Molding on the top of a lowboy

H

HSteier

Well-known member
I am about to complete a pair of Conn. Valley lowboys and am about to shape the molded edges on the top. Along the length this can easily be done with hollows and rounds. How should this be done across the end grain?  Are the ends carved and then scraped/sanded? I am trying to not use power tools.

Howard Steier
 
Howard et al,

Contrary to the popular belief, many moulding planes can be used for cross-grain work. The cutting geometry of bead planes is not ideal, so they can present some difficulties, but I've had good results with a variety of other moulding planes for this application, including ovolos and H&R's. The irons need to be accurately profiled and very sharp, and the depth of cut adjusted for the material being worked. Needless to say, it would be a good idea to experiment on some scrap wood of the same specie first.

Blowout at the end of the stroke is an issue, so that needs to be dealt with. One of the advantages of working with H&R's in this situation, is that they can be used from both ends of the cut to help address this issue. Also, as you probably know, it is generally best to do the cross-grain work first, then finish up with the long-grain work.

The cross-grain surfaces will have a more matte appearance, but the disparity can be minimized with some very light sanding of both types of surfaces if it concerns you.

Don McConnell
Eureka Springs, AR
 
Howard, In addition to what Don has done I also make a scraper to fit the profile and it helps a great deal with the finish work and as Don says, your planes and scraper must be sharp.

Mark
 
Thanks gentleman.

I did the tops (cherry) this past weekend with H & R's. Despite what I believe were very sharp planes (worked great with the grain) I had a lot of tearout/granular appearance across the grain. On the convex part of the molding this was cleaned up with low angle block plane/rabbett plane. I used a scraper on the concave part but didn't get much improvement so broke down and used sandpaper.
Anyway I avoided using a router so I'm happy.

Were there any low angle H & R's or low angle molding planes?

Howard Steier
 
Howard I don't know about low angled H&R, but I have a matched set of English #6 H&R that are skewed. These date from around 1780.
 
I didn't mention this, but my set of H&R's is skewed. They're old, but servicable. I'm not sure that it made much difference. They seem to be bedded at a very high angle (?York pitch) and I believe that the high angle is the cause of the cross grain tear out. Anyway, it's done.

Howard Steier
 
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