Shaving horse

I have a whole stack of pine in the garage that needs using up: mainly 2-by-4 scraps I’ve acquired from lumber yard dumpsters and some left over from the treadle lathe build.

What to build, what to build?

A simple project with huge utility would be a shave horse. The idea came about after seeing all the oak logs on sidewalks around our neighbourhood and I thought I could chop some up to make chair legs/rails woodwright style.

There are as many shaving horse designs as there are shaving horses (see Rogue Turtle, Green Woodworking,  MVFlaim, and Peter Follansbee). Most are beautifully made out of hardwoods. It would be a crime at this point not to mention Brian Boggs’ modern horse which has a wonderful rotating jaw and ratcheting lower support.

Given that I want to use shop leftovers, my horse will not be pretty. But if it turns out to be useful and fun then I’m sure I’ll use the experience to build an improved version.

For now, designs like this one made with 2-by-4s looked simple yet effective – and can be made with the lumber I already have! I’m going to go with a design like this, but using the dimensions from Roy Underhill’s Woodwright’s Guide in order to get something in the ballpark first time.

For those of you who have read Roy’s book, I’m going with the bodger’s type of horse (mainly because I think I have the right sort of scraps for the job).