Jake Darvall
03-05-2007, 3:42 AM
Found another use for a bead cutter other than prettying up edges.
Floating tenons are all the rage at my place at the moment http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/smilies/rolleye.gif
This is how I've been doing them lately, this time with a record 50.
With trued timber, with its thickness spot on, just depth out the bead one side.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/1t-2.jpg
Then just flip it and do the other side.....end up with this sort of thing.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/2t-2.jpg
Then you just rip it off on the table saw.... if you've got a dodgy table saw like mine you may be inclined to overcut then creap the thickness spot on to the mortise width via the thicknesser.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/3t-2.jpg
That makes a nice fit to match the mortises cut off my horizontal mortiser (just an old shopsmith)
Here's another thing I tried.......Making dowels. Essentially the same process. Seen it done in the manuals, but never really had a need to do. Actually, don't need to do it now really. Just showing off uno. http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/smilies/rolleye.gif
From that 3/8" floating tenon I just thicknessed some scrap a little wider.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/4t-2.jpg
Then just bead one side first then depth out bringing that little bridge of timber there as thin as possible. You just slowly raise the depth stop between passes......the fear of course, is that this little bridge will get too thin and the skate will break through and the plane will crash....and you'll swear....and the dowel will be torn up...and you'll have to do it again, like I had to do (never show the stuffups eh. http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/smilies/happy/biggrin.gif )
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/5t-2.jpg
Anyway when I dared not go any further, I just sliced it off with a knife and trimmed the little line off with a block plane.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/6t-2.jpg
What you could probably do anyway, if you fear its not perfectly round, either because the blades not sharpened right, or whatever, is just make this beading process with the plane a preliminary step to using say a doweling plate.....ie. whip them up close to perfect with the plane, then nock them through the plate. Just an idea.
You gonna have to address the profile of the blade......From the factory they don't seem to be ground right, to form a perfect half circle.....a lot of them anyway.
Basically, due to the 45 degree bedding of the plane you must sharpen this curved profile elongated.....ie. you've got sharpen it egg shaped in order to cut a circle. ..... easy to work out, thankgod........its just the square of 2 times the radius.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/7t-2.jpg
eg. a 1/4" blade (cuts a circle with a 1/4" diameter) has to be sharpened back about 4.5mm (3.17 x 1.41)
Hope that made some sense.
Floating tenons are all the rage at my place at the moment http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/smilies/rolleye.gif
This is how I've been doing them lately, this time with a record 50.
With trued timber, with its thickness spot on, just depth out the bead one side.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/1t-2.jpg
Then just flip it and do the other side.....end up with this sort of thing.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/2t-2.jpg
Then you just rip it off on the table saw.... if you've got a dodgy table saw like mine you may be inclined to overcut then creap the thickness spot on to the mortise width via the thicknesser.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/3t-2.jpg
That makes a nice fit to match the mortises cut off my horizontal mortiser (just an old shopsmith)
Here's another thing I tried.......Making dowels. Essentially the same process. Seen it done in the manuals, but never really had a need to do. Actually, don't need to do it now really. Just showing off uno. http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/smilies/rolleye.gif
From that 3/8" floating tenon I just thicknessed some scrap a little wider.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/4t-2.jpg
Then just bead one side first then depth out bringing that little bridge of timber there as thin as possible. You just slowly raise the depth stop between passes......the fear of course, is that this little bridge will get too thin and the skate will break through and the plane will crash....and you'll swear....and the dowel will be torn up...and you'll have to do it again, like I had to do (never show the stuffups eh. http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/smilies/happy/biggrin.gif )
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/5t-2.jpg
Anyway when I dared not go any further, I just sliced it off with a knife and trimmed the little line off with a block plane.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/6t-2.jpg
What you could probably do anyway, if you fear its not perfectly round, either because the blades not sharpened right, or whatever, is just make this beading process with the plane a preliminary step to using say a doweling plate.....ie. whip them up close to perfect with the plane, then nock them through the plate. Just an idea.
You gonna have to address the profile of the blade......From the factory they don't seem to be ground right, to form a perfect half circle.....a lot of them anyway.
Basically, due to the 45 degree bedding of the plane you must sharpen this curved profile elongated.....ie. you've got sharpen it egg shaped in order to cut a circle. ..... easy to work out, thankgod........its just the square of 2 times the radius.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/7t-2.jpg
eg. a 1/4" blade (cuts a circle with a 1/4" diameter) has to be sharpened back about 4.5mm (3.17 x 1.41)
Hope that made some sense.