Can you help identify this unusual tool?

[Just Curious]

Hi, again. I'm at a loss with this vintage tool. It looks like a two handled saw but is only about 15 inches across. And the blade (which has no teeth) is only 8 inches long. So I'm thinking that this would be designed for one user, not two. But if it were used as a saw, since the blade is on the inside, the user would be drawing the blade ever closer to him/herself, which seems dangerous. I can't find any markings on it at all. (There was some tape on the back side of the blade. I've chipped some of the tape off, exposing a little shiny metal in photo # 2.) Is it possible that this is not a saw but a device used by a tree climber? Thanks for your help.

 

[d42jeep]

Draw knife.
-Don

 

[1982fxr]

I think it's called a shave?

You pull it towards you when skinning trees. I think.

 

[Just Curious]

Received a message stating it is a "draw knife". And yes, it looks like it is used to skin trees. Still seems dangerous to me.

 

[four.cycle]

yes. "drawknife". a "spokeshave" is similar, but a bit different.

you might find a herald mark stamped on the blade under that rust.

 

[Jacko264]

In the old days when I build wood lorry body’s I used one to shape the cross bearers
thats the days before aluminium was used
If you watch building off grid on sky tv they use draw knifes to strip bark of trees
Graham

 

[Just Curious]

Thanks to all of you. I worked on the rust some more (just rubbing harder with a paper towel to chip off the rust) and think I can see an ovoid hallmark within which is printed "L&I J White 1837". Should I be more aggressive cleaning old tools like this? If so, what do you use?

 

[four.cycle]

start with some sort of penetrating oil and a rag.
as non-aggressive as possible for starts.
are you in the U.K.?

 

[Just Curious]

Thanks four.cycle. Makes sense. I don't want to abrade off any hallmarks like the one I just uncovered. I am in the US (Louisiana).

 

[RTM]

That's a good brand. L & IJ White out of Buffalo NY. Some post say 1887 not '37. I don't know when they started using that mark, but that is their founded date.

As others have said, Draw Knife is the usual name, and it can be used for so much more than bark removal, in the right hands. Mine only work well for me some times.

There is a better history page than this, but it's eluding me right now.

L. & I. J. White Company

The L. & I. J. White Company was founded in 1837 (incorporated 1892) by Leonard and Ichabod J. White in Monroe, Michigan. Its industry was tools and its headquarters were in Monroe, Michigan (1837-1843) and Buffalo, New York (1843-1928). In 1928, the company merged with the A. A. Simonds-Dayton...

mycompanies.fandom.com

Here is a 1905 catalog, shaves are several pages after this one.

Catalogue and Price List : The L. & I. J. White Company : Edge Tools : L. & I. J. White Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

68 p., illus., 22.6 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

 

[Just Curious]

Thanks, RTM, for these references. I think mine most resembles the carpenter's draw knife on page 27 of the 1905 catalog, except that the oval stamp is not located in the middle, but instead is on the left hand side, between the end of the blade and the left handle. Also, I don't see the word "Buffalo" below the year.

 

[Milton Shaw]

These are still being made and sold by Lee Valley tools. Very handy for shaping wood to a rough outside shape. There is a similar one that is curved and used to hollow out seat bottoms for Winsor and other style wooden chairs. Very rapid wood removal in the hands of a skill woodworker. Used to make ax handles and similar things from square stock into round items. Draw Knife is the correct name for the straight ones.

 

[Just Curious]

Thanks, Milton.

 

[crguy]

Some have collectible value: Cantelo, Swan, & Wilkison.

 

[Just Curious]

Very nice examples. The handles fold which is neat.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

I remember my Dad using one of those to clean up a picket for barb wire fencing. Few swipes bark trimmed up few more end was pointed. Next thing you know it was sticking in the ground.

 

[msharley]

Thanks four.cycle. Makes sense. I don't want to abrade off any hallmarks like the one I just uncovered. I am in the US (Louisiana).

U.K.....

(under Kansas?)

 

[Roberts210]

You can remove a lot of stock very quickly with a drawknife. I've used them a lot.

 

[Nutria]

Agreed, super useful tool. Just use with care; they can bite:

The Deadly, Knee-hating Drawknife - Lost Art Press

The only serious injury I’ve sustained in the workshop was with a drawknife. In 1997, I was sharpening my grandfather’s tool with an oilstone at work. My hand

blog.lostartpress.com

 

[Jim greengo]

I think it's called a shave?

You pull it towards you when skinning trees. I think.

Spoke shave?

 

[RTM]

Agreed, super useful tool. Just use with care; they can bite:

The Deadly, Knee-hating Drawknife - Lost Art Press

The only serious injury I’ve sustained in the workshop was with a drawknife. In 1997, I was sharpening my grandfather’s tool with an oilstone at work. My hand

blog.lostartpress.com

Dang, I've never seen that posting from Chris before. Sorta glad I didn't. That is one tool I really fear leaving laying about. Too dang much sharp blade exposed. Mine are in a wooden box, or have their handles folded over, or a leather sheath. Only two little ponies don't have sheaths, I think. Still need to finish theirs.

 

[PelicanPines]

My Uncle was a woodworker... he had me convinced when I was a little kid... it was used to shave his back hair. Now that I think about it... he was never one to give me trustworthy answers.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Spoke shave?

We used to call it a Draw Knife if I remember correctly.

 

[2oolhound]

When I was building log homes we used a lot of them. I still have a few. We made our own from chainsaw bars too. We made the handles come straight out instead of bending down toward you. This gave you much better pulling power and kept your hands from grinding into the bark along the sides of the log. You could attack 1 1/2" knots that hadn't been cut flush yet too. They could cut like an ax.

Trees that have thick bark like fir trees require peeling spuds which are 3 - 4" wide chissel type ends fixed to long shovel handles. Sometimes you'd have the whole 5' long shovel handle under the bark and you'd work it around the log and eventually break off a huge cyndrical slab of thick bark. This thick fir bark was great in the wood stove but fir had tiny sliver like fibers that itched like heck if you got them on your arms. You couldn't get your arms under the bark.

Spoke shaves were much smaller and made for whittling wood staves down to round shovel handles and the like. Of coarse they must have been used for carving spokes on wooden wheels at one time but that was before my time. Spoke shaves are still handy to have in a wood working shop.