Cherry Beadboard

[Dave Lallier]

Does anyone have any good sources for Cherry Beadboard? In Wisconsin I can find plenty of Cherry boards, however I would like to find some pre-machined material.
Thanks

[Quetzalsailor]

Easy enough to have it milled. Shops around here, anyway, have the knives. Depending upon the size of the bead, it's a semi-custom job.

Easy enough to mill it at home, too. I've done a fair amount of milling for house projects using a radial arm saw, a couple homemade jigs, and grinding my own profiles in blank blades for a Craftsman moulding cutter. The pic shows the cutter with one of my sets of beading blades and a jig for milling the side/edge of a board or raised panels. (I used it last night for cutting the groove into the edge of the end trims on my new Teak cockpit table.) I've made a second jig that is easier to set up, allows the use of the saw guard, and does the top face of the board. This and the pictured jig are stable enough to allow multiple passes for more complex shapes. Either jig is stiff enough to prevent the work from being thrown across the room and you needn't put your fingers at risk.

You can also buy beading bits for a router. Pretty easy to imagine a jig that would allow you to cut a single bead with this bit: http://www.toolbarn.com/bosch-84611m.html.

[Quetzalsailor]

Here's the other jig in use yesterday. I cut a bevel on the stock.

Then, I used a beading cutter to round-over the top edge of Teak fiddles.

Here's the jig out of the table; it clamps into the table, simply in place of two ot the three removable table parts.

Here's a collection of blades for the moulding cutter.

In the top row are stock blades, including a blank set. The middle row makes various Delaware colonial profiles. The bottom row makes various-sized beads and reeding. I cut these using a cut-off wheel mounted in a bench grinder.

[Hirilondë]

I hate radial arm saws, mine is rusting away in the shed. I think a router table or shaper (though few people own shapers) is a much safer and accurate means for beading or any similar shaping project.

[Quetzalsailor]

You're right, as usual.

Radial arm saw: More flexibility of supposedly rigid alignments. More adjustments to go wrong. More moving parts to wear. More blade near your fingers. More places for the blade to be. A pinch, or kickback can grab the work or move the blade toward your fingers. Ripping tends to be less stable since the work is less likely to be centered on the table. These noted, and never forgotten, a radial arm saw can do tricks that a table saw cannot, for example does miters on trim more easily. It will also fit in a small workshop or garage more readily.

I'd like to have a shop big enough for a decent table saw and its clear working space as well as additionally big enough for the workbench and work.

I have cut myself on a table saw, but so far, not on the radial arm saw, and that with the blade only protruding from the table by 7/8".

Interestingly, job site chop saws have morphed into baby radial arm saws; I would not have believed it.

[Hirilondë]

Interestingly, job site chop saws have morphed into baby radial arm saws; I would not have believed it.

That's not quite true. A compound sliding chop saw is much more accurate due to the sliding mechanism be less sloppy.

I look at a radial arm saw as a multi tool that doesn't do anything well. I bought mine for the same reason many people do, and this is the versatility at a time when money was tight. I can see that some own them for the sake of space or budget. They can rip or crosscut reasonably well. But using them for shaping is really dangerous.

I suggest that anyone seriously interested in doing woodworking invest in a router and either buy or build a table jig for it. This is what I suggest for Dave as well if he doesn't find a source for pre-made bead board to his liking.

[Quetzalsailor]

You're right; fewer degrees of freedom, and it won't rip.

http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/MS1290LZA-M ... /index.htm

Here's one all tricked out for trim:

[One Way David]

According to Dewalt, the RAS is an indispensable tool that can replace just about any tool in your shop.

http://www.owwm.com/pubs/252/1796.pdf

And some have put them to good use, noted on this site.

http://members.shaw.ca/pgron/BoatShed.htm

That being said, can any machine that spins a razor sharp blade at a gizillion times a minute be called safe?, safer? I have cut myself more times on hand tools than machine tools. Actually I've never cut myself on a machine tool. I have cut myself more times shaving than I have with all tools combined, and for aesthetic reasons?

Hirilondë is absolutely correct. But to expound, all machinery is dangerous. But where would we be if we didn't take that first step because of fear of danger?

My post probably better suited for Ramblin.

Dave.

[Drew]

There is no "safe", only knowledge of risks and the forethought to mitigate them.

[Dave Lallier]

Thanks for the info, however I time is very short for me and I was hoping that I could find a source for some pre-made cherry beadboard.

[Quetzalsailor]

I'm sorry that you don't live closer, Dave; we could mill a batch in a couple hours.

The cockpit table in my pictures above is now glued and sanded, ready for some bunged screws to back up epoxy joints on the Teak. I used my $25 early 1950's Shop Smith's 12" disk sander, since my Delta disk sander is out in the barn for the FD project. Talk about a tool that does too many tricks! And has several exposed whirring bits.