Varvill beading planes sizes

[JobandKnock]

I picked up a Varvill #5 side bead today which appears to be around about a 1/2in bead. The guy says he has several more, so I just wondered if there was a table anywhere which translates Varvill's proprietary sizes into inches?

I have done a certain amount of work on listed buildings where it is necessary to repair/replace sections of mouldings such as built-up cornices, dado rails, skirtings and architraves where it isn't always feasible to grind a set of spindle knives, so I have decided to add to my admittedly basic set of rounds and hollows so as to increase my repertoire. The first extension will be a partial set of side beads followed by a few centre beads for in situ repair work

 

[Argus]

All my side bead planes (made by Malloch, mostly) are heel-stamped with the bead diameter - 3/16, 1/4, 5/16 and so on..... which correspond to the diameter of the bead quite accurately. You may find that some side bead planes had a side bar that could be (they seldom were) removed to convert it to a centre bead, running on a guide board, so it may be worth looking out for some of those.

However, on the subject of numbering the sizes, some Hollows and Round planes were numbered and the general convention was to number the radius in 16ths.
So, a 'half set' of H&Rs would be No:s 2, 4, 6, 8, up to 16 or 18, etc corresponding to 1/8, 1/4, 3/8 and so on. This was fine until you got up to 1 inch, where some manufacturers jumped the sequence to 1/8ths. Suffice to say that the convention is by no means universal nor exact.

Varvil and Sons, unfortunately, went out of business in 1905 and I don't know of any tables of sizes or the like, so why not cut a bead and measure it? If it 'looks' like 1/2 inch, it may be a 5/8 inch diameter..... We'll be interest to find out.


Good luck

 

[johnnyb]

5 will almost certainly be 5/8 ( a good size for bead and butt door panels)

 

[JobandKnock]

The Varvill #5 measures at 1/2in. I measured a Varvill #4 today (second hand shop) and it was 11mm or 7/16in

In the end I swerved the Varvills because I was offered a good partial set of Griffiths side beads (3/16 to 7/8in with a few gaps) most of which have the detachable side slips @Argus recommended (thanks, BTW). They all seem to work, albeit not very well (sharpening required).

At the same time I bought a Griffiths bench plane. It looks like a jack plane, but has a (missing) side slip which seems to convert it into a rebate or panel fielding plane, however It has a straight across blade not the skew blade I've seem in badger planes. Any ideas what it was for?