need advice on shaping side bead soles

[ronald mccormack]

I'm interested in making some side bead planes of small sizes 3/16 and 1/4 inch. Any advice on shaping to soles? I would use my Stanley scratch header but it seems like the fence on the side bead would prevent this.
Also what would the best bedding angle be for hardwood.

[David Weaver]

Are you shaping it after the boxing is in place (presume you are). Or are you using a sole without boxing?

I got boxing last year to make a side beat, but never finished it and making the sole was one of the things i never finalized plans for, but I don't think I could use a scratch beader neatly enough, at least not a stanley type.

I was thinking of building a mother profile in another plane, but at a scraper-ish angle. The mother plane would have to have a sole long enough to scratch the bead on the sole of the plane consistently.

I still intend to do it at some point (because it's difficult to find ideal planes in the small beads), but it's down the list.

[ronald mccormack]

Yes I already have the boxing in. Making a groove to rough out the bead shape is easy enough but to get the semi circle shape. When you say make a mother plane do you mean make a plane with a semi circle cutter, that would cut a flute shape. This was something I thought about.
I don't have any beaders so I'm sort of making it up as I go. I have heard that old braziers had very small fences so I was hoping to make mine around 3/8". This makes a wall were I need the most room to cut the bead shape. If it was flat across I.e. no fence this would be no problem. So any round bottom cutter would have to sink to a depth of fence plus bead. What about reshaping a plough plane blade?
What are typical fence sizes for these planes, is 3/8 to much?

[David Weaver]

I don't think 3/8 is too much, but I don't have anything at hand.

As far as making the mother ,two things come to mind. It could be larger and more elaborate (yes, the mirror of the profile that you wanted for the bead, but you can cut every other part of the plane bed other than the semi-circle and the top of the boxing with a shoulder plane or rabbet plane, etc.

Anyway, it could be larger or it could be shorter, but it would need to be substantial enough to register on the sole of the plane being made at the beginning and end of the cut. If it was a bit short, you could just check the height of the boxing with a straight edge to ensure the sole is straight. If the boxing height is consistent, then so too should be the inside of the semicircle. The boxing is going to have to be slightly smaller than the iron profile when you're done anyway, to prevent binding, but a tidy job will still help.

I'd use a piece of old saw blade and file it to profile. it only has to last through one plane, and I wouldn't want to file anything harder. If needed, you could make it out of O1 stock or something, file it and then harden it.

I wouldn't use a plow plane blade - too hard to profile, too much time and effort.

[Richard Verwoest]

I just finished up a rehab on a 3/16 beading plane. I replaced the old boxing. I made a scratch stock to shape it. One suggestion though, leave the boxing a bit longer than the plane and leave it as one piece until it is profiled. Then cut off the ends and the mouth. Also, chainsaw files come in a 3/16 diameter. Very useful.

Richard

[Mike Allen1010]

I have used dowels wrapped with sandpaper to get uniform half round sole profiles. It is pretty slow, but it does provide a pretty consistent template you can use for both shaping the profile of the sole and also the cutter.

Mike

[Tom M King]

I would think you could rig up a scratch beader to do it. We made some reproduction reeded mantles, and used (among other things) a Stanley beader with LN cutters, because the Stanley beader I bought cheap didn't have any cutters, and a wooden LV beader. We ended up using the A2 LN cutters for roughing out, and the LV cutters for finishing, simply because I could get the LV cutters sharper, so they cut cleaner.

I ended up making some wooden slips that we could put Diamond Lapping Film from LV on, so I could get the cutters extremely sharp.

Having a dedicated plane for cutting beads or reeds is really the way to go though, once you run starters with a beader. A sharp beading tool really goes a lot faster than you might think, if you haven't used one.

Let me know if any of you plane makers need any thin strips of Boxwood for the boxing.

edited to add: I had forgotten what we did. I ended up using numbered drill bits with diamond lapping film on them for the reeding cutters.

[ronald mccormack]

Well I tried using a scraper shaped to the appropriate size bead, in this case 3/16. All in all it went well, the only problem was that it ended up slightly larger then intended and because I had to work right up against the fence it ever so slightly under cut the fence, but it was by such a small amount it was easily remedied with a rabbit plane. I also found strips of wood with the appropriate radius cut in the side made good forms for attaching sandpaper and leveling out the profile. I happen to have a lot of various sized offcuts from the handholds on all my other moulding planes.

[Jeff Heath]

A mother plane is ideal, but a lot of extra work if you're only making one. I get close with scratch stock, and finish with a steel rod wrapped in sand paper. I have the fortunate advantage of owning a metal lathe, which allowed me to turn a rod to the correct diameter including the thickness of the sandpaper.

In the end, unless you're doing high dollar reproduction work, the size of the bead, if close enough one way or the other, is still going to look very good. Only the guys with the micrometers are going to know the difference......

Leave your plane blank long at both ends, and cut the same amount off of each end when finished. This will eliminate any tearout, rounding over or dipping on your exits.

[ronald mccormack]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Any opinions on bed angles for hardwood, mostly local domestic(NY state) Like cherry, maple, walnut.
I used 55 degrees for my h&r's, side rounds and snipes bills. I thought I read somewhere that side bass should be lower because of the sides of the bead present poor cutting geometry. I already cut one at 55 so maybe I'll work it to completion to see how it works and wait on the others to get your thoughts on bed angles

[David Weaver]

I'd use 55 for a bead. There's no great reason for it to be shallower on medium hardwoods. If you do some beads on softwood, it'll still be fine.

[Jeff Heath]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Any opinions on bed angles for hardwood, mostly local domestic(NY state) Like cherry, maple, walnut.
I used 55 degrees for my h&r's, side rounds and snipes bills. I thought I read somewhere that side bass should be lower because of the sides of the bead present poor cutting geometry. I already cut one at 55 so maybe I'll work it to completion to see how it works and wait on the others to get your thoughts on bed angles

On cherry, maple, and walnut, it won't matter much. 50° is easier to push, but if you're a strong guy, that won't matter, either. Mine are 50°, and I work the same woods as you. I used my 1/4" plane to put a bead on some locust about a month ago, and just set the cut a little lighter. It worked out just fine.