The Chairmaker’s Travisher
By Benjamen Johnson
Above are two examples of chairmaker’s travishers. These specialized convex spokeshaves are used to create the final shape of a chair seat after it’s been roughed in with an adz and shaped with a scorp.
The Travisher on the left runs $120 at Highland Woodworking. It has a 3″ wide convex blade and handles which continue along the curve of the blade so you can cut into deep hollows. The one on the right is sold at Classic Hand Tools for £82 or $130. It has a 4.75″ radius and is designed to be pushed by your thumbs. It also has a slot in the top for shavings to exit.
Travisher [Classic Hand Tools]
Travisher [Highland Woodworking]
July 16th, 2010 at 11:58 am
I like to think of myself as a worldly man, but I have absolutely no idea what this does.
July 16th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
It smooths out the concave depresssions in a chair seat after those depressions have been made with other tools. Some consider it to be a finishing tool like a scraper. Benjamen’s description was pretty accurate. If you’re not familiar with spokeshaves, then I can see how it might not be clear.
Travishers are not as common as other handtools - unless you make a lot of chairs.
July 16th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
@ Gary
And the chairs need to have scooped out seats - like reproduction Windsors.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Looks like a much better method than gluing some sandpaper to your rear and squirming around for a few hours.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
@Old Coot:
yeah, but nowhere near as fun.
July 16th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
@Rob,
It’s a butt indentation scraper
July 17th, 2010 at 7:59 am
I like these for the feel, but for time and ease, a angle grinder with a 40 or 6t0 grit flap disc is much easier. Please wear a mask and face shield when doing this though….
ShopMonger
July 17th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
@ Shopmonger
Hve you ever tried any of those power carving wheels like the King Arhur for this purpose?
Of course the traditionalist starts with a green slab of wood and a gutter adze to do the rough out work:
http://www.gransfors.com/htm_eng/index.html
July 18th, 2010 at 6:58 am
No, but i have looked at them and asked my self if i need that much more speed. i know they work well and some of my Wood working community buddies have said they are wonderful, i know some of the guys who build maloof and neo classical rockers love them…
ShopMonger
July 18th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
@WayneD
Thanks. Now I understand.
July 19th, 2010 at 7:43 am
I haven’t seen the tavishers before, I’m more familiar with the scorps: http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2001825/PFEIL-Swiss-Made-Scorp/videos.aspx
July 19th, 2010 at 7:44 am
oops..and right there in the first sentence you mention the scorps..
July 26th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
@ Rob
Travishers are to Scorps and Inshaves - as Planes are to Chisels.
The travisher produces a more controlled shaving since the cutting edged is “backed-up” a bit like how a plane body backs up the plane iron
July 28th, 2010 at 12:58 am
Next time you carve a chair seat, try a DENKER Carving Shave. This hand tool can remove over 10 lbs of wood in an hour, makes no dust, and generates perfectly-faired contours ready for hand-sanding to finish. You do not need a travisher or anything else to do a chair seat in a half-hour. If you produce chairs with carved seats, try one of our rotary carvers, They can make a pound of chips in a minute, but no dust at all, and can rough carve a chair seat in 5 minutes ready for hand finishing with a carving shave.
These tools are safe, need no guards, cannot kickback like the multi-toothed diak type cutters do. DENKER tools make the work pleasant and fun!