Drawshaves, spokeshaves & draw shaves, scorps & spoon knives

All of these woodworking tools have one thing in common: they work by removing chips; many of them are used exclusively by pulling. These tools can be used to carve out cavities, smooth surfaces, debark tree trunks and larger branches, carve spoons and bowls, carve curved shapes, process beams and squared timber or even cut chair seats, for example.

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Which tool for which application

Drawshaves, also known as drawknives, draw irons or drawknives, usually consist of a blade with a handle on the left and right. A drawshave is used to work with both hands. Depending on the area of application, drawshaves can be shaped very differently: with a straight or curved blade, with a shorter or longer blade, with a fixed or slightly flexible blade, with straight or angled handles. You can use a drawshave to remove bark from tree trunks and branches, for example, and to carve out and smooth convex and concave curves as well as flat surfaces. Drawshaves are also used by carpenters and joiners to rework or adjust beams and squared timber, for example. For carving very small work and details, there are also mini drawknives with a narrow blade and only one handle, e.g. from FLEXCUT.


Scorps used to also be called barrel scrapers and, as the name suggests, were used to hollow out barrels. Scorps are still used today to carve out cavities, recesses and deep-set shapes. Scorps come in different shapes and sizes. One special tool is the two-handed scorp, which looks similar to a drawshave, but with its special, strongly curved blade shape is used to cut the seats of wooden chairs, for example.
Spoon knives are chip carving knives with a short, round blade that are used to carve out small cavities.
Spoon knives and peeling knives are one-handed carving tools with elongated, curved blades. Depending on the size and shape of the bend, they are ideal for carving out the cavities of spoons and bowls, for example, and smoothing the wood in these cavities. The blades of spoon knives and paring knives are available with a single bevel (either left or right) or a double bevel.

Spokeshaves, often also called tail planes or shiners, are wielded with both hands and have a much narrower blade than a drawshave, for example. Spokeshaves are available with different blade and sole shapes. They can be guided freely, work on tension and pressure and are particularly suitable for finishing and smoothing hollows and curved shapes as well as straight surfaces. Spokeshaves are more suitable for smaller surfaces.

The term draw shaves refers to tools made of differently shaped, thin spring steel with a fine burr that are guided directly by hand. They serve as simple planes: After fine cutting, e.g. with a gouge, a draw shave can be used to smooth the wood surface very nicely. The different shapes of the draw shaves allow the processing of a wide variety of curved and straight surfaces. For finishing small details, for example, there are also profile scraper blades with a handle.

All wooden tools, especially those for smoothing surfaces, should always have a perfect sharpness in order to deliver beautiful carving results. They must therefore be re-sharpened regularly during work!

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