Ask any green woodworker what they would rescue first from a burning workshop and the answer is usually the shaving horse. It is a simple thing — a bench you sit on, a pivoting head you press down with your foot, and the work clamped tight between the two — but it changes how you use a drawknife entirely. Both hands stay on the tool, the timber stays still, and you can shave a chair leg or a tool handle down to a whisper without ever reaching for a vice. Building one takes a weekend, a few seasoned boards and a bit of patience with a chisel.
This is a dumbhead pattern, the English style most commonly found in the chairmaking woods of Buckinghamshire. It is the simplest to build and the most forgiving for a first attempt.
Ash is the traditional choice, and for good reason. It is strong, springy and takes a knock without splitting, which matters in a component that gets stamped on several hundred times a day. Oak is a perfectly good substitute and often easier to find in wider boards, though it is harder on edge tools — keep a stone nearby. Avoid anything freshly felled for the frame; green timber will shrink as it dries and every joint will loosen within a season. Aim for well-seasoned stock at around 12 to 15 per cent moisture content.
That lot amounts to well under a tenth of a cubic metre of stock, and you will have offcuts to spare for wedges.
Before you cut anything, it helps to understand what you are building. The bench is both seat and spine — everything else hangs off it. The legs splay outwards so the horse does not tip when you lean into a cut. The ramp sits on top of the bench at a shallow angle, raising the work to a comfortable height and giving the head something to clamp against. The head is the pivoting block that comes down on your timber. And the treadle is the pedal you push with your foot, linked to the head so that pressure at your toe becomes clamping force at your hands.
The geometry matters far more than the finish. Get the ramp angle and the head pivot right and the horse will feel like an extension of your arms.
Mark out the leg positions on the underside of the bench, setting them in about 250 mm from each end and splaying them outwards at roughly 15 degrees in both planes. Cut angled mortises through the bench — a 50 mm chisel and a bit of patience will do it, though a router with a straight cutter speeds things up considerably.
Cut matching tenons on the legs, leaving them long enough to protrude. Then assemble dry, check the bench sits level, and mark through each tenon for a drawbore peg. Offset the holes in the tenon by 2 mm towards the shoulder — that is what pulls the joint tight. Knock it apart, glue up with a decent weatherproof adhesive, drive the pegs home and trim them flush once the glue has cured.
Clamping a splayed frame is the fiddly bit. Work on a flat surface, use a pair of ratchet straps around the legs to pull everything in while the glue sets, and check the diagonals with a tape. If the bench rocks once it is dry, you have a leg out of wind — better to fix it now than live with it.
The head is a block cut to a wedge on its underside so it grips the work rather than skidding across it. Bore a 16 mm hole through it about a third of the way down, and match it with a pair of drilled lugs or a mortise in the ramp assembly. A length of 16 mm ash rod through the lot forms the pivot; it should turn freely but without slop.
Link the head to the treadle with a short pivoting arm — a simple drilled batten joined with a bolt and a nylon washer works well and avoids squeaks. Position the treadle so your heel rests comfortably on the bench edge. Test the throw: when you press down, the head should close onto the ramp with a firm, even grip.
Set the horse so the ramp is roughly at hip height when you are seated, with the work angled slightly away from you. Sit astride, feet on the treadle, and draw the knife towards your body at a shallow angle. Let the tool do the work — if you are forcing it, the edge needs attention rather than muscle.
Build it once, from good seasoned ash, and it will comfortably outlast you.
The Greenwood Journal shares practical, down-to-earth guidance on traditional coppicing, woodland management and green woodcraft in the uk. for readers across the UK.
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