This is a shaving horse, I made it of some leftover wood. It is basically a clamp for greenwood carving. With your feet you push down on the lever that clamps the wood down so you have your hands free to use a two handed drawknife.
A drawknife has the advantage that you can take thick shavings off, while still have control and precision. You grab the drawknife and pull it toward you while your feet push against the lever and fix the wood in position. Therefore is physically impossible to cut yourself this way, it is possible to fall of the shaving horse.
I’m still experimenting a bit with the clamp itself, I used a piece op round wood now. But in retrospect it might be better to use something with a hammer shape that has a bigger clamping surface.
See more shaving horses here
Wed 18-Nov 2009 at 11:57:26
Look at that. Amazing. Already ordered the new wood and tools?
Fri 12-Mar 2010 at 20:09:04
[…] The bottom two need a completely new edge, it is terribly mistreated . The edge angle is uneven, has pits and is worn away in the middle much more then elsewhere. Also it has some damage, probably from falling. I started grinding a rough new edge on them today but it is going to take me some time to restore these to their former glory. I think that it is worth the effort, it is 3 good tools rescued from rusting away. But it will be a long time until they are going to be used on the shaving horse. […]