cutting beads on platters

[Shay Vings]

Any tips on how best to turn small beads on the face of platters/bowls?. I'm not getting on well with spindle gouges and skews. Maybe a special tool is required? I would like the apex of the bead to be flush with the adjacent platter rim, not standing proud.

 

[Bodrighy]

There is a beading tool but if you make the platter flat then use a skew rolling over with the tip from the apex of tbhe bed.

pete

 

[cornucopia]

I like to use a little 3 point tool for those type of details

 

[Bodrighy]

I like to use a little 3 point tool for those type of details

Is that like a triangular Bedan George?

pete

 

[cornucopia]

its just a round hss bar with 3 ground face's- heres a link to a page about them

 

[mikec]

I also use a 3 point tool, though the name is a little misleading. Its actually a single point with 3 faces ground like a triangular pyramid, that is if I have the correct name in the first place!!!!!

Mike C

 

[duncanh]

I use either a small spindle gouge or a small, home made bead forming tool

Duncan

 

[CHJ]

Shay, not knowing any better when I started (about a month on the slope) I used a 1/2" skew to cut the initial Vee's and then placed it on it's side and used it like a sharp edged scraper to round the bead.

Not as elegant as using a three flat point tool or sharp pointed gouge but it works fine on all but very loose grained woods.

 

[Shay Vings]

Thanks for the advice and especially the link to a home made tool. I would like to try this but I cannot find anyone local (Cambridge) who stocks 9mm HSS rod or blank lathe tools. I can get silver steel (£3.60/ft) but I assume that would lose its temper every time I sharpen it?. Any ideas on a sources of HSS?

 

[wizer]

You could temper the silver steel yourself. Making the point tool is on my tuit list and I've got the steel in the workshop. Chas has a couple of guides on tempering IIRC

 

[cornucopia]

Thanks for the advice and especially the link to a home made tool. I would like to try this but I cannot find anyone local (Cambridge) who stocks 9mm HSS rod or blank lathe tools. I can get silver steel (£3.60/ft) but I assume that would lose its temper every time I sharpen it?. Any ideas on a sources of HSS?

give ashley isles a ring they will post it to you at a very reasonable rate

 

[paulm]

I made a couple of three point tools in different diameters in silver steel.

Just harden and temper them yourself as said and the only sharpening they need is an occasional tickle with a fine diamond hone or quick rub on a stone of some kind. Would take loads of use to need a regrind, in which case temper it again, but wouldn't be any time soon.

Cheers, Paul

 

[rsser]

Henry Taylor beading tools work very well, even on softwood when used with a fresh edge, and come in a range of sizes. They produce a cleaner more regular bead than any other tool/method I've tried.

The Hamlet beading tool doesn't perform quite as well but has the plus that it'll do most of the shaping of a captive ring