From my point of view, Edward Preston & Sons made some of the fanciest looking spokeshaves.
I recently bought the book ‘Iron Spokeshaves and Related Tools Manufactured by Edward Preston & Sons’ by Joe Stankus (Produced & Published by Joe Stankus, 2020). This gives me much more information on the several Preston spokeshaves in my collection.
The 1390H Patent Iron Spokeshave
This is a commonly found spokeshave that went through a number of iterations. The 1390H seems to be virtually the same as one numbered 1391. The difference being that it is japanned while the 1391 is nickel plated.
The initial versions had a fairly plain body but around 1913 gained an ornate top plate holding the blade in place. That 1913 version was also the first to have a lateral adjuster for the blade.
My one is from the period 1914 to the late 1920’s. It features the ornate top plate as well as a patterned main body. Looking at it from the front – on the left hand side it says ‘PRESTONS’ and on the right it says ‘PATENT’.
It is interesting that the 1390H seems to follow the model 1391 in style rather than the model 1390.
A More Basic Description
The spokeshave is 10-inch-wide, featuring adjustable settings, decorative hooped raised arms, and a lever cap. Crafted from cast iron and finished in japanned black, it is known as an adjustable spokeshave due to its fine adjustment mechanism for the blade.
From Preston’s own description, The spokeshave boasts a 51mm (2-inch) wide blade made of best cast steel. This blade interfaces with the top-mounted fine adjustment mechanism. To adjust the blade, one simply loosens the lever cap and turns the knurled nut located at the top of the blade.
The lateral wing adjuster facilitates precise lateral adjustment of the cutter. This feature ensures the cutting edge can be set squarely with the face of the shave.
Securing the blade is accomplished using a thumb screw. The spokeshave was available with either a flat sole for straight bottom work or a curved sole for round bottom tasks.