Shaving Horse

[Gofor]

With a month+ on extreme light duty, am trying to put together plans/material lists for future projects. One is a shaving horse. I have seen two basic designs: "continental" and "dumbhead". Any pros/cons? Any "I wish I had ...."'s that I should consider?
Note: This will be an outdoor fixture for the first few months (maybe forever) of its life. I have some treated lumber left over from this past year's deck/ramp projects, which I plan to utilize in the bench and ramp portion, and will probably be using some red oak or dogwood (still 'bark-on") for the vise.
Appreciate y'all's thoughts on this
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[cskipper]

Okay, I did a web search ( because I had no idea what a shaving horse is) - is this the kind of thing you are talking about?

http://www.greenwoodworking.com/shorse.htm

http://countryworkshops.org/CWshavehorse.html

[DaveO]

Bingo, the second one is more like what you would see used now. They're great when working wth a draw knife or spoke shave.


Dave

[Gofor]

Yep, that's the two basic styles I have seen, with numerous minor modifications.
Mike, it was not totally by coincidence. I have been planning on building one (being a fan of The Woodwright's Shop), but getting to the details part was backburner until I got throttled back by surgery last week. Can't lift more than 5 lbs for 5 weeks but a pencil and scale are light). When I saw yours mentioned in the thread on the recent carnival at your place (complete with pyrotechnics! Wow, you really do throw a party, don't ya!!) I decided to ask help here. I started a new thread rather than hi-jacking the other one. I was hoping you would post a picture of yours.
What you created is in line with what I have in mind, but it will need to be able to handle some rough stock up to 5" or 6" diameter, and enough length for shovel and ax handles. I think I will need to move the vice a little bit more toward the bench center (or make the bench longer) for balance, but having never used one, may be way off base. My problem is that I think your design is good for wider stock, but the dumbhead or Swedish design might be better for larger heavier stock. I honestly just don't know.
My experience so far with a draw-knife and spokeshave has been making hammer and hand ax handles, but want to move up to larger material for mauls, full axe handles, and maybe some rustic lawn furniture. For that I need something better to hold the material firmly and where I can work it more comfortably for a longer duration.
If I get good enough at it, and some other skills I'm trying to develop, I hope to be able to contribute to a local project where they recreate an 1860s-era village for a time each year here locally.
It, as well as me, are a work in progress (closin' in on six decades and still trying' to decide what I want to be when I grow up!) so can use any advice

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