Collection: Wastergues

The wastringue (also known as a spokeshave) is a tool whose use lies halfway between a scraper and a plane. It is used in sculpture or cabinetmaking to eliminate bumps on a piece of wood that one wants to flatten, to chamfer edges, or to erase saw marks after cutting a Louis XV style curved leg with a band saw to smooth the wood surface. This tool is used somewhat like a cabinetmaker's drawknife, in a pulling motion towards oneself, only in the direction of the wood grain. However, it offers a significant advantage over the drawknife, in that the chip can be precisely calibrated, much like a plane whose sole would have the particularity of measuring 20mm long, making it much more capable of following sinuous shapes. To get the best out of a wastringue, perfect sharpening is of course necessary, the single bevel being on the inside of the blade, but also, always use the wastringue by pulling it in the direction of the wood grain and slightly at an angle, which will reduce the cutting surface and provide a lot of smoothness and precision.