Drawknife

Traditional draw knife

Adrawknife(drawing knife,draw shave,shaving knife)is a traditionalwoodworkinghand toolused to shape wood by removing shavings. It consists of a blade with a handle at each end. The blade is much longer (along the cutting edge) than it is deep (from cutting edge to back edge). It is pulled or "drawn" (hence the name) toward the user.

The drawknife in the illustration has a blade 23 cm (9.1 in) long, although much shorter drawknives are also made. The blade is sharpened to achiselbevel.Traditionally, it is a rounded, smooth bevel. The handles can be below the level of the blade (as in the illustration) or at the same level.

Purpose

Using a drawknife in making aflatbow

A drawknife is commonly used to remove large slices of wood for flat faceted work, to debark trees, or to create roughly rounded orcylindricalbillets for further work on alathe,or it can shave like aspokeshaveplane,where finer finishing is less of concern than a rapid result. The thin blade lends itself to create complex concave or convex curves.

American drawknife circa 1800

Unlike a spokeshave, itdoes nothave a closed mouth to control chip formation, and so lacks the spokeshave's superior cutting and shaving precision.

They are also a vital piece of equipment in hand-madecricket bats,being used to shape the curve of the bat.

Operation

The drawknife ideally is used when the operator is in a seated position astride a traditionalshaving horse,which safely grips the working stock, and they can also use their legs for additional pulling power. The ideal working stock has the grain of the wood running parallel to the shaving horse, and perpendicular to the blade of the drawknife, so that the drawknife shaves away the entire wood fibre and does not cut against it.It is best not pulled with blade perfectlyperpendicularto the wood stock, but pulled slightly upward toward them in a skewed (blade at a slightdiagonal) or slithering fashion, aiming not to take off as much wood as possible, but gradually "shave" the work. The operator gently levers the blade to "bite" into the wood and then controls the depth of the cut by raising or lowering the handles as they pull the drawknife towards them.

Draw shaves are often used with shaving horses.

Use of a drawknife and shaving horse fromDe Re Metallica,a sixteenth-century work on mine technology

Straight cuts

One works from the centre of the piece to the end,notthe entire length all at once. The operator then reverses the piece in the shaving horse orviseand works from near centre to trim the "fatter" end to match the centre and just finished original "skinny" end. Final work can be done by spokeshave, sanding block or lathe.

• When operated conventionally, that is, with the bladebevel-side upward,the drawknife takes deeper cuts and somenovicesmay find it has a tendency to "dive" (cut unintentionally deep).
• When operatedbevel-side down,there is the advantage of removing less stock, but the blade dulls more rapidly, requiring frequenthoning.

Convex

The operator applies little leverage from centre and most leverage, so the blade "bites" deeper, thus removing more wood as they approach the end grain.

Concave

The operator applies minimal, then most, then least force on the handles from centre toward the end grain. The work stock is reversed and same method repeated this time commencing a tiny distance away from centre so as to leave a coarse raised section. The coarse raised section where the two concave curves meet can be finished with arasp,file,spokeshave or other tool.

Splitting

For very rapid and rough removal of stock, the blade is drawn toward the user and rapidly levered into the wood to make as deep a cut as possible. The operator immediately stops pulling, and uses the drawknife blade to lever upward so as to "flick" the splinter or splice out of the worked piece. This technique is advanced and may damage the worked piece and drawknife blade if due care is not observed.

Traditionally, the waste shavings, which are particularly durable, are used forbasket weavingor for kindling. They also make excellentcompostand plant bed material.

Large drawknives can be used to dresslogs,and small sizes for carving and shaving. A common use of a drawknife is to create a roughly cylindrical billet of wood for turning on apole lathe.

Similar tools

Apushknifeor wood splitting knife is a similar tool, used by pushing, rather than pulling.

An inshave is a similar tool with a blade curved out to the side between the two handles. It is used to shave wood to form a hollowed out surface, such as the top of a chair seat. It is also called a scorp. There are also versions with a single handle.

See also

• Spokeshave

External links

• Green Woodwork
• Craftsmanspace Free Shaving Horse Plan
• Internet Archive PDF of Craftsmanspace Shaving-Horse plans