even they are eclipsed by the boutique, one man operations like Sauer & Steiner and Brese Planes.

The good news is that the emergence of WoodRiver shows that maybe the market have gotten large enough for a mid range manufacturers to exist again. However, there are still so many homeless vintage tools to be put back to work that I partial to going that route first. Archie has a great point however in that the cost of tune up and time invested doesn't necessarily make it a cheaper option.

Thanks for pointing out the WoodRiver tools. They seem like a great value. I will probably pick up their low-angle spokeshave and see how it works.

In the end, I agree and understand your point - hand tools are a niche within a niche. Personally, I would lean more in the "spend time instead of money camp" - hence my purchase of a cheap spokeshave that could be fixed, or a old scraping plane that just needed some love. But, particularly since my son was born, I've have to balance it out more. Any time spent working on a tool is time not spend working on wood or playing with my kid. On the other hand, I don't have an unlimited budget (thanks to a tiny person's appetite for food and diapers) on what is essentially a hobby that will probably not do more than break-even.

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I've had terrible luck with Kunz and, thus, stay away from them now. Others, however, may have had a different experience. Any Stanley shave marked SW (Sweetheart era) typically is worth the purchase. These are the heyday of vintage tools. Having bought cheap(ly), I've tried the 51,52,53,54,55,63,64,60, and 151, along with a beautiful LN flat bottom. My favorite is the 151 with a LV replacement blade. It's awesome. Second favorite is the 52 (straight handle) for maneuverability; then the 53 for shear delight of thin shavings. I gave my 60 to a friend (and still miss it)--it's a very functional combo shave. Now, the sad news is, I also bought an auction box of 6 wood shaves (again, cheaply), and 4 of them are fantastic. If the metal shaves are good; the wooden are even better. I'm still working on blade sharpening and restoration; but there's a clear benefit of a well tuned wooden shave over a metal one. The difference is simply: BU vs BD; but, it's a real difference! BTW, I've replaced many of my vintage shave blades with the LV blades and that alone transformed several. As I said above, buying vintage even cheaply becomes more expensive as you move along. Though incremental as compared to all at once, it still costs you. Oh, I bet those inexpensive contour shaves from LV would be outstanding; and wood shaves--new ones--are blasted expensive. Well, Ron Hock has a kit for one, and I like his blades, too.

Whatever?! Enjoy!!!!

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I stiil consider myself a beginner so before I purchased any tools (and before I found my Dad's old tools) I did lots of reading and research.

My Dad's old Craftsman is turning out to be a great plane but the old post WW2 Stanley is a great paper weight or hammer. No amount of work will save that piece of junk.

I have purchased planes from both Lie-Nielsen and Veritas and the quality and performance differences between those two quality makers is very noticible.

I have also purchased two spoke shaves and a Stanley scraper plane through Ebay and with a little tuning and cleaning they are working great plus for less that $50 including shipping they were a great deal. I also got a great deal on a Miller Falls hand drill.

So, again, the old adage applies; "You get what you pay for".

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I just thought I'd give an update - I never did find a good looking round-bottom spokeshave on eBay or CL, and ended up getting the WoodRiver low-angle spokeshave. I'll need to sharpen it before using it on my jatoba or black locust projects, but even out of the box, it was working pretty well on a piece of scrap red oak. I can definitely see where an higher-end manufacturer would improve the tool, but overall - it seems to be a decent piece of work. Thanks to Shannon/RWW for pointing them out.

I'm still checking online for some of the bigger planes (used) since they're more for occasional/future use - not immediate needs.

And Tom - I was gifted a used Stanley scraper plane - after cleaning it up, replacing the thumbscrews, and resharpening the iron it's a dream.

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Glad you like it. So far I am really impressed with Woodriver too, I have a #5 and love the thing-it has quickly become my second most used plane! I have an old Stanley that I am going to put a Hock iron in and an Anant (after quite a bit of work it works ok). I was looking at the Woodriver and then Rob Cosman said that Pinnacle is supposed to release a new shave with an IBC blade this summer through Woodcraft so I am going to hold off until I can compare. My kids love using the spokeshave and I want to get a second one so they can work at the same time and get good results from without the frusteration that the Anant gives.

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