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A pocketknife, also known as a drawing knife, is used for shaping wet wood in greenwoodworking. The blade has a blunt or angled side and a flat side, with handles at each end. It is used for quick removal of excess wood and rough shaping, and is often followed by other tools for finer work. To use it, the operator pulls the knife towards their body with downward pressure on the handles. A beard horse bench with a clamp is used to hold the wood in place. The knife is commonly used to remove bark from logs and shape beams or cylinder blanks that can be finished on a lathe or with a spoke shave.
A pocketknife, also spelled drafting knife, is a hand tool used to remove bark from logs and shape wood, particularly in greenwoodworking. Green joinery deals with wood that is still wet because it still needs to be dried, either naturally or with the help of a sawmill. The drawing knife is mainly used for quick removal of excess wood and rough shaping. It is generally not suitable for carving smooth curves in wood, although it is often used to achieve the desired rough shape, after which another tool, such as a razor or lathe, might be used.
The blade of a drawing knife is long and shallow with a blunt or angled side and a flat side. Handles are found at each end of the blade and are usually perpendicular or continuous with the blade. The length of the knife varies according to its use; longer drawing knives are typically used for tasks such as debarking logs and shorter knives are for finer woodworking.
To use a small knife, the operator grasps both handles and pulls the knife along the wood towards their body. The downward pressure on the handles determines the depth of the cut. For ease and safety, the blunt edge of the blade is usually angled upwards and the blade is rarely drawn away from the body. This can lead to loss of control and potential injury to the user, as well as rapid dullness of the knife. Despite these risks, some operators choose to use the drawing knife with the dull side down because it removes less wood. It is also possible to draw the blade away from the body, although most people find this method uncomfortable and prefer to turn the wood.
Shaving wood with a small knife is usually done from a sitting position to a beard horse. A beard horse is a bench with a clamp attached. The user straddles the bench and places their foot on a bar underneath. The bar closes the grapple on the wood, holding it in place so the operator can pull the blade onto the wood without it moving. The crotch also allows the operator to support his feet so that more body weight can be put into pulling the blade.
To make a level cut in wood, the operator should start at the center of the work and push down evenly as he pulls the knife towards himself. The work should then be unlocked and turned over so the operator can repeat the process on the other side. When making a concave shape, or inward curve, the operator should apply more pressure in the center and less pressure as the blade comes to the body, so the cut becomes shallower towards the outer edges of the work. Convex, or outward-curving, shapes are made by the opposite process, with a shallower cut in the center and a deeper shave on the outer edges.
One of the most common uses of a pocketknife is to remove bark. The log is held in place with a vise or a beard horse as the operator pulls the blade with steady pressure and quick strokes towards the body, repositioning the log in the vise as needed. Often, this is the first step in shaping the beams or making cylinder blanks which can then be finished on a lathe. A lathe is a machine with a rotating component that turns the work and a stationary component that smooths or cuts it into a smooth, symmetrical shape as it turns. A hand tool called a spoke shave can be used to complete the same types of work as a lathe, such as chair legs or spokes for a wheel.
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