How to use a drawknife
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Drawknives are versatile tools and have been used for millennia. They are easy to use and safe, far safer than an axe or knife. This video will show you how to use a drawknife. Which way up to use it depending on what type of shape you are cutting. How to to move the knife over the wood to achieve the best finish and many other tips. At the end of the video a wooden flower is made using a drawknife.
As one who has used a draw knife for many years for many types of work, I must say that this is the first video I have seen in which the demonstrator really knows what he is doing. (BTW, there's still lots of stuff he didn't show.)
Great video, thanks. Haven’t seen this skill level before. I have my great grandfather’s drawknife from when he was a carpenter in Providence RI in the later 1800s, smaller, curved and bowed, hand forged tangs. It’s possible to do very delicate cuts.
I like the fact you are demonstrating basic tools used with wood working. Many videos assume one knows the basics, which is aright but one needs the basics first.
Yet another great video from one of the few true artisan green and all round wood workers in the UK thanks for sharing Sean
Tolle Anleitung. Grade für absolute Anfänger wie mich.
Danke
I helped my Grandfather split and prep locust rails one summer in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. A-lot of the things you explained in your video reminded me of that experience. Great video... liked and subscribed.
Hi Sean,
Just a few observations and perhaps challenges if I may be so bold. (As a point of validation I am a traditionally apprenticed Barn and Timberwright raised in many traditional arts including green woodworking and related life skills)
Over the last 40-plus years of practice and teaching, one tool that I see so often "taught" and/or used by folks poorly is the drawknife...That isn't to say folks don't get the work done...as they certainly do and the..." make"... their shaves and draws work for their methods of practice...
What is seen most often done is misorientation of the bevel on primary work...Again, the drawknife can be used bevel up or bevel down...as you have suggested (and you have a bespoke atypical knife) there isn't an either/or...so I'm not making that claim at all. However, when teaching it, as a tool to beginners, it must be pointed out that these tools are used 90% of the time (in good practice of traditional modality) bevel down...for most traditional examples of them and this is the control or fine cutting modality whereas the bevel up is not for "flattening" at all but rather for "hogging" out wood from a project as the bevel wants to dive down into the wood to take large cuts...Looking at planes and different types of spokeshaves also illustrate this very clearly as most (not all) planes are "bevel down" as well...just like the drawknife is meant to be used...at least most of the time...
Do most "modern" woodworkers use them incorrectly, from a traditional context...???...Yes, they do, as. 90% of them (rough average asking over the decades) never had or experienced a traditional oral linage of hand tools shared with them...and certainly not from more than one culture in most cases...They make it work for them, as you have...
05:04...You explain, perhaps without knowing...that the handles are oriented for the tool to be used in the "proper" (or primary) position of use...and that is bevel down. That is why the handles on most of them are the way they are unless bespoke, or unique to a given task as we may find in Japan, Korea, or other parts of Asia/Africa...
What I can say as I have seen with many, is you have "made" this tool work for you..." your way"...and you do a great job with it!!! Nevertheless, a number of things you are teaching I could not recommend to students nor how I do (and was taught) to use the tool...perhaps more validation of "your way' should be stated with an emphasis on trying to find a traditional teacher if possible...
I look forward to reviewing more of your videos as I have admired much of your work found on your blog over the past decade...Thanks for that!!!
A interesting reply that for me needs a little debate. I will leave aside the traditional oral linage of hand tools bit as I believe it is irrelevant in this case. You make a point that for 90% of the time draw knives are used bevel down . I would argue that, that would depend on the culture, the task the drawknife is designed for and and how they make their draw knives. For instance in German and Austrian most draw knives you see old or new have a heavily cranked handle which makes it extremely difficult to use bevel down. So I would guess 90% of user in those countries will be using them with bevel up . I did an 5 year Apprenticeship in the UK in the 1970's and was taught bevel up or down is OK as it depends on the task in hand , You state that "bevel up" is not for flattening but for "hogging out" however when you are making Oak shakes the drawknife is used bevel up to give the shake flatness . This is not a case of "making the tool work for you" but of using the tool to carry out the task in hand as Sean points out in the video. In the UK draw knives are generally made with the handles inline with the blade and no downward crank so are very easy to use either way up which suits the hardwood that were traditionally used i.e. Oak, Ash, Chestnut, Beech and Elm to name the common ones. If we look at spokeshaves in the UK those made from metal are nearly always bevel down but the opposite is true when the body is made from wood. What Sean says in the video is what I would expect from anyone teaching traditional hand tool wood working in the UK , indeed you comment that he should try and find a "Traditional" teacher made me chuckle as Sean is one of the UK's sort after teachers of Traditional greenwood working!
