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One of the things I love about chairmaking is also one of the things I hate about chairmaking: You have to shape curved parts where the grain can change direction in three or four places on the same piece. The Veritas Scraper Shave is the solution to this problem. It allows you to take fine finishing cuts like you would with a scraper, but you can bear down on the work with immense control like you can with a spokeshave.
This tool has serious mass (10.1 ounces) and excellent fit and finish. The high-carbon blade sharpens easily and takes a nice hook. Then you just drop the blade into the steel body, tighten the two brass thumbscrews, then go to work.
The shave, which resembles a gunstock scraper, is excellent for flat surfaces, outside curves and any shaped work. It’s a clean-up tool more than a shaping tool and is used after you rasp your piece to shape. This style of tool is so useful that many woodworkers would make their own. But now you don’t have to.
More information on the Scraper Shave from Veritas
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
If you happen to own one of the Veritas chair devils, you can grind a 45 degree bevel on the other side of the blade. Now you can use it a a chair devil or rotate the tool 180 degrees and use it as a scraper shave — without having to grab a new tool or swap blades.