Hi Folks,
I’d like to make a portable fixture to shape/shave cabriole legs. I’m envisioning something along the lines of a shavehorse. I imagine it would need a clamping fixture to secure the leg.
I tried using a sawhorse and handscrews but it was too short and required sitting in a chair on its length end. Not a good solution as I would like to be able to sit on the fixture while shaping/shaving.
Anyone have some ideas?
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Replies
I've always used a sash cramp held in the bench vise for that kind of job. A long F cramp does the job too.
I've never thought to make it portable, but a Workmate type thing and a sash or F cramp might be a start. Slainte.
Richard Jones Furniture
My sister in law brushes her hair 100 strokes every day ... ...
And then she does the other leg !
Sorry I could't resist !
C.
She has hair on her cabriole legs!?
Wow, don't let Lataxe know about that. It will only serve to heighten his fear of the fancy scuttle legs even more.
Are you suggesting that I might add a shaving brush, soap and a straight razor just in case? Oh, and maybe a barbers pole just for effect?
Hope she doesn't develop a rash!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 7/21/2007 7:04 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
Bob,
add a barber pole only if you are going to do "bloodletting" too.
Remember this is 18th century furniture styles we're talking about! (grin)
Mike
I love it! Very funny.
Bob,
A shaving horse or mare is easy to build. However, there are many designs so you have to choose one to suit your preferences. A mare is basically used to hold long thin things, such as chair rungs or slats, with one end sticking out towards you so it can be drawknifed or spokeshaved. Is this what you are doing with the legs?
For carving, a different action, why not make some temporary vice jaws shaped to hold roughly spherical or bent items, such as them legs? If you line the shaped side of the jaws with leather or some other squishy material, you may find the legs to be worked on can be securely gripped at various angles.
Lataxe
Edited 7/21/2007 7:01 am ET by Lataxe
Bob, they are easy to build. Take a look at the Lie-Nielsen offering and modify to suit your needs. Taunton's work bench book has some pictures. One of the Roy Underhill series has instructions.
Before I could build one, I used a leg vice that was attached to the corner of the work bench. It was used standing up. It was not as quick to change as a shaving horse but worked just fine.
Steve
Hi Steve,
I'm thinking of some sort of vertical orientation, perhaps something that can be rotated. I could easily come up with an attachment to grip the post block but that would mean th eleg will be upside down. Not sure about that.
I will have to look further and will check out your suggestions. Thanks for your help.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
kidder,
The lathe can be handy for shaping the leg...mainly because of the indexing feature. I'm thinking you could jerry-rig something with a F-clamp and an indexing device...maybe
Bob,
Why go to all the trouble of making a fixture to shape and shave a cabriole leg? Why not just put it in the vise and use a #49 and #50 to rasp to the lines. I have found this to be quick and enjoyable. Just a thought.
Jeff
All,
Thanks for everyones inputs. I found the solution, or at least a workable one that was right under my nose all the time. I have an old lather that was/is setup for bowl turning but is lacking a motor. I fashioned an indexing device, clamped it to a sawhorse and voila!
Jeff,
We get so little summer weather up here that I like to spend as much time as possible outside during the warm months.
It also it pays to advertise, as they say. The other day I was shaping a cabriole leg on the porch with my new fangled c-leg holder and someone passing by stopped and asked what I was doing.
When I told them, they got out and asked losts of questions. A little while later, after a quick tour of the woodshop, they asked me to give them a quote on a piece of furniture! Seems they like those gandy legs too.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
Just goes to show you, us men can't stand not checking out a great set of legs!
Jeff
"they asked me to give them a quote on a piece of furniture! Seems they like those gandy legs too."
Hey Bob!
You owe us commission on this, if it uses cabriole legs!
Figure a dozen or so photographs ought to do it! (grin)
Good on ya!
Mike
Let me get this straight: you were out by the side of a road showing off your legs to solicit business? Next thing you know you'll be luring in clients by lifting your table skirts and inviting them to handle your finely finished knobs. I realize you are passionate about your craft, but come on man, you still have to live with yourself at the end of the day.
Edited 7/24/2007 5:22 pm ET by HoustonHeights
Houston,
Probably waving his tool around, too.
Ray
Ray,
Bob may be a well set-up chap with a winning smile. However, were I to see him by the roadside hefting up his gadroons, exposing his cabrioles (or any other ioles) and inviting me to examine his implement by waving it cheerily, I would press firmly on the pedals of my velocipede and get the tire pump ready to beat the rascal off, as I accelerated by, pretending to myself that I was Rasmussan or even a Kazak in light blue, in order to get up the necessary escape speed.
Of course, he would be disappointed; but then you might come along on that Indian and you are a sucker for the frou-frou..........
Lataxe, who belongs to the ladywife anyway.
Lataxe,
The Indian goes so fast, that 'orrible things on the roadside are only a blur.
vroom,
Ray
Ray,
Is that a squaw Indian?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
No, it's a chief. It sure squalls when I open the throttle though.
Ray, who believes that tools should be kept in drawers, when not in actual use.
Lataxe,
In search of refining my frou-frou skills, I'm practicing clawed balls and acanthus leaves. I'm fearful of the crowd this activity might attract.
Might you have some suggestions for potential crowd control?
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 7/25/2007 9:49 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
Edited 7/25/2007 9:50 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
Bob,
I have many ways of frightening off not just gullible children and old folks but also strapping great blokes who thought they were 'fraid of nowt. However, I will not go on and on as usual but simply point out that one certain technique is all you need; and it is a variation on Ray's tool-waving. Simply work on your drive, front porch or other public arena with nought but a thong twixt you and perdition.
Why, just the thought of it makes even me want to run and run and never look back!
Mind, you may find a cat or a possum looking on. They are curious beasts. But they are not judgemental (unless it is feeding time).
If you can sweat and smile the while, this will ensure no one dares return to check it wasn't just a flash back to the terrible memory of that last trip in 1968. No, they will be well gone.
Lataxe, who coud be a pole dancer if he wanted.
Lataxe,
My cat is definitely judgemental, and not only of what's in the feeding dish. You can see the disdain in her eyes. Recently, I caught her laughing at my singing, in the shop. When she saw me looking at her, she pretended to be coughing up a hairball, but she was laughing all right. Later, (just so she'd remember who's the boss,) as she lay on my lap,I gave her tail a sharp tug.
The lacerations are healing nicely, and stitches come out next week. I'm pretty sure she knows now, who's the boss.
Ray
Edit, to share a repressed memory: Years and years ago, I went to Broadway VA, to visit the home of the late furniture guru, Carlyle Lynch. Arriving at the house, I was directed by Carlyle's lovely wife Jane, to the shed out back, where the grand old man was making blueprints. (These were old fashioned blueprints, which were made by exposing photoreactive paper to sunlight, with the drawing, on tracing paper, interposed. The sun turns the paper blue, except for where the dark lines of the drawing prevent exposure. The paper is then hustled into a darkroom, where it's separated from the drawing, and immersed into a chemical bath to set the color.) When I walked around the corner of Carlyle's shed/darkroom, there he was, getting some sun while doing his work. The skinny old codger was wearing Jane's bikini bottom, and nothing else. Lataxe is right about that thong.
Edited 7/26/2007 9:42 am ET by joinerswork
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