25/08/2026
Rethinking shavehorse design for wheelchairs part 3.
For wheelchair access, the shavehorse needs to shift from being a foot powered clamp, to a completely different method of securing the workpiece.
Inspiration came from two areas.
There is an old way of using an offset egg shaped cam to fix a long board on a workbench, and as you push a plane along the cam pushes the board against a fixed baton.
And nature. I remembered fishing when I was growing up, and how well the rows of teeth in the mouth of a fish holds the bait. They are often pointed inwards and are a bit flexible, so they can allow prey to pass into the mouth, but if it tries to escape, the rows teeth work against each other and lock the prey in place. It's a one way ticket.
It took quite a bit of tweaking with shapes, sizes, and positioning, but I settled on a V-shaped structure and a set of four cams. It works perfectly. You can set your workpiece in, put the cams into position with your hands, and when you pull the workpiece, it sets firmly in place. You can work your magic with a drawknife, and then just push the workpiece backwards to release the cams, turn your workpiece, and reclamp.
And importantly, the whole thing can be fitted to a traditional shavehorse.
