Edge bead across the grain - Help!

Perhaps

jim reed @ tallahassee


>...you could figure out where the bead will be and make some preliminary cuts with a razor knife. I like to use a boxcutter. Sometimes I cut, plane, cut, plane, cut...until everything is done. Boxcutter works better than plane nickers. Good luck.

Have you tried a beader or...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA


>Scratch stock? They tend to work well in the situation your describing. I won't mention using a router here...yet.

Re: Edge bead across the grain - Help!

Rob Millard


>Ray,

It is difficult to get a clean cut with a molding plane, going across the grain, in pine. It is even more difficult with a bead, since the sides of the bead are being scraped more than cut due to the geometry of the cutting edge. The bed angle also has an effect; a York pitch would be even more difficult to use on a soft wood, going across the grain.

A scratch stock, or beader, won�t work any better, and might be worse.

I�ve made faux cock-beads on drawer fronts, by carving the endgrain beads. Use a cutting gauge to establish the line of the bead, then deepen the cut with a sharp knife and using various gouges/chisels shape the bead. A very light sanding will remove the facets and clean up the bead.

Rob Millard

Re: Edge bead across the grain - Help!

Warren in Lancaster, PA


>I have to agree with Rob. The easiest way do do this would be carving. Scratch stock and molding planes will make a mess of this, just as you have discovered.

I can't recall ever seeing a design like you have in pine around an 18th century window. If I saw this kind of cross grain bead on reproduction work I would think it 20th century design. 18th century joiners knew as well as you that this didn't work well and planned accordingly. Without knowing more about your design, I would suggest making a molding strip that is applied to the long grain and end grain and mitred at the corners or better yet, leave the end grain unadorned.