Drawknife

The drawknife is among the most useful and versatile tools in boatbuilding and
general woodwork, but is also frightening, because it can behave like a power tool
and get the beginner into a lot of trouble very quickly. Overcoming that trouble,
however, is merely a matter of sharpening the tool and learning to read the grain of
the wood.

As my stones live their life out on the bench where they belong for daily use, they are
filthy from saw and metal dust and need cleaning. A simple stiff parts-cleaning brush
and a pan of kerosene does the trick. I'll relube them generously with cutting oil as I
use them

Then I simply mount my stones on a board extended from the Workmate so the
drawknife's handles have clearance, and clamp everything down firmly. The blade
back is flattened first, using coarse and fine stones….the single most important
phase of sharpening….do it thoroughly. Handle clearance is critical because
sharpening is best done with both hands holding the blade….not holding the
handles….and close to the stone for better feel.

This drawknife is an ancient family piece from Granddad made by Braun in
"Schweig"…Switzerland…the blade has about half its original depth, one tang has a
silver braze repair and these are the third set of handles I am aware of. I suspect my
Great-grandfather brought it with him when he immigrated. It's the only one I own…or
need, as it still works just dandy

The blade bevel is 20 degrees…we'll hone that next and add another 5 degrees or
so of secondary bevel

The primary bevel is honed on the coarse stone and secondary bevel on the fine
stones. With a bevel this large, and with proper hand position as shown, it is simple to
"feel" the bevel so as to not add rocker to the primary bevel.

Then I strop both edges on the 8 inch buffing wheel with Knifemaker's Green
Rouge….you should use a leather strap if you haven't done a lot of freehand buffing,
as catching an edge and throwing this piece downwards is an excellent route to
arterial bleeding

Now we do the second critical part…reading the work piece. Pushing a felt tip pen
against the board firmly will cause ink to seep along the grain line where it is not
obvious. On this plank of Red Alder I have marked the grain…you can see the grain
runout that occurs even in a properly milled board around the knots

….and where there was a knot nearby even though it isn't evident in the board. I've
also marked the only direction the drawknife will successfully cut.

Moving to the shaving horse, it becomes obvious that the drawknife will cut cleanly
with excellent control slicing in the direction of the grain

But if this were a rough planking bevel on a strake you just spent an hour getting out, can
we clean the gouge and recover? Sure….

…we just switch to the direction dictated by the grain, regaining our precise control and
can rough cut clean, accurate bevels that only need a touch with a finely-set smoothing
plane to make perfect.

All of the above. The angle of the blade's attack doesn't change when the tool is upside
down, but cutting with the bevel down gives better control in taking thin shavings….and
cutting with the bevel up is several fold as fast as using a plane to hog wood rapidly. It's a
mistake to think these tools are only suitable for tapering riven softwood shingles….a little
practice pushing as well as pulling and you can rapidly trim with precision a piece too big
to move into the shop