Drawknife or plane

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Merlin	Drawknife or plane	Lead	[-]
Posts: 2 (06/22/09 6:30 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Hey guys, I was just wondering what would be a better idea..to get a drawknife or a plane? I've been trying to make a bow using just my Swiss Army knife and a Nicholson Rasp, and it's been a failure so far. I can't thin the wood down enough at all. Just wondering what you would all prefer. Last Edited By: Merlin 06/23/09 4:09 AM. Edited 1 time.
Bow bandit		#1	[-]
Posts: 257 (06/22/09 6:39 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I would say a stanley surform plane, its different than a normal plane than the one i think you are talking about, google it, i use it for pretty much everything in making my bows, except fine tillering. Brandon
rwelch		#2	[-]
Posts: 1648 (06/22/09 6:52 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Totally depends on you ,not us. And you'll do much better with a drawknife if you have a shave horse too . Ralph
Boomer		#3	[-]
Posts: 752 (06/22/09 6:58 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I'd say a draw knife and a Nicholson rasp. Last bow, which was an Osage, I used my rasp for about 85% of the work. I bought a sureform a while back and it just collects dust.
NOMADIC PIRATE		#4	[-]
Posts: 1713 (06/22/09 7:07 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	rwelch wrote: Totally depends on you ,not us. Ralph we are all different, you gotta try and find what works for you,...........If I only had to have one main reducing tool it would be a big fat ferrier rasp before finding that out however I tryed planes, draw kives, surforms
CarvedTones		#5	[-]
Posts: 189 (06/22/09 7:24 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I would never have guessed that I would come to love my little handyman style plane so much. It's a vintage block plane with a very thin blade. Stanley made one called the handyman and the one I have is an old made in USA cast body knock off. I use it like a one handed spokeshave and the bow I am very near completion on now has never been clamped down. This seems to be working for me. Anyway, hatchet, handyman and rasps (Nicolson Woodcrafter and small Microplane set) are all I used; no power. -Andy www.carvedtones.com
dutchwarbow		#6	[-]
Posts: 507 (06/22/09 8:21 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	drawknife and spokeshave nick
toxophileken		#7	[-]
Posts: 7796 (06/22/09 8:27 PM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	They do different jobs. A drawknife is used earlier in the process (typically) than a plane. A plane is more useful when the wood's surface and grain is fairly uniform. Asking if you should buy a drawknife or a plane is a bit like asking if you should buy a garbage disposal or a dishwasher... They both belong in the kitchen and are related to getting your dishes clean, but they both have different jobs and uses... A used drawknife would usually be more easily put into service than a used plane, and a new plane doesn't cost all that much. You can get a used drawknife (usually a bit rusty and needing a new edge - but also useful as is for many purposes, such as debarking or rough removal of sapwood/growth rings) for about $15 (new for upwards of $40). A new plane is about $25, and still could benefit from some servicing (polishing the iron sole and the blade) out of the box. A drawknife is, in my opinion, easier to learn to use than a plane. It is also more useful, more often, to me. My planes usually stay in the tool box, even when I make a board bow, where they shine. But Tim Baker uses a plane to reduce a red oak board to bow form in less time than it takes me to type a few messages like this... Lol. Ken
elk country rp		#8	[-]
Posts: 236 (06/22/09 8:29 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	i don't use planes very much (maybe 5 minutes every third bow), so i'm technically not answering your question correctly, but a farrier's rasp & a scraper are my main tools. i use them on every bow. i make mainly laminated bows, so my tool selection isn't typical compared to the rest of the bowyers here. the few stave bows i've done have made me a huge fan of drawknives, though. Rob
DarkSoul		#9	[-]
Posts: 414 (06/23/09 3:25 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	For glued up straight bows, such as bamboo backed bows, or wood backed board bows, I use my plane for anything up to floortillering. I think a good handplane is highly underestimated in board bows, and also backed board bows. I use my plane a LOT when doing boo backed ipé bows. I use the plane to get the ipé core floortillered, narrow the bamboo with in, remove excess glue after glue-up, doing the ENTIRE width shaping, get to a good floortiller of the final blank. On the other hand, I do not use my drawknife on board bows at all. Yet my drawknife is my main tool for any stave bow. I abuse my drawknife a lot actually, but only in stave bows. I remove bark, sapwood, chase rings, do the width taper, get close to floortiller... I would advice a plane if you're making board bows, and a drawknife if you are making stave bows. Jorik "Sonuit contento nervus ab arcu." Ovid, Metamorphoses VI-286
CarvedTones		#10	[-]
