Shopsmith Forums

I have been looking at shave-horse pictures on Google and other places for many years now trying to decide which style to make.
I work on stuff with draw knives at the bench either in a vise or under a hold-fast but I have been wanting something solid where I can remove a lot of material in a hurry if I want.
Yesterday in a blinding flash (OK, maybe a dim blink) it hit me. I was looking for a stand for my scroll saw and was looking at a heavy cast iron base I have from a rivet press I sold on Ebay a number of years ago. It would have worked but I didn't feel that being a plain stand was getting the full potential out of it. That and I want my scroll saw sitting low enough that I can sit on a stool to use it.
I have this base because I bought the rivet press when I bought a load machinery out of shoe repair machinery out of a shop just south of Davenport Iowa. I didn't have any need for it so I put it on Ebay. A buyer wanted the actual press unit really badly because his was failing but didn't want to pay the shipping for the whole thing since he already had the base from his. I sold him the press for more than I expected to get and I kept the base. I've been looking for a good use for it ever since.
The Stimson press looked like this one where you step on the pedal to operate the press:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stimpson-479-Ey ... 1785781630

Here is a picture of my press base. You can see the foot pedal and the steel bar that runs up inside of the base to pull down hard on the press lever. This base is right in the 100# neighborhood. I'm planning a small heavy support table, maybe only about 8" x 8" and a upper holding block perhaps about the same size. I want to mount a seat support arm sticking out to the right with a support leg or legs. That arm will likely be held to the main post with a couple of heavy "U" bolts. I will also likely add a wider pad to the foot pedal so I can sit on the seat and push down on the pedal with both feet.

It will be very out of character for me if I fail to change my plan at least 6 times as I build it...

Interesting re-use. I'm not completely understanding, though. Is your weight serving to immobilize the shave-horse? I think that's key, even with 100 lb. of steel.

Actually, now that I think about it, it's not so much that your weight immobilizes a standard shave-horse. It's that there's no net force working on the overall shave-horse. If you're pulling with your draw knife with 30 lbs of force, then you're simultaneously pushing with your feet with 30 lbs of force.

That's right. The stability needs to be between the seat and the jaws and the pedal. The whole thing could really be up on wheels as long as you don't flail around violently.

robinson46176 wrote:The whole thing could really be up on wheels as long as you don't flail around violently.

But wouldn't that depend up on the horse your shaving?

beeg wrote:

robinson46176 wrote:The whole thing could really be up on wheels as long as you don't flail around violently.

But wouldn't that depend up on the horse your shaving?

I've never shaved a horse but I have had a few close shaves working with spooked horses.