Alright gentleman i am trying to design a perfect drawknife just for us self bowyers any input from you guys on what you would like to see or not see i know theres gonna be alot of dis agreement about things but im gonna take the best of what we say and try to do something with it and there will be a few give aways if it works
If you look on **** auction site you can see lots of different ones. Folding handles and curved blades and sizes. Don't know that there is one better than the others. Seems like self bow builders cannot even agree if they should be sharp or dull. Its a personal preference thing.
Crash, You have selected a hopeless and thankless task. If you can't buy what you want then design one that suits YOU.
well in the process i am hoping to learn some things that i want to do with mine
I use a giant Sorby out of England. Man can I hog osage with that baby. Straight across , probably a foot across and 3" wide, good strong handles.Expensive but worth it.
thank you micky i need the help so its squared off bout a foot and strong as all get out what kind of angle do you hone on it meaning how steep
I've got three of them, and I use all of them for different stages.
1. Big, thick, straight, with heavy handles, a little on the dull side for hogin off bark and sap wood.
2. Long, but with a thinner blade for gettin down to the ring before "the" ring. Also this one has adjustable handles.
3. Short, slightly curved blade, sharp, for finessing along with scrapers.
alright well now i get a jist of what the pros are doing im chasing a ring right now with a heavy straght one thinking of making a one inck wide with a lot of curve for the low spots on a stave
I would like to try one like Mickey described, really strong that you can rip and pry off those rings. Then another that is more narrow with a steep angle to finesse that last ring. They must all have very stiff rigid handles. IMHO...Terry
aight im going to order smoe stock today and draw up some sketches and ill see what comes up does the angle of the blade in relation to thw handles make you guys any difference
The only one I've used, except for a Swedish push knife which I use as a scraper and for chasing rings, is the one I inherited from my Dad. It's an oldie but goody. 10 inch curved blade, hardwood wooden handles. I keep it razor sharp in honor of him and se it bevel up. It is the ultimate drawknife. I have no need for another. :)Jawge
This is just my two cents (which may only be worth a penny or so), but I think the most important attribute in a drawknife, is the handles....yes the Handles. Ones that fit the bowyers hands, and offer a comfortable grip that does not produce blisters. Also, I think they should be flared to be quite a bit wider at the base. That way, your hands wont slip off when you are really hoggin'. It is all about control, and that starts with the handles.
But I think it is all personal preference.........just like SelfBows.....how ironic.
I have tried several but the one I have settled on is 10", straight, relatively steep bevel (40 degrees or so), sharp as heck, strong and fairly large handles. The handles are set at almost 90 degrees to the blade and are elongated, not round.
Here's me making a warbow with mine :) (http://www.naturalloghomes.com/Peel2114.jpg)
John, I can't wait to see what the draw weight on that one turns out to be. :scared:
John, I can't wait to see what the draw weight on that one turns out to be. :scared:
YIKES!!! :eek: :eek: :scared: :scared:
I'm still looking for my first one. Hint hint.
:)
I got a nice one from traditionalwoodworker.com which is 5", heavy-duty, American-made and I like it a lot. Why I'd need one any longer, I don't know. The backs of these staves are round, aren't they? And the blade's straight, right? Hmmm...
well its starting to look like tree man was right but i am getting a lot of ideas im making a large straight one for hogging and big shaping parts thinking about30 degrees rake and flat style handles and about a five inch curve one for the ring before the ring with a flat back to scrap it clean with
its going to take a lot of b52 dacron to string that sucker :scared: :scared: :biglaugh:
and one hell of a winch
Here is my take on excessively curved blades to hog out recesses, bad idea. On osage you always end up carefully scraping out the recesses with a curved scraper to keep from violating the grains on the sides of the recess.
I use two draw knives, a big, heavy blade straight one for bark, sapwood and grain chasing up to and through most pin knot clusters. Some times I need a little more finesse and I switch to a 5", very thin blade, Swedish drawknife. I finish up with a variety of scrapers.
I have tried curved blade drawknives and found them a lot less effective than straight bladed ones.
On past osage cutting binges I have spent over a month drawknifing every day until my hands went numb, quit for the day and start back the next. I have a lot of experience with draw knives
I have to agree with the majority on this one a big heavy, staright blade for the rough work (lots of stock removal and prying of sapwood so the handles should be very stought as well) and a smaller, say 6" curved blade, for the final ring chasing.
Cody
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/theferret111/2007_04140001.jpg)
the Sorby..main blade is 10" x 1 3/4"
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/theferret111/2007_04140004.jpg)
Mickey How well does the littlest one on the left work? I have looked at those in the past and thought of getting one.
I have one drawknife, gave the rest away. It's a Snow & Neally. I don't think they make them anymore. I use it for everything from bark to chasing a ring. I like it alot. Its blade is barely curved, almost straight, 8" cutting surface, 10" between the handles. The handles are in the same plane as the blade, but angled out slightly... perhaps 10-15 degrees.
If I was designing one, I would angle the handles out a little more, for a total of about 30 degrees.... 'out more' allows for harder pulling with less fatigue, but if you go out too far you begin to lose stability, or the ability to gauge and maintain up/down angle.
Cody I like to use that one for detail work...getting into a final ring, or cleaning up edges and making them straight. It's too small and fragile to do any real wood removal, but lets say you want to narrow a tip a bit, it's good for that. The straight one to the right of it I use mainly as a scraper.
Thanks Mickey
i bought one of those straight ones mickey and havent got the chance to use it yet also just bought a little 4 inch flex knife frow wood craft that little beuty is almost to sharp but i like it for bending into the low spots