Official Luthiers Forum!

Thinking to buy an HNT GORDON spoke-shave as a Christmas present.
I already have 2 Stanley 151's flat and curved, and have used the flat one for neck shaping, never the curved one so far.
Recently saw a review of the curved HNT for electric guitar neck carving https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8MbEsh-xOs
So, which shokeshave, if you use one, do you find most useful for neck carving acoustics - flat or curved?

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Colin, not an answer to your question, but David Barron also has a great demo video on YouTube, and I believe he shows the curved and flat both in use.

I use a Lie-Nielsen Boggs Flat Spokeshave for neck carving. I cut a series of facets that I mark out on the neck depending on the shape I want. I think a curved spoke shave would just throw me off.

_________________
http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

60 grit belt sander

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Veritas Flat.

Don't think I'd like to try to sharpen a curved on.

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Google Dave's Shaves. Fabulous wooden spokeshaves. Windsor chair makers swear by them, and those guys live and die with their spokeshaves.

Steve

I've never tried a curved spokeshave, but I love my flat spokeshave for carving necks.

_________________
sweat the small stuff.

Flat with a rounded sole works best for me when carving the neck.

I couldn't listen to that guy on the video for more than a couple of minutes, but the spokeshave you need for neck carving is this one, with the 10mm (3/8") sole radius, which means you can shave all the way around a heel (nominal 2" shaft/heel radius). It's a pretty small tool, and takes a bit of getting used to, (including how to sharpen the small blade), but it's a fabulous tool for carving around heels and the neck/head transition. The fact that it's high angle (I've never used it with the blade reversed) means it will smooth a lot of cranky wood that other shaves can't.

For carving the main neck shaft, most decent spokeshaves will work. I like the Veritas one, called their low angle shave, because that can be set up as a high angle shave, too, which is how I use it.

The neck on this guitar is curly Queensland maple with a brushbox "collar' (it's a tilt neck) and that little spoke shave will handle all the reversing grain and harder/softer wood transitions very well. The only other thing that will do that is sand paper (Qld maple end grain doesn't take to scraping too well).

_________________
Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

What Kevin said. I use to make facet lines. I don't find them necessary these days. It's cool how necks just take shape. I mostly just pay attention to neck thickness and of course flat along the plane. The rest just takes shape. I know how I like a neck to feel and my customers seem to like it.

To answer you question Colin. In a some time more dust filled shop than I like the spoke shave is a welcome relief and somewhat therapeutic. I'm tempted to buy a curved sole to get further into the heel.

Cheers!

Well that's just plain sexy!

I have a Veritas spokeshave with the curved sole and find that it does an excellent job. I've never used a flat-soled version. Mine makes neck carving short and pleasant work, so I'm happy.

_________________
George :-)

That is a sweet looking tool I would like to find under the tree!

_________________
Pat

I have the Veritas curved and flat shaves, but use the flat most of the time

I hear you, all his videos are the same. He sounds like the tattoos must have gone very deep...

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I use my flat spokeshave.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Veritas low angle spokeshave. For some reason I've just never gotten the hang of the more usual ones. (Probably not enough practice.)

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Curved sole. I use this one. Just do a good job sharpening the blade.
http://www.rockler.com/kunz-spokeshaves?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla_with_promotion&utm_campaign=PL&sid=V9146&gclid=CjwKEAiA7f-yBRDAgdv4jZ-78TwSJAA_WdMaHB1DFQvAgOQtrrM5V_PEttJhSEyHjEhCG3n30uR7nRoCnnjw_wcB

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Veritas flat here as well - Trevor, that is a very cool tool and a beautiful guitar!

Wooden shaves (including vintage and Dave's Shaves), with both flat and radiused soles.

I Have gotten some grief for suggesting this before, but I like to use a drawknife. I find I can control the angle of the blade better than a shave. I do use a flat shave also.

_________________
My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

I have about 15 spokeshaves . My current fave is the chinese ebony/rosewood they are cheap on e - bay or from Japan woodworker or lee valley. They all have their limitations. I also use a japanese 4in sculptors drawknife and or a /bandsaw , swedish and homemade drawkinifes , and a home made 3in drawknife. The L/n shaves can take the thinnest shavings . I also have a set of 3 mini brass spokeshaves for tight spots .they are hard to sharpen!

Have always used a flat shave.

Flat Veritas mostly and a couple of antiques...

Kerry

_________________
My Website http://klw-strings.com
My Luthier's Blog...http://klwstrings.blogspot.com

Veritas low angle.

Bob