Plan for a bench for using a drawknife

[Draven]

Howdy folks!
Had absolutely no idea what to call it! Just a workbench for drawing. And "plan" isn't a very good word either, the proportions of this drawing could be greatly improved upon! Anyhoo, I saw this on the show "Victorian Farm", used by a basketmaker - I think he specifically used it with a drawknife to smooth the wood he used for the rim (Hazel IIRC) and I thought it looked like a great design - perhaps a bit OTT if you don't do a lot of drawing, but cool nonetheless.

The idea being, that the verticle beam is on a pivot (level with the worktop) and when the horizontal bar on the bottom is pushed with the foot, the corner of the block at the top (which sticks out to the side) holds the piece to be worked in place. Since the pressure is applied by your foot, it should be very quick and easy to move the piece around.

Additionally, since the beam is longer below the pivot (the end on which you're pushing) than above, the torque applied will be multiplied, so it shouldn't be difficult to apply enough pressure to hold the piece tightly. IMO it could be improved ergonomically by having a bend in the beam, towards the user, so that you don't have to stretch your leg too far out, and can therefore apply more pressure with less effort.

I'm not going to be building this in the near future but thought someone might be interested or find a use for it

Atb!
Pete

 

[Eric_Methven]

The basket maker is Owen Jones, a good friend of mine and the 'bench' he's using is called a 'shave horse'. They have been around for thousands of years in one form or another. Oak Swill basket makers call their shave horse a 'shaving pony' for some reason. It's all the same principle, but the different name stuck with the specific trade. In the TV series he is using an English patterned horse which has the block on top. Mine has a bar across and two side pieces.

Here's one of Owen's baskets:

Here's Owen using the shave horse.

His website (one page) is here

Eric

 

[Draven]

Thanks for posting

Very talented fella by the looks of it, tis a mighty shame the trade is dying out

Cheers
Pete

 

[Stanleythecat]

Hi Pete

I just made myself one of these shaving horses and it's a really cool piece of kit. The one in your diagram is a swiss/ european design and it's just a fantastic holding device, the precursor to the black and decker workmate. Very simple to make and very therapeutic to use too. You can do some quite fine work on them and I quite often use it to rough a spoon out after the axe has become too substantial a tool.

Every green woodworker should have one!

Regards

Leo

 

[demographic]

THIS any use to you?

 

[robin wood]

Owen is my all time craft hero, we used to lots of shows together, I have a dozen of his baskets and he also does a course which I would highly recommend. Nicola did some filming of him for her research a bit of film here after the clogmaker, http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VmKjvhQ4IHg
Swillmakers always called their horses mares for some reason.

It is sad indeed that the craft is down to one maker, the derbyshire and black country swill both died out and if it wasn't for Owen the lakeland swill would have gone too.

 

[John Fenna]

This is a very interesting thread!
The old crafts need preserving and these tools and skills are ones I hope to try out....when I have time

 

[Too Much Kit To Carry]

Have a look here:- http://www.countryworkshops.org/Shaving%20Horse%20Plans.html


Has a plan for a Swiss shaving horse which are simple and very effective:-

Hope this if of interest.

Cheers,

Phil.

 

[Draven]

I can't believe I'd never seen one of these before - they seem to be known by everyone else! My bad

They really look like great things to have, I just wish I had a use for one so I had an excuse to make it!

 

[dogwood]

Primitiveways also has a plan for a shaving horse -- a portable one at that.

Great for making bows...

http://www.primitiveways.com/shaving-horse.html

 

[dogwood]

Owen is my all time craft hero, we used to lots of shows together, I have a dozen of his baskets and he also does a course which I would highly recommend. Nicola did some filming of him for her research a bit of film here after the clogmaker, http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VmKjvhQ4IHg
Swillmakers always called their horses mares for some reason.

It is sad indeed that the craft is down to one maker, the derbyshire and black country swill both died out and if it wasn't for Owen the lakeland swill would have gone too.

Robin, when I followed the link I found a number of other youtube vids of you and your work -- great stuff, man.

This is a mite off topic for the thread, but are there plans for your turning lathe out there on the net?

 

[Draven]

I really enjoy seeing all the various regional differences in things like these, and all the tweaks and modifications each builder and user adds to their own design; might make that little portable one when I finally get around to trying my hand at making a longbow