Cockbead question

[albreed]

George- The other reason to put the bead on the blades is to create a shadow that will hide the gap at he top of the draws. When the bead's on the draw, the gap is visible above the bead-Al

[mikemcgrail]

Al, I have been working on a pair of desks simultaneously, One Boston, one Newport, both with bead on frames. Sort of a mental exercise, you might say.  I have made several of the Boston style before, where I get to dovetail my drawer blades into the chest and then later come back and cut the miters for my bead corners and cover with the front strip. Those were no big deal. I made the Newport ones extra difficult-like, with the bead already planted on the case ends, so I had to miter the cockbead(sharp chisel) and fit the dovetail at the same time. I realize I could have just put the vertical cockbead in a rabbet later, but I just wanted to see if I could do it this other way. Anyway I have those drawer rails all fit and just need some scraping.
Unfortunately, as I am doing this, I am thinking about bombe serpentine chests. I have seen folks working their bead on these type chests after dovetailing the rails in. I am wondering if the cockbead is mitered in the corners of these types of chests? Or are the corners just what I would call a "mason's miter"? I tend to believe they have to have been really mitered to look correct. I mean on really good work, the type that is still around after a few huindred years. Maybe the miter is already on the drawer rail before the bead is worked.

[albreed]

Mike- It's definitely easier to put in the added bead last.
On the Bombe the bead is cut into the case sides and the blades are beaded and the mitred to it. Tricky on the second blade because it angles out. I cut the mitre on the blades and then mark the case from it, that way you know they'll meet clean.
There are Boston cases with exposed d-tails, and at least one Newport one with cover strips, but it's rare-Al

[mikemcgrail]

Thinking about the bombe rails, has made me wonder if I have not been doing something else that is not to my favor. I take a piece of flatsawn mahogany, turn it on edge and glue it to quartered piece of secondary wood for my rails. That way, the face of the rails is a nice sparkly looking quarter of mahogany. But maybe that makes the bead more fragile. Especially thinking about the serpentine shape, maybe a flatsawn face would be a lot easier to work.

[albreed]

Mike- I always take the blades out of the same plank as the fronts from right next to the front so that the grain is the same. I don't know if it's any less fragile, but it gives a great flow to the grain on the front of the case-Al

[mikemcgrail]

Since I had the whole log, I was using the very outside bits that were flat sawn, and turning them on edge to get a quartered face. I like that notion of getting the rail grain continuous with the drawer, it would be nice to see some of the same swirl/ribbon extend that way. Thanks for that insight. Small bits like that are what the eye sees and the conscious misses. Well, perhaps Jeff's cow follows the grain that closely.

[albreed]

mIke- Actually, we take more time paying attention to this stuff than they did back then. I haven't seen a bombe with all draws and blades in order. Usually a couple, or even three are in the same order ( just the draws, not blades) and the other one is another board.-Al

[mikemcgrail]

I have noticed that on the bombe's, and wondered why. I am not sure if you align them all from one wide plank the thing might look unbalanced-all the cathedrals pointing the same. Or maybe the wide boards were more expensive then, too. You would need something just as big as it would take to make a case end to cut all 4 drawers from. I sometimes wonder if the big lumber was just as hard or maybe more so to acquire then. I met a fellow once that said he had logged in brazil in the early 70's and he indicated it was not uncommon to find logs that were really too big for their saws. I guess with a pit saw you could have sawn a giant log in the 18th century, but it would seem difficult to move if gotten very far from a body of water.
There are probably fellows here that have studied the old records of lumber purchase, and noted if there were different costs based on size. Mahogany I am thinking of here. I guess I have wandered off the cockbead subject. Perhaps a reply on lumber/size/cost might be best placed in a new thread.
Sorry about that.