Draw Knife

I was making some stakes for peony cages from reclaimed lumber the other day. 

  The stakes are about 24 inches long cut from construction  2 x 4. I cut the rough shape on my band saw but a jig saw could have done the job too.

  Once I got the rough shape I sharpened the end so the stake can be driven into the ground around the peony plants.

  To sharpen the stake I immediately thought of using my hatchet.  A great tool  for roughing out spoons and rounding pieces to be turned on the lathe.

  

  My hatchet is a fine tool and one that I am glad to own.  But....putting points onto garden stakes can be done with another 'ol skule' tool. The draw knife, I have three.

  The top two draw knives are from my Grandfather's work shop, The smaller of the two stated life in my Great Grandfather's work shop, so they are very experienced. Also very very high quality.  In the olden days tools like these were made in the local forge, probably as a special ordered item. Those two tools will outlast me and probably my grand children.

  Sharpening those 20 garden stakes was a piece of cake.  It was quicker, easier and more accurate than trying to sharpen the stakes with my hatchet.  The small straight blade used to be called a 'push knife', that seems now to means some sort of dagger.  The straight 'draw knife' is more flexible to use and easier to control for finer cuts.  Once the big cuts are done, using the modern Swedish knife makes working more like carving than carpentry.

  Mine is a hybrid wood shop, both sweat and electricity are employed to get the job done.   In my wood working I  try to take advantage of all available tools and techniques.  I think like a good carpentry hatchet or a stout shop knife, a draw knife is a great tool to have in any shop.

Peonies and Siberian Iris,
a view like our  back yard.