Carving (2)

I now switch to the inshave to do more significant wood removal before switching to more nuanced tools. The inshave, or scorp, is like a drawknife which has been bent into a circular shape. It's an interesting tool to learn to use, and quite counterintuitive. You can do a lot of damage with this if you don't use it properly. 

Now the travisher for more gentle shaping and smoothing

The travisher is an amazingly subtle tool for shaping the seat. It is in its own category, but is kind of like a curved spokeshave. This one was made by Claire Minihan, another very talented tool maker.

Ready for the next steps

It's hard to see in these cell phone pictures, but the travisher leaves a very nice surface, which will clean up to a finished state easily with scrapers and a bit of sandpaper.

Before and after