Scratch beader blade questions *LINK*

Not LN's but...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA

>Stanleys are 2.25-2.3 inches long. LN's fit Stanley beaders so it's probably a good start.

Re: Not LN's but...

Skip in Falls Church

>Thanks Scott,

That's exactly what I was looking for! I'm not really constrained to make them any particular length - but I just think it would be nice to make them at least close to a standard length.

Skip

Re: Scratch beader blade questions

Jack Guzman from Maine

>LN beader blades are 2 5/16" long. They don't come bevelled. ---Jack

Thanks!

Skip in Falls Church

>

Skip. I sould say...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA

>That's the finished length. I'd go for 2.5-3 inches as a starter. I wanna see yor results!

Re: Skip. I sould say...

Skip in Falls Church

>Hi Scott,

Making the blades is a bit of slow going - I'm whacking up an old steel circular saw blade. (No carbide tips.) It looks like I'll get plenty of blades out of it though. Right now I have enough stock for about four blades cut to width. I'm working on the straight fence as well and hope to have that done shortly. (I'm sure you know how this goes - work on the blades till you get sick of it, work on the fence till you get sick of it, take some time off - then go back to the blades...) Next up is the fence for doing curved stock. Oh, and getting more blade stock made to width.

I'll try to post some pictures when I finish the straight fence - maybe later today .... or not - but surely enventually. :)

Skip

You can get...

jim reed @ tallahassee

>a fence from LN. Not as much fun as making your own.

Re: You can get...

Jack Guzman from Maine

>I was at LN. Their beader fence doesn't fit in my stanley 66.I know, I brought the beader with me to fit it.---Jack

Re: Skip. I sould say...

Jack Guzman from Maine

>Please do post your homemade fence when you finish it.I need one of those too.---Jack

Beader with fence

Skip in Falls Church

>Hi Jack,

Don't know how much this will help - I think this fence is pretty specialized. OTOH I find that working brass isn't too hard. Of course I'm ignoring all the hand cramps I got fiddling with the itty bitty brass rivets I made to hold the strap on the fence body. And excuse the beader, it has no finish on it yet - and the blade has no profile either.

I got a little enthusiastic with the sliding part of the fence, it's way too long. I made the body of the fence out of a piece of brass 2 inches wide x 5 inches long and 0.10 inches thick. The strap is much thinner since it's not really bearing a lot of stress. I cut a shallow "v" across the back of the brass piece where I wanted the bend to be. I don't know if it really helped - but I did it any way. At least it gave me a good line to align it in the vice when I made the bend.

Skip

Top of Fence 

Skip in Falls Church

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Bottom of fence 

Skip in Falls Church

>

Looking good Skip...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA

>You made the rivets... Care to describe the process to me? What wood did you end up using for the body and the wedge?

I think you have a winner there!

Re: Looking good Skip...

Skip in Falls Church

>Thanks Scott,

The body and wedge are both Jatoba.

(This is going to sound a lot more complicated than it is, I'm afraid.)

I made the rivets from a piece of 1/8 inch brass rod. I found about a 1/2" long piece of it on the floor as I was cleaning up and decided to use it. (It was enough to make two rivets and have some left over.) First I countersunk the two holes on the top of the fence. Then I held the piece of rod with a pair of pliers and mushroomed one end on an anvil. I then inserted it through the fence and strap with the mushroomed part fitting into the countersunk hole. I marked it to leave a slight excess and, holding the piece of rod with a pair of pliers, cut right at the mark with a loose hacksaw blade. I then filed that end of the rivet smooth and fit it into the hole. Using a flat ended punch and the bottom of the fence facing up on an anvil, I peened around the edges of the rivet until it was mushroomed out.

Then I repeated the process for the other rivet. After that, I filed the top of the rivets (on the top of the fence) even so they wouldn't scratch the wood.

As I understand it you shouldn't try to peen by hitting directly down on the center of the rivet - or you might break something. (Like I did with a knife scale.) Working around the edges with the occasional whack in the center seemed to work fine for me. I certainly didn't want to blow out one of the holes in the strap after spending so much time fitting it. :)

Skip

Re: Beader with fence

Jack Guzman from Maine

>You're right,that is a little specialized. Not much help with my stanley but that is a nice looking tool.---Jack

OK I get it...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA

>Wouldn�t it be a bit easier to counter sink the ends of the rod so you could make a head on one end then peen the other countersink over to form the rivet? Curious just like George I say. Not that I�m yoda, more like a wookie...;^)

Mine didn't fit at first

jim reed @ tallahassee

>but after 10 minutes with Mr. File, it fits like a charm.

Re: OK I get it...

Skip in Falls Church

>Hi Scott,

If I understand your question correctly - I had to make the countersink on the side I did because the material was thicker there. But I couldn't really insert the head from the other side and peen it down into the countersink because the strap was in the way. Certainly that would have been a better way to go - but I just didn't have the space to get a good hit on that side.

I have to admit that it was a sort of a tricky area to work in, the rivets were right up against the fence on the bottom so I couldn't use a hammer on them directly. On the other side the strap kept me from hitting the heads of the rivets either.

Skip