Kamiwaza Spokeshave Blade - 30mm

Spokeshaves are arguably the most sensitive and specialised tool that a woodworker can deploy. 

For those who are unfamiliar, Japanese spokeshave blades are very similar to plane blades with two key differences. 

They are more lightly built, being smaller, thinner and generally available in finer sizes. 

They also do not ship with a chipbreaker, as the shape of a Japanese spokeshave makes adding one quite difficult. As such, all tear-out management has to be taken care of with careful and close sizing of the mouth.

The malleability of the timber block that holds the blade is the true strength of the Japanese spokeshave - the radius of the sole can be carefully tuned, the handles' position in relation to the cutting edge can be finessed, and a convex or concave camber can even be introduced to the blade and mirrored in the block.

On his teaching visit to our workshop, chair maker Takuya Aoki showed us the small portion of his spokeshave collection that had travelled with him from Japan.

Takuya-san calculates that he has made over 40 tools, both planes and spokeshaves, that have been designed with specific jobs and applications in mind. 

To get started with designing a spokeshave, please consider Takuya Aoki's technical drawings.