The spokescraper is a key tool for making Windsor chairs at The Windsor Workshop. It is used in the making of spindles and for smoothing seats and steam bent parts.

The secret of the tool is the ability to apply varying amounts of pressure on the blade, while pivoting on the hard-wearing brass nose in front of the blade. This control is completely absent when using a card scraper.

Spindles that have been shaved with a block plane, or spokeshave, can be smoothed with no risk of a catch, due to the geometry of the scraper blade. It is excellent for sizing top tenons for the same reason and because such fine cuts are possible.

The tool will deal with the end grain of the most difficult woods with ease, due to the long-lasting burr that can be created on the blade.

The blade can be removed with a single tap of a plastic hammer, and it can also be replaced with a single tap on the wedge with a small metal hammer. The blade can be advanced by tapping the top edge of the blade.

The spring steel blade will hold a sharp burr for at least one complete chair, and it comes with two edges sharpened. From new, two more burrs can be recreated on each edge of the blade before the need to regrind the blade. Sharpening videos can be seen here.