Cock beading router bit

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Tallbloke

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18 Nov 2020
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Location
Oxfordshire
I guess the traditional way to make cock beading for Edwardian drawers is with a moulding plane but I haven't found one with the right profile. Does anyone know of a router bit suitable for making the visible profile on a piece before making the trim on a table saw?
Regards
 
A scratch stock would be first choice to form the bead, shouldn't take more then a few passes to do.

Pete
 
Most makers would originally have used a scratch stock, which is also what I do even today.

I use quite a few scratch stocks,

Scratchstocks-01.jpg


My favourites are the Garett Hack style of scratchstocks, which are much easier to use on straight material as they effectively have a fence that bears on the workpiece.

The beauty of scratch stock is that a few minutes with a file and a scrap of old saw plate or card scraper, and you've got whatever unique profile you need.

Scratchstocks-07.jpg


Scratchstocks-08.jpg
 
Some more photos to show how the Garett Hack style of scratch stock works. This is how the cutter is secured,

Scratchstocks-02.jpg


And these photos show how you can alter the attack angle of the cutter to suit the workpiece, something you can't do with the traditional English style of scratch stock,

Scratchstocks-04.jpg


Scratchstocks-03.jpg


Scratchstocks-05.jpg
 
Very many thanks. I don't have too many to make so the scratch stock route seems the way to go. Presumably they are they generally 'home' fabricated from an old blade of some sort? Or are suitable blades commercially available? Very useful photos - thanks for taking the trouble to post them.
Regards
 
The metal doesn't need to be specially hard. A bit of old sawblade or bimetal hacksaw blade is often used. Saw plate is soft enough to file to shape but hard enough to get a nice edge on. To clarify, the edge of the profile is at 90 degrees to the faces, which are honed flat. Those sharp square edges cut remarkably well.
 
A cock bead was referred to in a recent post and I had to go and check via Mr Google that I was thinking of the right thing. Anybody any idea why is is so named? I realised when I went back to look at some shelves I made some 30 year ago that the little feature on the supports is indeed cock beads made with a scratch stock

I like your scratch stock holders - thanks for the idea.
 
The other advantage of a scratch stock is that it you come across a bit of unfriendly grain you can attack it from the other direction .
Brian
 
Like it or not, there's a general sense of "cock" meaning to stick up or out. The beading sticks out from the front of the drawer, hence cock bead.

When the hammer of a gun sticks up, it is cocked. After firing, it goes down again. Etc.
 
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