New spoke shave jumping. What to do?

[slowlearner]

I've got a vintage wooden spoke shave that is a dream to use, although I can see it's not gonna last forever. So a few weeks back I bought one of these.



Shaping a (tas oak) neck on a new bass last night couldn't get the silly thing to cut properly. It's jumping all over the place. I had it adjusted to the lowest setting and still no good. The blade is nice and sharp from what I can see. What am I doing wrong?

[auscab]

Hi Pete .
I like to slightly ramp the front of the sole of mine ,like a Ski ,just the first 2mm, the buggers can dig in and flip on you. I polish them up on my buff wheel as well.
The blades I grind to a slight curve so that if I took a shaving off a flat board that shaving would be 20mm to 25mm wide. That way there is no digging in with corners ,its easier to push through flat shaping [ Not like that on a neck ]
And with the screw adjustment for the blade you can use the left side and when it gets dull pull that side back and use the right side.
You should be able to fine tune that spoke shave but I only buy second hand Stanley"s or Falcon's $15 to $20 each. Those new ones are a touch clunky compared to older ones, but that's just the looks.

[Trevor Gore]

Could be many things, but take it apart and check that everything fits: bed is flat, blade is flat, blade sits flat on the bed, cap iron has its leading edge sat full width on the lowest part of the blade (adjust the cap iron screw if necessary, file/hone the cap iron leading edge straight), blade is sharp.

[slowlearner]

actually the bed is rounded. is this wrong?

[kiwigeo]

Without wanting to sound rude the spokeshave in the picture looks like a rough piece of kit. Looks a bit like the Kunz I have gathering dust on the shelf. It might respond to a bit of tuning but if it doesn't then bin it and look for a better one.

[auscab]

Wrong for straight or tapered work.
Just what you need for the inside curves of some shapes.

[Trevor Gore]

actually the bed is rounded. is this wrong?

If the bed is rounded, seriously wrong. If the sole is rounded, that's OK. Some come flat, some come rounded, depending on what you want to use them for. I use both at different stages of neck shaping.

[Paul B]

Um, don't want to offend, but have you checked that you haven't got the blade (is it an iron on a spokeshave?) in upside down? I only ask because at one time I might or might not have done something similar

[Trevor Gore]

Um, don't want to offend, but have you checked that you haven't got the blade (is it an iron on a spokeshave?) in upside down? I only ask because at one time I might or might not have done something similar

Ah, that would be the high angle, bevel up, spokeshave. I have one like that.