Originally Posted by
David Keller NC
David - I've made a few custom molding planes (certainly not nearly as many as others on this thread), but here's my take on your dilemma:
I wouldn't try to cut the sole of a molder solely with a scratch stock. I do use a custom-profiled scraper to "clean up" various molding profiles, but using them solely to cut the profile may result in a less-than-straight bed along the length of the plane, which is critical to its performance.
Regarding boxing - What Larry and Matt note about the orientation of boxing is correct - their observations fit just about all of the 150+ antique molding planes with boxing that I have. That said, I wouldn't worry about the species or orientation all that much. The simple reason is that you're probably not building a plane that's intended to last for a workman's working lifetime, and there are lots and lots of molding planes out there with pretty narrow profiles that don't have any boxing at all, and they're still usable. A bead is a bit of an exception because of the quirk, which will wear very quickly without boxing - but again, if you're making this for a one-time special application, it may not matter.
Also, regarding beads - hollows and rounds are more common, but side-beads are the next most commonly found molding plane. They are everywhere, and are pretty cheap unless found in complete, one-owner, one-manufacturer sets. Even if your plane turns out to be less-than-ideal from the standpoint of boxing, you can always purchase a side-bead in the size that you need, probably for less than $20 at a flea market.