I was adding some beading to a project last evening, and thought I’d open a thread for any comments or tips about beading. I know it’s old hat to many of you, but for the sake of folks newer to the hobby or who haven’t used hand tools much, perhaps this will be of interest.
I’ve never seen an article that went into any fine points of beading. Now this is likely because it is so darn easy to do reasonably well, but that has left me self-taught, and I’m wondering if there are any folks out there who know through experience (or the benefit of formal teaching perhaps) any subtle aspects of how it is best done.
For what it’s worth, here is what I’ve found:
– I scrape with the grain if at all possible (cross grain and against the grain are tougher and may cause chatter or other imperfections)
– early strokes that set the path are the most crucial – take your time to hold the fence and keep well balanced in establishing the run
– don’t try to take too much at once – let the tool do the work
– figured grains are tougher to do smoothly as they want to make the tool chatter – once chatter starts, the tool wants to accentuate the ridges on subsequent passes, so slow and light passes are especially crucual on figured grains
– consider adding an extra piece of wood to prevent breakout on cross grain efforts
Replies
Sounds like you've got it well figured out.
Have you ever made your own blades out of old scrapers?
I once made a blade out of blank that came with the LN blade set I bought several years back (the vintage 66 I found only came with the blade that was last used in it). It wasn't hard to use metal files to fabricate my own profile. Since then I haven't had occassion to do so.
Do you routinely make your own? If so, what sorts of shapes and for what applications?
Any tips on how to neatly cut up a scraper blade? Hack saw?
Any tips/tricks on the tool's use? Beads on curved members - stopped beads - beads/fluting on cylinderical stock? Shapes/profiles or effects that you found particularly nice for a given application (drawer edges, door edges, etc.)?
I'm like you, I once made a blade out of a spare hand saw but can't remember what I used it on. I know I filed the profile really quick and put it to use but what for, I have no idea. It must have been a side project I was working on, not a piece of furniture. They are definitely handy tools to have around and not written about in magazines very often.
If you want to hotrod your #66 and/or make/grind blades, then you can access a short article I wrote here ..
http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Improving%20the%2066%20Hand%20Beader.html
Regards from Perth
Derek
Great article! Thanks!
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