How do you cut stopped flutes with hand tools?

[Blevins]

Hello all, I want to cut a series of stopped flutes into the surface of the side panels (flat) of a cabinet I am making. Having never done this, the methods I am thinking of are:

1. With a mallet and gouge.
2. With a dedicated moulding plane (I haven't seen one second-hand)
3. With a Stanley 55 multiplane. (I have a 45 but am not keen to pay a kings ransom for a 55 on eBay.

Any advice on what to do?

Thanks

 

[Dovetaildave]

Hi Blevins,

Sounds interesting, can you give us more info.

What is the material?
How wide is the stock?
What is the length of the Stock?
How many flutes for that width?
Flutes and not reeds?

Roy Underhill did some nice flutes one episode, using I think, a long paring gouge (3/8 ?) and maybe a scratchstock or two.

Regards,
Dave

 

[thetyreman]

I'd use an old round shape moulding plane, they're easy to find on ebay, for example: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wooden-mould ... SwMQBaAHoF

for where the flutes stop you could use a knifewall and gouge, if it's hardwood then scratch stock is another option, or even a custom shaped scraper.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Through ones would be easy enough with a suitable small round moulding plane, but that's not possible with stopped flutes. I think I'd be tempted to mark out, remove the bulk of the waste with suitable carving gouges, then clean up most of the length with a scratch stock to even things up, finally cleaning the stopped ends with carving gouges, care and patience. Go easy - might be worth a practice run on a piece of scrap to see how the particular timber you're using responds to the tools.

Using a power router with a suitable cutter and guide would make the job quicker and easier, but the end result would look very uniform, machined and lifeless. Cutting them by hand would be slower (the job will speed up the more flutes you cut), but it'll finish with a bit of hand-made 'life' to it - don't allow too much, though, or it'll just look rough!

 

[worn thumbs]

Two of the original suggestions won't work with stopped flutes,so the remaining option has to be the way to go.I must admit that I would use a router and then a gouge to finish the stopped ends as the perfectly machined ends produced by a router look too obviously the result of machining.

 

[D_W]

Scratch the flutes and carve the ends. It's a lot easier to make a scratch stock than buy another gouge, so pick the gouge out of one that you have first and then make a matching scratch stock.

The ends should be cleaned up in one smooth cut so that there aren't tool marks in the middle of the cut.

 

[thetyreman]

for where the flutes stop you could use a knifewall and gouge, if it's hardwood then scratch stock is another option, or even a custom shaped scraper.

this part seems to have been completely ignored

 

[AndyT]

This is the sort of interesting detail that was covered in older books when all work was hand work, but gets forgotten now. Here are a couple of pages from David Denning's 1891 book, The Art and Craft of Cabinet-Making.

On the previous page the author has stated that beads are generally worked with a scratch. Here he goes on to show how to make stopped beads and mentions that the same methods apply to flutes. The suggestion of cutting out wood so you can plane right through and then replacing it could work well, especially if you are planning on a dark wood.

Whole book here: https://archive.org/stream/artcraftofca ... 5/mode/2up

 

[Racers]

I am sure St Roy did something about stopped flutes.

Pete

 

[Blevins]

Great responses, thanks guys.

I'd never thought about the idea of running the bead/flute through and then sticking a piece of wood in and planing flush, as the book suggests! But I'll avoid that since it's a dovetailed carcass and I don't want to run through the dovetails.

The cabinet sides are nearly a metre long and 300mm wide/27mm thick and I want maybe 5-10 flutes on each side. I think I'm going to try cutting the bulk of the flutes with a plough plane, finishing off by rounding the sides a little with a round moulding plane. Then I can just carve the ends with care, where the planes can't get depth. I've never used/made a scratch stock - now's the time I guess.