Replies

1. 
   Pondfish | Jan 26, 2008 12:45am | #1

   Are you planning on putting the bead on the drawer?  I've usually seen it where it is applied to the face frame.  Unless you have drawers that are 10" tall, cross grain movement shouldn't be a problem.

   If you want a bead on the drawer, use a (very sharp) scratch stock to cut the bead.  Then there's no worry about the bead coming off.

   Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
2. 
   JohnWW | Jan 26, 2008 01:11am | #2

   The moldings on the old pieces often fail in modern heated environments.  If I'm going to bead a drawer I build the drawer with a plywood face, with a shop made veneer.

   John W.

3. 
   Samson | Jan 26, 2008 01:20am | #3

   Does anyone have any ideas or know how the originals did it with solid?

   I don't know what they did in the old days, but two thoughts crossed my mind as to how it could be done with solid:

   1.  excavate wood from the inside of area of the drawer front (i.e., the bead is part of the single board front;

   2. bead the cross grain ends - excavate the portion between and then add strips of beading ot the long sides where movement is not an issue

4. 
   joinerswork | Jan 26, 2008 01:39am | #4

   stevo,

   The drawer fronts were rabbeted to receive the cockbeading, and the beading glued and nailed in place.  More frequently, the cockbeading was a means of covering and/or protecting veneered  fronts.   As John says, the end pieces, particularly on wider drawers, frequently work loose as the drawers shrink.  Opening and closing the drawers then can split or tear it off altogether.  Using quartersawn stock, and/ or veneering over a stable species for the front minimises the problem.

   Working the bead onto the case around the drawer openings is a more satisfactory way to achieve the same effect, but at the cost of a greater amount of work, in that the joint between case ends and drawer divides must incorporate a miter into the mortise and tenon, or dovetail used to mate the pieces.  Also, if the front is veneered, there is no protection or concealment of the veneer-substrate interface.

   Applying the bead to a rabbet on the case eliminates the shrinkage problems, but still leaves the possibility of the drawer front or side raking the bead loose in  its comings and goings.

   Most period cockbead is in the neighborhood of 1/8-3/16", seldom as much as 1/4", unless on unsophisticated, coarse, or very large scale work.

   Ray