Woodworking 101: Bodger's Horse

Freitag, 10. Juni 2011

Bodger's Horse

Before I was able to make the Spring Pole Lathe I realized I needed to have a shave horse for preparing fresh stock for the turning, or anything else to shave, drawknife or spokeshave related. So I had some pieces left over from other projects and with some imagination, pics here and there on the web…. I came up with this Bodger styled horse. This horse is made more for shorter shaving such as chair legs, spindles that sort of thing. The Bodger I believe was the craftsperson that prepared the legs for the chairmaker.

I found a good trick I borrowed from a guy who said he used a strip of leather to help bind the wood as you may get a piece with a knot that bucks back and wants to pull you all over….well he was right, if you decide to get one together please use some leather on your clamp…it binds nicely, and of course a sharp drawknife.

I was lucky to have a friend that had some leather wrapping used for bike grips, so I got some and cut it to size, then brad nailed the rest up nice and tight..and it works very effective for the job. For larger pieces I added the v shaped cut to help keep things in order while drawshaving.

Everything has been handmade on this one, I even created makeshift wooden pins and height adjustment on the riser for the holding ramp. I get ideas, just tinker, play and see how it comes out.

I had some fun with a small carving I hand drew and gouged it out on the pine seat. I cut the pine seat out spokeshaved and then added some oak dowel plugs with some small brace and bit holes that I drilled into the actual bench…no glue, so the makeshift seat just pops right off if you like…....just for experimenting, but I will say it holds on very nicely and works well during some hours of tough shave work. Did I say tough? Oh Hell friends its a great time and addictive!...lol. Try it out if you haven’t yet and you will have a fun ole time and be rejoicing in pine shavings in no time!

Great workout, and holds very secure. Hope you may enjoy this for yourselfs if you have not dabbled in it.

Thanks for your time friends.