Posts: 192 (06/23/09 3:58 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Just to be clear, when I mentioned how much I am liking my plane recently, I mean this one: It's the most unassuming member of my set of planes. I have other larger "make-wood-flat' planes that I used on a board bow with some success, but this one is working for me on staves as well. I usually hold the little plane diagonal to the bow as I pull it or push it and it spits out long thin spirals. I rarely if ever take a full width shaving. It will not make dips or go into existing ones (unless they are huge; but I wouldn't consider that a dip). It's a great companion to rasps; making sure I can take a full length shaving every now and then keeps me honest. Have you also tried precision chopping? That is definitely not for everyone, but you might try a light sharp hatchet or machete to see if you have a knack for it or enjoy it enough to develop one. Take my advice with a grain of salt. I am a novice and have only recently started having success, but it has definitely coincided with finding what works for me and it seems to be different than most others. -Andy www.carvedtones.com
boybowyer		#11	[-]
Posts: 574 (06/23/09 5:12 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I'm with carved. I've been favoring my smallest plane as of late. But I've been working on some boards and already roughed out staves. I know somebody that only buys boards and uses a spokeshave. I think he just likes to watch the curls come off slowly..... But Merlin, take out a small scrap piece of whatever you're working, then play with it with both tools, then decide what you want. Mark
French Crow		#12	[-]
Posts: 708 (06/23/09 8:05 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Planes are close to useless on a lot of staves, when drawknives may make good job on them. Drawknives may do bad on funny grained wood. Planes and spokeshaves are better on boards and can do very thin shavings. Rasps and scrapers are pretty good most of the time, whether the wood is wavy or not. Bruno
bookworm		#13	[-]
Posts: 312 (06/23/09 8:44 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I might suggest a hatchet over a drawknife. You don't need a shave horse to use it and it can do some surprisingly fine work with a little practice. A hatchet can get you to the point where you can use your rasp more effectively pretty quick, too. I have a full set of bench planes and both standard angle and low angle block planes which I hardly use at all when bow making because I use staves, not boards. I agree with French Crow; planes work much better on boards than staves. Staves can be knotty, have swirled grain, and can be prone to tear out when using planes. Rasps and scraper type tools work much better under those circumstances. If you do a lot of board bows a block plane can be useful, but less so with staves. Of course, (and I agree completely with what others have said), it depends an awful lot on you, your skill set, the bows you want to make, etc. Tool selection and use is very personal. One persons invaluable tool can be another persons wall hanger.
CarvedTones		#14	[-]
Posts: 198 (06/23/09 9:14 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I have posted this a few times, but just another point of clarification to follow up on the suggestion Bookworm and I made about a hatchet or similar chopping tool. There is such a thing as a detail hatchet: Mine is on the "other" end of my small sculpting adze (just make sure you know your adze end from a ... oh, never mind ). Bookworm, I don't know if you have tried the block plane immediately following the hatchet or not, but that is when I have found it most effective on a stave, from a stock removal point of view. It will take the ridges out in no time. The throat is big enough to take the big chips that will stop the spokeshave dead in its tracks, but it can't dive like a drawknife. But, as has been stated and restated in this thread, this is definitely a personal preference thing. -Andy www.carvedtones.com
Merlin		#15	[-]
Posts: 3 (06/23/09 10:27 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thanks guys. I think I'll get some scrapers, and maybe a drawknife. I like to use staves but I might end up using some boards. I guess a ferrier's rasp is much more agressive than mine..if you can use them that well. And I'll be honest. I'm 15 and can't get a hatchet. Thanks though. Last Edited By: Merlin 06/23/09 10:30 AM. Edited 2 times.
CarvedTones		#16	[-]
Posts: 199 (06/23/09 10:52 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	15 year olds can't have hatchets? I understand rules about where they might be able to take them, but not have them? Are they allowed to have drywall hammers that are extra sharp in case they run into some really tough drywall? -Andy www.carvedtones.com
George Tsoukalas		#17	[-]
Posts: 3513 (06/23/09 11:19 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	A hatchet, drawknife, Surform and a scraper are good tools to learn. I don't use planes on bows. Jawge http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/
Merlin		#18	[-]
Posts: 4 (06/23/09 11:26 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Let me say, my parents won't let me get one... although I can get pocketknives.
dutchwarbow		#19	[-]
Posts: 510 (06/23/09 1:12 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	andy, I have a similar small plane, guess 2# or so, started to use it mainly on jorik's advice (wich was more like; 'don't use your electric planer, for god sake, just get your normal plane) Nick
boybowyer		#20	[-]
Posts: 577 (06/23/09 7:41 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Merlin, Get a machete. It's like a big knife. My son was using one with skill and safety at the ripe old age of seven. He's twelve now and still uses it and has all of his original equipment attached. Mark

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