Stanley and/or LN #66 Beading tool..

[Roy Wall]

I'm considering this tool for purchase. The LN blade set of seven is $40 and you can also get another blank set (of seven) for $10.

Evidently, you can use these 7 profiles in combination to make lots of small detail molding work. I'd like to know more about this tool - technique, ease of use, etc....

The complete LN tool has a small straight fence and a curved fence - does the original Stanley #66 have these?

Thanks!

[Dave Anderson NH]

I have the L-N Roy and its easy to use and quick to set up. I find it particularly useful for the small sized beads and it works well. Note that while no one recommends using it to bead end grain, it can be done if you are careful and take it slow. This is useful if you wnat to make a wall shelf. I've never bought the extra blanks and haven't missed them though your needs might be different. Tony Murland also sells a set of additional cutters in different profiles if you want further options.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Roy, the original stanley came with both fences, but you'll have a hard time finding one with all the parts and when you do you'll pay more than the LN cost. The usual stanley is found with whatever fence and cutter was last on the body, all the rest of the parts being lost to time. Unless you just like working with the old tools you'll probably be better off with the LN.

[Roy Wall]

Thanks guys!

So for an example in use:

Clamp board face up on bench, install cutter, set the fence to required distance, then (push or pull:confused: ) the tool along the edge of the piece....

I take it you make several shallow passes until you get the desired depth of bead?

My wife loves the details - she thinks its a beautiful tool! Green light has been obtained:)

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Roy

When I acquired my Stanley #66 it lacked blades or guides. I initially tried using the blades for the Veritas beader. These do work but are just a tad too small for comfort. So I bought the LN blades and guides. The guides require about 5 minutes careful filing to fit, and then work perfectly. The blades are slightly thicker (and therefore stiffer) than the Stanley blades ( and a complete order above the Veritas blades) and are simply wonderful.

Know that you can make your own blades quite easily enough out of old saw blades, etc. I have done a few for custom moldings.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Wenzloff]

Thanks guys!

So for an example in use:

Clamp board face up on bench, install cutter, set the fence to required distance, then (push or pull:confused: ) the tool along the edge of the piece....

I take it you make several shallow passes until you get the desired depth of bead?

My wife loves the details - she thinks its a beautiful tool! Green light has been obtained:)
Hi Roy,

Like the others have said re the LN beader. It is a nice, well made tool. As is the original Stanley, which the LN blades will fit.

I have used the LV, basically a marking gauge-type of beading tool and it works fine too, even if the blades are a bit thin--but no worse than using old saw blades.

Prior to getting the LV, and since, I find myself going back to temporary, quickly made--and crude by comparison--ways of using scratch stocks. As I often make the profile from old saw blades, I do not wish to take the time to make it work with even the simple LV one. Here's a video link to a video on Taunton's web site of Steve Latta using a home-made scratch stock. Aside from the crudity of the tool, it does show the process of scratching a simple bead:
http://www.taunton.com/FWN/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesArticle.aspx?id=24975

Take care, Mike

[Roy Wall]

Great information guys......thank!

One of the LN cutters is an 1/8" and 1/4" groove - how well does this tool cut a groove compared to a router plane? Is it a viable substitute?
I do not have a router plane - so was thinking along these lines also.

Either way - looks like a fun tool!

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Roy, I don't think it actually matters, the directions say to push it, but I'm more comfortable pulling and do it that way.

[Alan Turner]

Good thread. I have both the LN, and a Stanley I picked up cheap on fleabay, with only the straight fence. I have the extra blanks from LN as the steel is much thicker than a saw blade. Have not used the Stanley yet.

I both push and pull, depending upon mood and grain.

The Latta video is great, but he uses a needle file, and I use a chain saw file, which is of a constant diameter. That is, assuming what I need is available in a chain saw file. Also, I file from both directions so that I create a light burr on both sides of the blank, which speeds shaping quite a bit.

I generally apply the cockbead before shaping, and then shape it after applying to the drawer, but with a hand filed blade so I can file a safe on it. I don't use the LN for this. A safe is a nicely smooth and rounded section on the portion of the blade which overhangs the drawer during the scraping. With the safe filed, there is no marking on the drawer front when it bottoms out. For this I use no handle.

You can cut a groove with the LN, and it is not too hard, but I think a router plane is even easier.

[Alice Frampton]

The #66 has a small disadvantage over a less glamourous scratchstock - because the cutter's held at an angle you can't move it to and fro, over particularly tricky areas of stock for example. It has to be pushed or pulled in only one direction at a given fence setting. I like 'em (got a Stanley with both fences and all but one of the cutters for about a third of the price of the LN, Dennis ;)) but the scratchstock does have a lot going for it.

Oh, a small tip for blade stock for a scratch: those steel rules you can't read? Practically ready made; just chop a bit off and away you go. Wider/longer ones are often a bit thicker too.

Cheers, Alf

[Derek Cohen]

My preference is to pull the #66 towards myself. That way I can see what the blade is doing.

This may be old news to most but a couple of months ago I came across a video (no DVD) by Garrett Hack on making beads. He demoed making and using scratch stocks (as well as the tailed tools). Only 20 minutes long but it was really excellent (as were his results).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bob Smalser]

And the huge advantage fo the lowly scratch stock is that you make it of thicker steel, less prone to chatter and damage than those flimsy 66 blades. You can often muscle through swirly grain that'll cause the 66 to fail.

The huge disadvantage, of course, is grinding out one scratch stock for each molding profile.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

The huge disadvantage, of course, is grinding out one scratch stock for each molding profile.

Bob, for me that's half the fun, but then I don't have the time constraints on me that someone like you, doing it for a living, has.

[Bob Smalser]

Bob, for me that's half the fun, but then I don't have the time constraints...


I don't have a scratch stock to take a pic of, as I haven't needed one. But I was working in a large commercial shop in the 1980's that did make a lot of reproduction chairs with curved moldings, and there wasn't a Stanley 66 in the shop. Their dozen thick, shop-made scratch stocks in various profiles simply did a better job on today's wood.