Beaded Face frames

[Frank Snyder]

To save time, if you have a batch of repeated identical cuts, fashion a stop on your sacrificial fence so you don't have to mark all of your work.

After making the jack miter cut, you need to remove the bead. Here I simply use my bandsaw the remove most of the bead, just leaving a thin shoulder to shave off using the table saw, followed by a sharp chisel. You don't have to do it this way, and if your bandsaw cuts straight, then just go right for the shoulder.

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cont'd...

[Frank Snyder]

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If you have a captured jack miter cut (i.e; drawer rail), then I use a dado blade on the table saw with a miter gauge and sacrifical fence to remove this material. Make the two jack miter cuts as described above, then switch to a dado blade. Again, take your time setting the height of your blade (90 degrees this time, not 45 degrees) and use the sacrifical fence to establish the kerf (pass it through the dado blade). Transcribe your outside cut lines and you're good to go.

I hope I didn't miss anything here and let me know if you run into any problems.

[frank shic]

excellent description with the pics, frank! thanks!!!

[Josiah Bartlett]

I don't use neanderthal tools very much, but for beading and chamfering small projects I use hand planes. I have an wood body old beading plane I picked up for cheap and sharpened, and it is really easy to get a perfect bead with and relatively fast. For a 45 chamfer I just grab my trusty old bench plane and do it by eye.

Those old simple molding planes can be picked up for less than the cost of a good router bit, and they work surprisingly well. If I'm doing more than one door or frame then I set up the molding head in the saw or the router table. Its tricky to get a good consistent bead without using a very strong feather board setup and a fence, because any deflection in the board throws the bit off the track. The hand planes follow those gentle curves and things work out fine, and when you use a plane you don't get the little round defects from where you shifted your grip when you were using a router.

[Will Blick]

Frank S, nice pix, nice technique....

As other suggested, and I am curious also....

What if you treated the beaded insert as a thin molding, how could you tell the difference in the finished product? Or maybe you can't?

[Brian Peters]

Will, that's exactly what I do, apply it. Faster and better in the long run. You won't even notice the difference if you use good lumber.

[Joe Chritz]

On painted projects you really probably could never tell. On stain projects you can often see a gap or grain mismatch or pin nails. 95% of the people could never tell the difference.

6 of one and all that.

Joe

[Jeff Duncan]

Nice description, well done.

Justin, one thing I forgot to add is that once you get the hang of doing these joints, you can kick it up a notch and add mortise and tenon construction I did a kitchen using this construction a little over a year ago and it was a great project to push my skills a bit. It takes a bit more planning, but if done correctly makes an impressive joint. Not for the fainthearted who can't handle the jack mitering, but if your willing to go this far on this project, maybe on the next one!
good luck,
JeffD

[Frank Snyder]

Will - I don't think you'll notice an applied bead if the work is painted. If you wanted a compromise for something not painted, mill the mead, rip it off, then reapply it to the same piece you ripped it from and you should still have some semblance of grain continuity and color. I had to use this technique for arched beaded face frames.

Jeff - I actually do this with my beaded face frames using the Domino. I plunge the mortise before removing the bead (full 28mm depth for 40mm Dominoes on the beaded stile). See http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=89048

[Justin Leiwig]

Frank S, nice pix, nice technique....

As other suggested, and I am curious also....

What if you treated the beaded insert as a thin molding, how could you tell the difference in the finished product? Or maybe you can't?

In my opinion it's the cheap way out. I do woodworking as a hobby, not for money. I do things for the satisfaction in doing them, so the time involved to do it right is not the most important thing to me.

In my mind, If I was going to try to cheat it out and just apply the bead I might as well just buy RTA cabinets with beaded face frames from one of the plethora of cabinet suppliers and just install them. I'm doing this project for the learning experience, as well as the challenge of it. I know that there is no practical cost or time savings by doing it myself, but that is not what matters to me. A day spent in the shop, frustrating or not is better than no time in the shop at all.

If it was easy everyone would do it!

[Mike Goetzke]

Justin - have you also thought of mitered face frames?


Mike

[Justin Leiwig]

Justin - have you also thought of mitered face frames?


Mike

Yes...I plan on using this setup for some picture frames that will have a bead on the inside and outside with mitered corners.

[Justin Leiwig]

I just want to publically thank Frank for all his help. I know I've been a pain asking him so many questions through private messages. He has always been more than willing to help and is a stand up guy through and through.

Thanks Frank!

Justin