I pretty much quit hanging out in here a few years ago after the trolls
showed up and made it more work than fun to read this group, but after
seeing this little beauty in the latest flier from Lee Valley I had to
pop in and ask if anybody has tried this yet:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,310&p=54888

I gotta have it!

--
Free bad advice available here.
To reply, eat the taco.

Steve Turner wrote:
I pretty much quit hanging out in here a few years ago after the trolls
showed up and made it more work than fun to read this group, but after
seeing this little beauty in the latest flier from Lee Valley I had to
pop in and ask if anybody has tried this yet:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,310&p=54888

I gotta have it!

--
Free bad advice available here.
To reply, eat the taco.

Steve,
I picked up one these shortly after it appeared in the catalog. At the
time I was in the middle of carving some spoon shaped oars. I thought
of buying a convex spokeshave but didn't because I've always suspected
they would difficult to use. The blade is not really lined up with the
forces that the user applies and seemed to me that control, digging and
catching would be a major problem. The Veritas tool definitely solves
this problem by aligning the blade with the pulling force used on the
handle and allows for a very precise application of force. Prior to
using the pullshave I had been using a pair of hook knives for slow
stock removal on the oars. The pullshave probably speeded up the
process by a factor of three with a huge increase in the precision and
smoothness of the cuts. The utility of this tools for carving recessed
rounded surfaces is outstanding.

Overall the tool is very well made. It has a nice heavy feel that plows
smoothly through the wood. It is also ergonomically correct. The screw
adjusters allow a very precise depth adjustment. I do have a couple of
minor gripes though. The blade wasn't terribly sharp out of the box.
You will definitely have to do a good sharpening before performance is
maximized. The shape of the blade makes for a small sharpening
challenge. I used a piece of PVC that matched the radius and succesive
grits of wet-dry sandpaper. Also the mouth opening for the blade is
fairly large. Lee Valley could have easily included some shims to close
the mouth but didn't so I will have to make some out of brass ( are you
listening Robin Lee?, heh!, we know you are )

While I think that this tool is somewhat pricey, it was the perfect fit
for project that I was doing so I have no regrets. If you have need for
such a specialized tooI I doubt that you will find a better designed or
constructed tool for carving large recessed areas.

Paul

Lincoln Terns wrote:
Steve Turner wrote:
I pretty much quit hanging out in here a few years ago after the trolls
showed up and made it more work than fun to read this group, but after
seeing this little beauty in the latest flier from Lee Valley I had to
pop in and ask if anybody has tried this yet:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,310&p=54888

I gotta have it!

--
Free bad advice available here.
To reply, eat the taco.

Steve,
I picked up one these shortly after it appeared in the catalog. At the
time I was in the middle of carving some spoon shaped oars. I thought
of buying a convex spokeshave but didn't because I've always suspected
they would difficult to use. The blade is not really lined up with the
forces that the user applies and seemed to me that control, digging and
catching would be a major problem. The Veritas tool definitely solves
this problem by aligning the blade with the pulling force used on the
handle and allows for a very precise application of force. Prior to
using the pullshave I had been using a pair of hook knives for slow
stock removal on the oars. The pullshave probably speeded up the
process by a factor of three with a huge increase in the precision and
smoothness of the cuts. The utility of this tools for carving recessed
rounded surfaces is outstanding.

Overall the tool is very well made. It has a nice heavy feel that plows
smoothly through the wood. It is also ergonomically correct. The screw
adjusters allow a very precise depth adjustment. I do have a couple of
minor gripes though. The blade wasn't terribly sharp out of the box.
You will definitely have to do a good sharpening before performance is
maximized. The shape of the blade makes for a small sharpening
challenge. I used a piece of PVC that matched the radius and succesive
grits of wet-dry sandpaper. Also the mouth opening for the blade is
fairly large. Lee Valley could have easily included some shims to close
the mouth but didn't so I will have to make some out of brass ( are you
listening Robin Lee?, heh!, we know you are )

While I think that this tool is somewhat pricey, it was the perfect fit
for project that I was doing so I have no regrets. If you have need for
such a specialized tooI I doubt that you will find a better designed or
constructed tool for carving large recessed areas.

Paul

Thank you Paul, that's exactly the kind of information I was looking
for. I intend to use the tool exactly as shown on the Lee Valley web
page; to assist in hollowing out seat blanks for rocking chairs. I've
been keeping my eyes open for a LONG time for some type of travisher to
help with the job, and even pondered making my own, but to no avail. I
remember Robin insinuating a few years ago (right here in the wreck)
that they intended to develop a tool to address this need, and I've been
waiting with bated breath ever since... I had no idea it was going to
be such a unique design; I expected a travisher of some kind but to heck
with that, this looks like a much better idea!

--
Free bad advice available here.
To reply, eat the taco.

"Lincoln Terns" wrote in message
oups.com...
Steve Turner wrote:
I pretty much quit hanging out in here a few years ago after the trolls
showed up and made it more work than fun to read this group, but after
seeing this little beauty in the latest flier from Lee Valley I had to
pop in and ask if anybody has tried this yet:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,310&p=54888

I gotta have it!

--
Free bad advice available here.
To reply, eat the taco.

Steve,
I picked up one these shortly after it appeared in the catalog. At the
time I was in the middle of carving some spoon shaped oars. I thought
of buying a convex spokeshave but didn't because I've always suspected
they would difficult to use. The blade is not really lined up with the
forces that the user applies and seemed to me that control, digging and
catching would be a major problem. The Veritas tool definitely solves
this problem by aligning the blade with the pulling force used on the
handle and allows for a very precise application of force. Prior to
using the pullshave I had been using a pair of hook knives for slow
stock removal on the oars. The pullshave probably speeded up the
process by a factor of three with a huge increase in the precision and
smoothness of the cuts. The utility of this tools for carving recessed
rounded surfaces is outstanding.

Overall the tool is very well made. It has a nice heavy feel that plows
smoothly through the wood. It is also ergonomically correct. The screw
adjusters allow a very precise depth adjustment. I do have a couple of
minor gripes though. The blade wasn't terribly sharp out of the box.
You will definitely have to do a good sharpening before performance is
maximized. The shape of the blade makes for a small sharpening
challenge. I used a piece of PVC that matched the radius and succesive
grits of wet-dry sandpaper. Also the mouth opening for the blade is
fairly large. Lee Valley could have easily included some shims to close
the mouth but didn't so I will have to make some out of brass ( are you
listening Robin Lee?, heh!, we know you are )

While I think that this tool is somewhat pricey, it was the perfect fit
for project that I was doing so I have no regrets. If you have need for
such a specialized tooI I doubt that you will find a better designed or
constructed tool for carving large recessed areas.

Paul


Hi Paul -

Good comments - and I'll make sure they get passed through to the Mfg
guys...

The blade sharpness, I beleive, has been improved - and you shouldn't have
to do much more than hone right now... we've started lapping those blades,
and they should be flat to within .0002", and with an average surface
roughness of .000005" .... (5 microinches - just over 1/10 micron).

Cheers -

Rob