Cock Beading question

[Doug Mason]

I pressed some walnut veneer to pine for the aprons of a coffe table, per below:

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I want to apply some 1/8 thick by 7/8 wide (the width of the apron edge)walnut cock beading to the edges of all the aprons (for looks and to protect the veneer edge). My question is what is the best way of doing this? I'm thinking that I'll have to steam-bend the 1/8 by 7/8 pieces for each curve (making a form for each curve) and then make miter cuts where their edges meet at a point (I read about this somewhere). And I suppose glue and nails are my only choice to keep it in place--although I'm afraid that if the cock beading separates from the apron even a little it will show the pine (I need to leave the pine edge unfinished for glue adhesion).

Anyone have any better ideas?!

[Jim Koepke]

Did you save the pieces of pine cut off from the apron?
Could this be stained, and cut to fit?
The beading could be done with a shop made scratch stock. If it is offset a little from the back edge of the apron, it would not be noticed. Otherwise, use the edge as a template to cut some walnut.

jim

[Robert Rozaieski]

I wouldn't worry about separation once it's glued and nailed. It's a long grain glue joint so it will be plenty strong. Use hide glue (liquid or hot) and it won't interfere with the finish either.

[John Keeton]

Doug, first of all that is going to be a nice looking table. Did you do the carved ball and claw feet?

As to your question, I assume you are doing the veneer for lack of walnut stock? For the time it takes to do the venner and devise the beading, you could easily cut a piece of walnut and scratch stock the beading on the edge of the walnut. Just a thought.

[John Stan]

I agree with John K, adding beading is some work and to me (IMHO) might not look as nice as a solid walnut apron or even leaving the apron with the veneer minus the cockbead. I doubt the apron will see enough action to risk damaging the veneer. I have done cockbead around drawers which get lots of wear and thus really needs it.

That said, back to your question, when I have done cockbead, I cut the strips on my tablesaw using a very thin push stick. I then mdge the round shape using a beading tool (you could also use a shaper or router table). I cut the beading to length using a band saw ( you could use a small handsaw or even a table saw to cut to length. I cut the 45 degree bevel to "join" the pieces using a 1 1/4 inch chisel. Then nailed it in place using brads. I was not going over the curves like you are so my task was much easier.

Cheers,
John

[David DeCristoforo]

In the pic, it looks like the "veneer" is about half the thickness of the apron. There is plenty of wood thickness for you to use a "scratch beader" or "scratch stock". If you can carve those ball and claw feet, beading the edge will be a "piece of cake". Here's how if you have never done this before:

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesArticle.aspx?id=31290

This shows a straight edge being beaded but the principal is the same for curved edges and it's easy to make the tool.

[Doug Mason]

I cut and pressed a 3/16 walnut veneer for both the side apron (per the picture above) & front/back aprons (which are five feet long!)--so it's too thin to use a scratch stock. But using a scratch stock was never my intention.

The reason I'm not using full thickness walnut is because I am trying to gain more experience (I have very little) in veneering to improve my skills for projects down the road (the top is also a veneered burl); likewise in carving the claw & ball feet and doing the cock beading--just to gain some experience. So I know the cock beading will be alot of work (and maybe a failure)--but that's fine.

So other than steaming/soaking the 1/8 strips and then bending it over a form (w/a tighter radius than the actual curves), and then mitering the joints where the curves meet as I glue/nail them to the aprons, I don't know how else to approach it.

[Barry Hood]

Hi Doug,
Looks like a good start to a nice table. For bending the thin cockbeading maybe try bending them on a hot pipe like the guitar makers use. I haven't tried this myself so you can take this for what it's worth, but it may be worth a look. Good luck anyway and I'll look out for the result.

Cheers

[David Keller NC]

"So other than steaming/soaking the 1/8 strips and then bending it over a form (w/a tighter radius than the actual curves), and then mitering the joints where the curves meet as I glue/nail them to the aprons, I don't know how else to approach it."

Doug - from an historical perspective, one would almost never find cock-beading on an apron with this profile, though scratch-beaded aprons with a sharp arrises do exist. The cock-beading treatment was considerably more popular in the earlier style of William and Mary, and these aprons were typically much easier to deal with because of their profile.

Anyway, such cockbeads were typically glued and nailed, as you mention. I suspect you will do considerably better with this if you use small cut nails rather than round wire nails. On antiques, the heads of the nails are usually very visible if one looks at the underneath of the apron.

Were this my table, I would go without the cock-bead, but back-bevel the apron. This was almost always done in the originals, typically with a chisel and a rasp. The back-beveling sharpened the appearance of the profile, and also removed splintering caused by the use of a period "turning saw".

If you wish to cock-bead it, I would not bother with steam-bending or hot-pipe bending. Instead, very carefully choose and cut the walnut stock you wish to use - it needs to have absolutely continuous grain lines with no run-out. In fact, splitting the stock with a knife or hatchet is preferable to sawing it, because it ensures straight grain with no run-out. With such stock, you should be easily able to bend 1/8" thick walnut around the curves on the apron with no other assistance (no steaming or bending). And yes, you will need to cut and miter the sharp arrises in the apron.

[Stephen Shepherd]

Your veneer was undoubtedly soaked before it was cut, so doing the same to the cockbead will help make it match. As for a form, you already have one, just protect the surface with wax paper and use the apron as a form.

And of course use Hide Glue and cut headless brads as was the tradition.

Stephen

[Dan O'Sullivan]

Doug it looks like you have quite a few options but my sense is you want to apply the cockbead and gain some experience in the effort. Good idea. I have a little different input based on a project I did that was like yours.

I would take the apron loose and cut the profile again on a scrap. Next, take the apron and clamp it to the cut scrap and use a pattern bit to get the exact profile on my working piece. I would fit the cockbead by steaming and fitting them in place on the scrap. Cut the miters at the intersections and create the entire bead shape as closely as possible to the finished profile. Once you have the miters you are satisfied with, you can gently set the piece of cockbead on the piece and make some little fitting adjustments. If the piece you have made does not make you happy, you are not committed and you can try again.
I used little miter jigs that I could fit the beading on the scrap and cut the pieces with a chisel to get a tight joint. This was important to me. I used hide and brads to fix it in place and the apron done. This might be a course to consider?
dan

[Doug Mason]

What I have done thus far is to use the origonal apron template as the bending form. I soaked and the steamed 1/8 x 1 1/8 inch walnut and clamped it in. When I do the actual pieces I'll round over the top before bending. Here are the results (along w/a pic of the longer apron).

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123344

123347

You can see that there are some small gaps here & there between the cock beading and the apron--the result of my using a bandsaw and rasps.
I picked up some Behlem dry hide glue (never used hide glue before)--so I'm hoping that the hide glue will fill in some of the gaps (since they are rather small-but should I color the hide glue?).

Or, to get a better fit, I might recut the templete at a tighter radius--in which case there will still be some small gaps. But regardless, I'll have to fill in the gaps with whatever works. And yes--this is alot of work!!!

[Stephen Shepherd]

Hide glue is a moderate gap filler, but you can add up to 10% filler and colorant without any problem. Bone flour works well as does wood flour, use very fine walnut dust.

Stephen