A travisher works the same way, if all the surrounding areas are high, it stops cutting. This is when folks start reaching for tools with a tighter radius. The idea behind the shape of the travisher is similar to the handplane. With either, the idea is to “map” the shape of the tool onto the workpiece. With a handplane, the desired shape is flat, and when flattening a board, we reach for the largest practical tool because it will take in more information and more easily do the job.
Is making a living at your chosen craft an intrinsic part of being a planemaker, chairmaker and therefor being a professional? A little off topic but in our day many people apply the label artist to the the finer crafting but I believe they are quite separate. I have been informed that astisan from italian friends seems to bridge the gap.
Bevel
I thought about making it in Osage-orange to give it a little bit of bling, and because it’s incredibly hard-wearing. I quickly dismissed that idea, though, because I was afraid I would mess up my first attempt, and if I was going to mess up, I wanted to do it with a wood that was easy to work. Cherry is quite a bit softer, so it may wear travisher blade out faster, but I figure if I have to make another body, I’ll do from a harder wood when I’m confident that I know what I’m doing. I needed something to dig out a hollow in a piece of birds eye maple and, while it is slow going, this tool does exactly what it is supposed to do. It’s a great carving tool for small or large projects.
- I don’t think they need to be connected, but I suspect that by the time you start to really understand the making of something, the idea of making it for income had already crossed your mind.
- It is in this position that I am able to cut the curved at the back of the seat.
- It’s a treasure to hear the sharp ‘snick’ of a finely honed blade slicing through wood.
- The irons were curved only after they were ground to about 25 degrees.
- There is a ton of great information and many pictures of Pete’s travishers, and I based mine pretty closely on his design.
- The travisher below it in the photo is one that I purchased from James Mursell’s website.
Less force is required to cut, the tool cuts cleanly cross grain , the bevel angle is reduced and the ease of slicing while cutting is increased. With the travisher, you also add being able to adjust the curvature of the bottom. Most of what I’ve touched on here also applies to the inshave, which is why I also advocate for the flatter ones. I would like to note that I have no financial involvement with Elia.
My own (home-made) travisher is a beefy thing capable of taking a slice out of the seat either along the grain, set for a heavy cut, or with the grain taking a lighter cut to avoid tear. I expect it to behave well in all cut directions. I expect that the technique would differ slightly for other timbers. A scorp is a roughing-out tool for making bowls, spoons, and similar concave shapes. The thick shank reduces chatter and increases accuracy.
Chair Notes
Trim the sole back to the red line, leaving about 1/2″ of sole in front of the blade. The set screws are recessed deeply enough that they’re not affected at all. You can change the cutting angle of these hand tools to tackle a variety of planing tasks. With the blade finished, I started on the body, using some nice quartersawn beech I recently acquired. There was was lots of drawing to come up with a shape I liked, then I made a cardboard template. This photo shows the blade after grinding; I did not grind it until after it had been hardened.
I was out of town for a couple of weeks recently; down in Cincinnati for Woodworking in America and then in Pennsylvania for a short visit with my family. I met too many good people to mention here, and had the opportunity to let other people put the new adze through its paces. Between the adzing, https://woodcarvingonline.com/weekend-projects-making-a-travisher/ turning demonstrations for the Galbert caliper, and travisher demonstrations, our booth was a mess for the entire show. If I googled Infill planes I would definitely see your language out of the others. I think we all acquire forms that we are fond of and then try to instill them in our own work.
It looks like a very useful tool that you are producing there. Claire Minihan’s travishers are some of the most exquisite tools made. I use the various portions of the blade to refine the curves of the seat with a speed that allows me to “see” the seat take shape and make subtle adjustments as needed. Using a travisher https://woodcarvingonline.com/ or spokeshave requires a movement that is counter-intuitive and must be practiced. As I was carving the seat last week, it became apparent that it would be difficult to achieve the surface quality that I was after by going straight from the inshave to the scraper. I really needed to add a travisher to my arsenal.
The other source is Claire Minihan, who actually makes the travishers that Pete sells. She answered some emailed questions for me, and even better, sent me some photos of the construction process. Claire’s and Pete’s blogs are linked in the blog roll–check ’em out. Yes,in the video he uses the round piece of iron to hammer the travisher around.