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Drawknife question

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Auggie:
Ive made several board bows,but didnt  have any luck with the draw knife.I reccomend a good nicholson 50 or a horse shoeing rasp and a couple of good scrapers. Pourous wood shouldnt be aprobablem or a draw knife,but dont  think Ive tried anything other than redoak osage persimmon and locust, all pretty hard. Cut your boards and let the chips fly!

Dane:
I'm all for sharp tools, as well. I used to be an oboist, and you make your own reeds, so I learned early about how to sharpen knives. I generally use a black Arkansas stone, then an India stone after that. I bet a chef's knife steel might work, too...have to try that. It keeps my Henkels nice and sharp (and dull tools can be very very dangerous too). 

I used to shave with a straight razor, and strops are great.

My draw knife is about 120 years old, and I love it - 50 bucks in a local antique store, with a wooden sheath. But, my favorite tools are a bearded axe for large wood removal, a farrier's rasp, a block plane (and bench plane too sometimes), then cabinate scrapers.\

Dane 

George Tsoukalas:
Yes I've used drawknives on boards but you have to keep a sharp (pun intended) eye on the grain. The tool often works better one way than the other because of the gain so you have to either turn the board or yourself around. I seldom use a spokeshave on bows. Jawge

brokennock:
On boards I use my drawknife like a scraper with handles until final tillering then switch to a cabinet scraper. Spoke shave is good to take down to floor tiller if one uses the wood reduction method outlined in TBB, and elsewhere on this site, of taking wood off form either corner untill the edge is about the thickness you think you need and there is a peak down the center of the belly. Then remove the peak.

1/2primitive:
As for the dull drawknife thing, I've found that it's got to be just slightly dulled, too dull, and it doesn't work. It gets to be perfect after using it on several bows. When using it to chase a ring on woods like osage, you should feel the difference when the drawknife cuts through the 'real' wood (the late wood, I think) and I think the other wood, which has to be the early wood. Chase it to the grainy early wood above the ring you choose and use a scraper for the rest.
       Sean

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