beading plane question

[Thomas Crawford]

I'm having no luck sourcing a beading plane that has a fence for tight curves. There are plenty of incomplete Stanley 66's out there with the square fence only. Lie-Nielsen out of stock, lee valley looks like they stopped making theirs altogether.

Does anyone have a source for where I can get the missing fence? I'm not really a metal worker but maybe its simple enough to make a replacement out of metal or wood?

A couple years ago could have had a new one at my door in a week, got to plan well ahead for some tools these days.

[Derek Cohen]

Thomas, make your own fence. I’ve made them for a #66 and the LV Cast stock. Here is the latter (a good scratch stock to find). http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/LVCastScratchStock2.html

Frankly, and narrow fence will do curves. The fence, itself, does not need to curve.

A fence for curves on the #66 need only be a small disk screwed to the body (there is provision for the screw already).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[John Keeton]

Thomas, I use this for beading the crest rail on my continuous arm Windsors. https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/73766-cast-scratch-stock?item=15P1710

It seems to work well. I modified the bead blade, but it comes with three blades (including a blank) and the back side of them has not been ground, so you have plenty of options on what you want to do with them.

[chris carter]

+1 on the LV Cast Scratch Stock. Although it comes with a curved fence I have never had an issue with straight cuts. Dead simple and easy. Very comfortable to use as well.

[Jack Dover]

I'm not really a metal worker but maybe its simple enough to make a replacement out of metal or wood?

Why don't you just screw a rounded piece of wood to a beader? You can get fancy with copying the original curved fence with a thumbscrew and such, maybe even in brass, but just a piece of wood and two screws with washers would work too. There's a slot in the beader, washers have to be wider than that, shouldn't be a big deal, right? For curved surfaces you only need one point of contact, so this fence doesn't even have to be properly rounded, just make sure this wooden fence doesn't move once tightened and the contact area is narrow enough. It doesn't matter whether a fence is parallel or not for curved work.

I'm assuming you need some job done, of course. If this is just a case of OCD from knowing your tool is incomplete, you probably need an assistance from a metalworker. Not that this fence is hard to make or something, it's just shopping for a suitable piece of brass will cost you more than the beader itself.

[Thomas Crawford]

Thanks for the replies. I've never used a beader but used spokeshaves and router planes so I guess I wasn't fully thinking through it on a curve. Derek and Jack are right you just need a single point of contact that doesn't move.

Yes I have a particular use for this coming up, I don't really care about the tool being complete as I don't see this as any kind of investment and I use all my tools.

[Thomas Crawford]

Went ahead and ordered the LV cast scratch stock - thanks again.