Draw knife
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A drawknife (drawing knife, draw shave, shaving knife) is a traditional
woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...
hand tool A hand tool is any tool that is powered by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches, pliers, cutters, files, striking tools, struck or hammered tools, screwdrivers, vises, clamps, snips, hacksaws, drills, and kni ...
used 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 long, although much shorter drawknives are also made. The blade is sharpened to a
chisel A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, stru ...
bevel A bevelled edge (UK) or beveled edge (US) is an edge of a structure that is not perpendicular to the faces of the piece. The words bevel and chamfer overlap in usage; in general usage they are often interchanged, while in technical usage they ...
. 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.American Woodworker May–June 1990, No 14
72 pages pp:39


Purpose

A drawknife is commonly used to remove large slices of wood for flat faceted work, to debark trees, or to create roughly rounded or
cylindrical A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infini ...
billets for further work on a
lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to c ...
, or it can shave like a spokeshave
plane Plane(s) most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant * Planes (gen ...
, where finer finishing is less of concern than a rapid result. The thin blade lends itself to create complex concave or convex curves. Unlike a spokeshave, it ''does not'' have 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-made
cricket bat A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batters in the sport of cricket to hit the ball, typically consisting of a cane handle attached to a flat-fronted willow-wood blade. It may also be used by a batter who is making ground ...
s, 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 traditional shaving 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 perfectly
perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...
to the wood stock, but pulled slightly upward toward them in a skewed (blade at a slight diagonal) 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.American Woodworker Dec 1995: No.49, New Track Media, pp: 43–4

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Straight cuts

One works from the centre of the piece to the end, not the entire length all at once. The operator then reverses the piece in the shaving horse or
vise A vise or vice (British English) is a mechanical apparatus used to secure an object to allow work to be performed on it. Vises have two parallel jaws, one fixed and the other movable, threaded in and out by a screw and lever. A vise grip is no ...
and 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 blade ''bevel-side upward'' the drawknife takes deeper cuts and some
novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession A profession is a field of work that has ...
s may find it has a tendency to "dive" (cut unintentionally deep). *When operated ''bevel-side down'' there is the advantage of removing less stock, but the blade dulls more rapidly, requiring frequent honing.


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 a rasp,
file File or filing may refer to: Mechanical tools and processes * File (tool), a tool used to ''remove'' fine amounts of material from a workpiece **Filing (metalworking), a material removal process in manufacturing ** Nail file, a tool used to gent ...
, 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 for
basket weaving Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...
or for kindling. They also make excellent
compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...
and plant bed material. Large drawknives can be used to dress
log Log most often refers to: * Trunk (botany), the stem and main wooden axis of a tree, called logs when cut ** Logging, cutting down trees for logs ** Firewood, logs used for fuel ** Lumber or timber, converted from wood logs * Logarithm, in mathe ...
s, 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 a pole lathe.


Similar tools

A pushknife or 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


References


External links


Green Woodwork



Internet Archive PDF of Craftsmanspace Shaving-Horse plans


{{Cutting and abrasive tools Green woodworking tools Green woodworking Woodworking hand tools