I know some of you are multi-disciplined so I need some directions from the woodworkers. Does anyone have a good set of plans for a shaving horse?

I never found a horse that would stand still enough for me too shave on quench, but just in case try this url

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=5284&highlight=shaving+horse

or this one

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=8373&highlight=shaving+horse

the plans for the first one
http://www.countryworkshops.org/CWshavehorse.html

Thanks, Jr. I may just try my hand at designing one just for walking sticks. I gotta figure out how to shave a stick about 6 feet long without it poking a hole in me! I've made three drawknives and now I need someplace to use them! :D

irnsrgn beat me by a nano second thats why i have a beard,i can shave no bother its keeping the mirror still ,

a coopers horse for making barrell staves is a usfull tool we still have one ,the problem is it gets buried and unless you have a lot of work for it its as easiy to use a vice than dig it out of the pile of wood that grows over it

I posted the same question over on the woodcarvers message board and it seems the basic design for a shaving horse hasn't changed in hundreds of years. The ones I saw over there look just like the ones Jr. posted. Maybe some designs just shouldn't be messed with. I suppose I can angle the stick over my sholder or under my arm and peel it at an angle.
Or, I can grab it with the old post vise and have at it like I always do! :lol:

QC,
It's easy to do long items in a Schnitzelbank. Just turn the peice your working on at a bit of (or a lot of in some of our cases) angleto go past your side.
That's one advantage a dumbhead horse like the one shown has over an english one with two side arms.
A shaving horse is one of the greatest things to use. Your feet clamp the work, the harder you pull the tighter it clamps, it's fast to change position, plus you get to work sitting down!!!!!!!!!!

ROBERT N.> If you have a pipe stand or something similiar, put it under one end and the leg-vise on the other . That will give you a lot of room to work in the middle. I use an old barstool to sit on. I am comfortable with the piece under my arm, some folks want to stand and stoop over the piece, just breaks my back.. I really like the stool deal, when I start glassing for the final pass.

Sandpile

Well, I built myself a shaving horse out of 2x6" pine. Lowes sells some of the worst lumber I have seen but it was all that was available in this one-horse town. I guess it is now a two-horse town if you count the one I just finished! I made a dumbhead design and made the bench long enough to mount a carving vise on the opposite end. I will build than next weekend. Rain for Easter Sunday in soggy Left Tennessee. Small puddle of water in the basement....it looked expensive. :cry: