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Finished making the Cocobolo handle for my spokeshave this past weekend. The blade is a Hock 2-1/2" spokeshave blade, and shaves so smooth you don't even realize its cutting till you see the super fine shaving rolling out. If you are in need of a spokeshave, IMHO, this is the way to go. The blade comes ready to use, and extremely sharp, and the handle was relatively easy to make. I had it completed in just a few hours. It is non-adjustable for now, but I plan to make it adjustable next time I'm at the shop.

For those that are in the know about finish, what would be the best way to finish this? Its just hand sanded for now.

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Jason McGowan
M&S Guitars
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Jason, looks to me like you did very well. It's a very satisfying feeling to make all or part of one's own tools. If I had such a lovely spokeshave handle as this, I'd probably just rub in many coats of an oil finish such as Tru Oil. However, that would darken the wood immediately. Your own sweat and skin oil will darken it more gradually. You might prefer something like shellac at this point to seal the wood, protect your skin from the possible irritation that cocobolo causes some people, and then just allow a patina to build slowly and gradually. If you did nothing at all, the coco would still tend to darken in time. That's just its nature. Whether it is bright and fresh as it appear now, or whether it is dark and satiny as it will appear some years in the future, it will always be a beautiful piece of cocobolo. Nice tool, man!
Patrick

Tru-Oil tends not to dry on Rosewoods, so I'd seal it first with shellac or Birchwood Casey Sealer before putting Tru-Oil. I don't think many have reactions to Cocobolo in "wood" form. The sensitivity is to the dust which is very clingy, very sticky, and very oily.

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Waddy

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For those in the Uk you can buy kits from a chap called James Mursell. He sells a wood handle you carve yourself, and a Hock blade. The handle is CNC routed for the blade, I have one and it is great.

I’ve used shellac to finish several hand tools that I’ve made. Extra light or pale blonde should show off the figure nicely and not darken it too much. Nice looking spokeshave by the way. I made a pair of spokeshaves using the Hock blades, one large and one small. I used maple for the handles and finished them with Tru-oil which works well but darkens the wood a little. Both spokeshaves have blade adjustment via the set screws. Both are a real joy to use. Highly recommended.

Joe