Beads
2013.12.03
With over thirty molding planes going into this chest, it seemed appropriate to use one or two to decorate the chest itself. A couple months ago, I saw a photo online of a newly-constructed chest with a bead detail along the bottom of the front board. I decided that I liked this better than an applied molding, and naturally a carpenter’s tool kit included side bead planes of various sizes.
I selected one of the smaller side beads — a 3/8″ — which seemed the appropriate scale for 3/4″ boards. This plane was made by David Bensen in Albany, New York, probably in the 1830’s or 1840’s.
The first task was to sharpen the iron. I started by lapping the back, hoping that would take care of most of the sharpening.
Then I wrapped some fine sandpaper around a dowel to work on the bead profile. It is important not to change the geometry of the blade, or it will no longer match the plane body.
To sharpen the quirk (the narrow groove that separates the bead from the rest of the board face), I had to hang part of the iron off the side of my sharpening stones. This meant I could not move across the stone as I would normally do to distribute the wear. Working a narrow blade only in one spot would put a groove in a waterstone in nothing flat; even with diamond stones I wouldn’t want to sharpen one of these frequently.
I set up the back board of the chest to give it a go. I could only do so much with the sandpaper on dowel, so I was worried it would not be sharp enough. But it worked just fine. As per the experts, I started with short strokes near the end, slowly working my way back with longer strokes. The quirk digs in first, before the bead starts to form. The flat space on the sole of the plane body outside the quirk serves as an integral depth stop; when that slides along the top surface of the board, the iron stops cutting and you are done.
I am sure that the reasonably straight and tight grain improved the performance, but I was still pleasantly surprised how smooth the beads turned out.
Dados & Rabbets