The Broken Tradition

(Keeping in mind that an inshave has 2 handles and a scorp has 1. At least according to me.)

Earlier today I was busy with my daily doom scrolling and I decided to check eBay for the latest preowned woodworking tools. And I recalled that I had bought a hatchet that looked right for my medieval kit that I was not happy with, it does not hold an edge. As a matter of fact it’s so soft that I turned the edge with my thumbnail after trying it on wood. So, I looked up my purchase to try to communicate with the seller or leave feedback. No feedback function was to be found and creating a message gave me a message “seller not available”. grumble grumble grumble.

But while looking at my purchases I noticed that there are 3 wood scooping tools that I don’t remember seeing at my bench.

Mind you, I have not been at my bench much for nearly 3 years due to knee and back pain. and some of you might know that I had partial knee replacement surgery (Petelo Femoral Arthroplasty) on both knees this past January. (I’m doing very well and am nearly recovered thank you.)

Mostly it’s been scoot down to the bench, do a little something, crawl back to my chair and leave the mess for later. For 3 years. So you can imagine how messy it is, and if I haven’t seen something in so long that I forgot that I bought it and just sort of dropped it on my bench when it arrived.

Yup they are all there! So I decided to share with you what I have and why I bought it (them).

This is my first one. I made it from a ruined drawknife that someone had hammered the (insert bad words here) out of trying to split firewood. I stuck it in my farrier’s forge heated it up nice and red, and bent it! it seemed very hard straight off the anvil, So, I cleaned it up and sharpened it. much later I made the wood protector for it.

This next one is an older Sorby, it looks like S.SORBY on it. I really like the look and feel of the handles on this one and the blade is remarkably thick. I also like the shape/curve of the blade. I have not sharpened it yet, yes this is one of the ones missing from my memory.

I believe that the name in this is J.L.WILLIAMS. It’s a double strike so it’s a little hard to read. Too bad it’s not like a coin or a stamp, worth MORE because of the double strike. The oval blade is nice, if a bit smaller, I don’t like the parallel handles, they are a bit awkward to hold. but it looks like it will be a good user.

This is actually a pjald, a Scandinavian tool that does the same function. someone made the blade from an old file. the whole tool is coated in Urethane lacquer, (sad face) but it nearly sharp, the shape is good to my eye.

Another old file! this one has a nice oval blade and little stubby handles, we’ll see if we like it.

This is one of the ones that I doubt was used for anything other than removing labels from crates and barrels. very shallow arch to the blade. and there are too many of them available. woodworkers using inshaves: not uncommon but somewhat unusual. Grocers using “box scrapers”: every blessed one of them for the last 200 years. Mind you , you CAN use one to hollow a shallow chair seat. I suppose if this is all that is available then use it!

Finally, a real Scorp! This is obviously reforged from a file. Nearly flat on the outside, fully round with the cutting edge coming way up close to the tang. might have been intended for cooperage. I’ll sharpen it and see how it works.

I’m not sure who made this, I think I remember it was a German import. I bought it new sometime in the late 1980’s. the shape is not bad, but the bevel angle is a little coarse. I’ve never used it much.