Steve

These old hand shapers are still very popular, so I wouldn't discard it without thought. Even Editor Neil has used one!

They have been motorised, though it isn't a simple job.

Hang on to it until you've found out what it can do – mostly creating excellent flat surfaces, cutting dovetails and vees, and similar "straight-line" jobs.

Check which model you have, especially whether it has auto cross feed or not.

Edited By Robbo on 06/10/2017 08:30:05

No, utterly useless, send it to me and I'll make sure no one is harmed by it. On second thoughts, you might try it, you might like it, on some jobs it beats filing hands down.

Ian S C

What sort of work do you do Steve – and what machinery do you already have?

Although hand and power shapers both work on the same principles – they are different in nature to my mind. I use my hand shaper for smaller jobs (instead of hand tools – like files & hacksaws etc) as it is much more accurate than my hand work and gives a better finish. But although it is possible to remove large amounts of material with the hand shaper – it is tedious to do so – and I have other machines that are better.

So for smaller work (or where you simple want to "finish" work to a good standard) the hand shaper is a very useful tool but it is generally no substitute for a powered tool (whether that be shaper, mill or lathe). It can however give very good results and is quiet in operation (so good for indoor use – with permission from Herself)

So if your work is of a larger nature (or you already have a good mill) then a hand shaper may not be very useful to you. But if you are any kind of small scale modeller, then the hand shaper can be a very useful and convenient tool. Like many things discussed here, the context is important.

Regards,

IanT

The same could be said for a lot of other small machine tools too.

Edited By Michael-w on 06/10/2017 10:56:52

Very definitely KEEP IT!!

While the hand -powered version may seem less attractive than the powered variety, it does have the advantage of not needing space for the motor – which is a big bonus. I speak as one who has the powered version.

rgds

Bill

You can do a lot more with that than you might expect, it deserves the small space it will occupy for the day you need to do a difficult dovetail, gear or keyway.

Keep it !

You can also use it to cut the lines on a machine dial with the addition of an indexing device or rotary table , cut blind keyways and splines .