Editor’s note: Our Mind Upon Mind series is a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement. To that end, we’ve asked you what else you have thought of, tried out and improved upon after building projects from our books.
Send us your own ideas! Email kara@lostartpress.com. You can read more about the submission process here.
Today’s pick is courtesy of Jay Abramovitz. Thanks, Jay!
— Kara Gebhart Uhl
I wanted to build Peter Galbert’s shavehorse (as detailed in his book Chairmaker’s Notebook), but I didn’t have adequate floor space in my shop. So I came up with the following adaptation of Galbert’s design, which mounts easily and securely to my benchtop, can be stored under the bench when not in use, maintains the key functional elements of Galbert’s design and can be operated from a sitting position. In addition, the entire shavehorse can be made entirely out of 2x4s from the home center with the exception of 1″-thick material for the front end of the shavehorse platform and the treadle.
Each joint is glued and secured with four 1/4″ x 4″ Spax PowerLag screws at the four corners of the joint (two screwed in from one side of the joint and two from the other side).
The horizontal brace rests on the top of the bench with the vertical brace flush against the front of the bench. A holdfast secures the horizontal brace against the benchtop.
A 12″ length of 2×4 slides into the back of the shavehorse platform and is pushed up until it touches the bottom of the benchtop. A clamp across the back end of the shavehorse platform holds the 12″ length in place. This provides additional support for the shavehorse platform when in use, and allows for easy installation and removal of the shavehorse when the 12″ length is removed.
The vertical brace nests between the two pieces of the horizontal brace at the top and the shavehorse platform at the bottom, and is glued and screwed as noted above. A length of 17-1/2” for the vertical brace positions the shavehorse platform at the ideal height on my 34″-high bench when sitting on a chair in front of the shavehorse. But the length of the vertical brace may need to be increased or decreased depending on the height of your bench and the preferred height of the shavehorse platform.
The rest of the shavehorse construction follows Galbert’s design.
I’ll also plug Galbert’s Shavehorse Adjuster and Benchcrafted’s Crubber, both of which I used in my build and would recommend highly.
— Jay Abramovitz
That is an interesting design. I have made a shave pony as detailed by Shannon Rogers (Renaissance Woodworker). It has worked well for me. I’d certainly recommend anyone give a benchtop shave horse a try.