Great video thankyou for sharing
Found you on UA-cam, subscribed. Then saw you in Ben Laws book as a validation. Good stuff I say!
Great video and great info!
excellent tutorial Sean, thank you. love your book BTW, though i think i'll be working my way through it for the next year or two: so, much, material! (that's absolutely not a criticism).
Thanks for your feedback & Stay Sharp!
@@SeanHellman Bad jokes are the best jokes! I'll be stealing this one, thank you very much!
Marvellous
Best explanation of drawknife use on UA-cam! Were there any drawknives made with a skew built into the design? I prefer the skew-slice rather than the straight on ramming through the wood and splitting and getting tear out.
It's designed to be used in a slicing motion. It's a carving knife, not a carving axe. The longer the knife, the longer the stroke can be.
Very informative, thanks, how many inches should a drawknife for canoe paddle making be, better to go for 8" or 10"?
The longer the knife, the longer each slice can be. I use a 14" unless there's something in the way. Maximum control is with the bevel down, and the only reason to .use it bevel up is if it's being used as a plane with the flat side down against the wood to remove a bump. The bevel should be about 22 degrees which should be checked if you're using an old knife. The bevel is often too steep after repeated sharpening's of the edge only.
What's that thing called you're using to hold the wood still? Not seeing a video here on that.
It's called a shaving horse. This one is my own design, with a fully adjustable seat (higher, lower). I wrote a book Shaving horses, lap shaves and other woodland vices which has plans for this.
Has anyone every tried one of the Stubai draw knives that are on Amazon?
No, but I have better version with the tangs of the handle forged from the body of the knife rather than bolted on handles. I never use it now, but did for a few years when first starting my greenwood working journey. It will work, but is not in my opinion a pleasure to use, and one aspect of this design I do not like is the spring or flex in the knife. I prefer a rigid knife. If buying tools, please use independent shops, or direct from makers rather than buying from Amazon. They treat their employees very badly and undercut all other sellers.
Ok thanks for the information I have been using an old New Haven edge tool draw knife with a 9.5” blade which has been working really well and I’m looking for a good second one to get as backup or a different size
It's not made to hack like an axe, regardless of what he's saying. If you're doing that, it means you're taking too big of a cut. The motion is the same as slicing a loaf of bread or a roast beef. if you want to chop off your piece, go and find a cleaver.
I disagree, I have seen and used the drawknife to remove huge shavings and for one example when competing in the log to leg races on the pole lathe an axe is only used for splitting the billet of wood. No shaping is done with an axe, it is too slow, all shaping into a round is done with the drawknife on the shavehorse. If the chunk of wood is too big we pull hard into the split to remove, this is common practise, or we shave a couple of passes in front of the split to remove the stuck big chunk. If referring to around 16 mins into the video where I chop a willow stick with a drawknife, why not? It is in hand, I don’t have to put it down and pick up an axe, and the bevel is not so fine or acute that I am going to damage the blade. I have also used it like a froe to split wood and it works well like this. Most drawknives are not delicate tools with a single use, they can be used hard for removing wood fast or for delicate shaping which if necessary finished with a spokeshave.
Grip your work whilst you hold your tool
Come on. Push or pull then you cut logs..🙄
Control?
Unataual .. where is ChrisMorris?_ big point at the end.. Billy's was rounder.❤