Bowyers Edge vs Spoke Shave

[recurvericky]

What is the difference between a Bowyers Edge and a Spoke Shave?

[Roy from Pa]

Bowyers edge is a tool Dean Torges designed, spoke shaves have been around for years and years. They both do about the same thing and either tool will suffice. All they do is shave off thin slivers of wood. You should get a good quality scraper too.

[John Scifres]

Bowyer's Edge is more of a scraper while the spoke shave is more of a cutter.  Dean designed it specifically to allow more movement along the length of a bow from dips to tips, particularly on a radiused belly bow.

[J.F. Miller]

the biggest difference in my mind is that the Bowyers Edge is made for very precise wood removal. like John said, it is, effectively, a depth controlled cabinet scraper. indispensable for the construction of wooden bows of all varieties, imo. I can't think of any bow I DIDN'T use mine on in the last 15 years. spoke shave is rather useless on any bow with with less than perfectly straight grain. has a tendency to tear up grain, which can be a serious problem. I've only used a spoke shave successfully on a handful of extremely straight grained selfbows.

Bowyers Edge is handy for final tillering where precise wood removal is most important, for cleaning up tool marks left behind from a rasp, for controlled, even wood removal when managing draw weight, for chasing growth rings on back of a selfbow. heck, you can even taper arrows with it.

[Pat B]

For selfbow building I do't care for either unless I'm using yew or ERC. I like a simple scraper and sometimes a rasp for most of my tillering.

[Bowjunkie]

My experience and opinions mirror Jamie's. I LOVE my Bowyer's Edge and I use it all the time on all parts of my bows, on selfbows, bbb's, chasin rings, cleaning up rasp marks, tillering, barrel tapering arrows, etc. I've generally found that those who don't like it either don't have the blade sharpened right or don't have the blade depth set properly.

On the other hand, I haven't used my spokeshaves in years... again, for the reasons Jamie noted.

[recurvericky]

Thanks guys, you answered my question.

[recurvericky]

Thanks guys, you answered my question.

[LittleBen]

Ultimate tillering tool .... belt sander or pneumatic drum sander ....

Then again I'm kinda lazy

[The Gopher]

i have always used a small scraper i make from handsaw blades. but for some reason with the bow i am working on now i am getting a lot more of the wash-board effect than before, so i started using a small 8" half round, double cut bastard file for tillering and i love it. not so aggresive as a rasp (so at least it slows down my screw-ups) doesn't leave the washboard like a scraper, but can still remove a suprising amount of wood in short order. after floor tillering this is my go to tool now. Still need a scraper for nooks and crannies.

[Bowjunkie]

I use the bowyers edge and cabinet scrapers for removing curls, and use double cut bastards of various sizes to level any washboarding that can't be removed by switching directions with the scrapers.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I just gave my Bowyers Edge away. Never found a use for it. Im not big into tools that need to be "adjusted" or "set up" to work right. I like fool proof tools that work when I do as Id rather work on bows than tools.

For the record: The fella I gave it to adores it!

[Bowjunkie]

Wow, I don't know what to say.

I 'set up' my Bowyer's Edge yesterday in less than 20 seconds.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Just my thing Jeff, it doesn't make Dean or his tool bad. My one piece scraper does anything I have ever asked it for.

[Bowjunkie]

That's cool. We all have our things I suppose.

[Roy from Pa]

I don't like mine either, never use it, I'd rather use a scraper. Heck they do the same thing.

[WestTexan]

I've only used a spoke shave out of those 2 but don't like it so I built a baby drawknife and that my favorite tool for scraping.

[Bowjunkie]

Yo Roy, I'll buy it off ya. I've been meaning to get another one as a spare, and mine's about wore out  

[Roy from Pa]

I'll trade ya Jeff. How about a pair of tapered ERC lams, or a whole 66 inch piece of a tapered ERC lam, 1/4 at the center to 1/8th at the tips?  

OR..

You attend my next TWO Bownanzas?  

Ah hell Bro, I'll just give it to ya. You have done a lot for me in the past!

[rainman]

You guys need to get a good spokeshave or get a book on how to tune one up, so it works like a $100 dollar spokeshave.  A good spokeshave can peel wood just as clean as a bowyers Edge.  For the record that tool used to be called a Chair Devil.  A tool used to smooth the rungs in chair making.  Dean was the first to use one on bows.  They are very simple to make and set up.