Edging Question

[Nigel Peck]

I'm completely new to this, so please bear with me!

Can someone please point me in the right direction for how to create an edge like the one in the following picture?

I'm imagining I need some kind of plane but could be barking up completely the wrong tree?

 

[Nigel Peck]

**REPORT TO MODERATOR****REPORT TO MODERATOR**.miswebdesign**REPORT TO MODERATOR**/resources/shelf-edge**REPORT TO MODERATOR**

The site doesn't seem to allow my picture. Can a mod please tell me how I can display a picture or link to one? Thanks.

 

[Oryxdesign]

Somebody 'll be along to display it for you soon

 

[Aled Dafis]

I'm completely new to this, so please bear with me!

Can someone please point me in the right direction for how to create an edge like the one in the following picture?

I'm imagining I need some kind of plane but could be barking up completely the wrong tree?

There you go. Your links will work after about 4 or 5 posts.

Oh, Welcome to the forum. What you need is a router and a profiling cutter. Have a look around the forum, there's thousands of posts here regarding routers.

Cheers

Aled

 

[Paul Chapman]

I'm imagining I need some kind of plane but could be barking up completely the wrong tree?

Hi Nigel,

You can create mouldings with a moulding plane - have a look at this youtube clip showing it being done http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17J1uSHH ... annel_page

You can pick up these planes in second-hand shops but it might take a while finding one in good condition with the shape of moulding you have in mind.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[TEO]

Hey Nigel,
Welcome.
As Aled said, it's a router that you need. Probably the most versatile power tool you'll ever own, takes a little while to get to grips with a router but it has endless uses and with a little imagination and with all the right thoughts about safety there's a whole world of shaping and cutting wonder ahead.
Where are you based? I've only just joined the forum but people are very friendly and there's lots of good knowledge to be tapped into; I'm sure somebody local to you would be happy to show you how to use a router.
If you're near Oxford pm me and we'll arrange something.
Good luck,
T

 

[Chris Knight]

Your approach will be contingent upon the amount you wish to make.
In order of suitability to quantity required from a lot to a little:-

1. Spindle moulder (bespoke cutter to match an existing profile exactly.
2. Router
3. Moulding plane
4. Hollows and rounds
5. Cut step profile first then use a small shoulder plane and then a hand filed scraper to make profile.

As a guide, I would be happy to use (5) for up to four feet of moulding

 

[Smudger]

Chris - the OP says he's new to this, so he's hardly likely to have a spindle moulder or a set of rounds, is he? It's a shelf.
If he's a normal person he needs a router and some advice on the cutter.
I think posts like that just put new people off. He's a newbie - let's confuse him and prove how much WE know!

 

[Nigel Peck]

Thanks Aled for displaying the image and thanks all of you for your replies. It's a fantastic thing you have going here, I felt totally lost and googling was not doing me much good, but now I have a very clear idea of the options available to me.

TEO, thanks for the offer, I'm based in Sheffield though so not close to Oxford.

I like the idea of the moulding plane over the router, mainly because I prefer the idea of working with hand tools rather than power tools, but also because it'll be less expensive.

I also like your suggestions (4) and (5) waterhead37. It looks to me like a moulding plane would be easier to get to grips with, although cost is an issue for me too and I guess that the tools needed for (5) will be more flexible in terms of using them for other jobs in the future.

So I think I'll go for (5): Cut step profile first then use a small shoulder plane and then a hand filed scraper to make profile.

The job I'm doing is a shelf to fit into a space in my kitchen, and a fair bit of the edge will be one long curve going through 90 degrees (15 inch radius).

Sorry for more questions, but as I said above I'm completely new to this.

- What should I use to cut a step profile?
- Do I need a special shoulder plane for a curved edge or will a regular one work?

 

[Nigel Peck]

Chris - the OP says he's new to this, so he's hardly likely to have a spindle moulder or a set of rounds, is he? It's a shelf.
If he's a normal person he needs a router and some advice on the cutter.
I think posts like that just put new people off. He's a newbie - let's confuse him and prove how much WE know!

For what it's worth I found his post very useful, and it didn't put me off at all. It helped me understand the options for this kind of job and I learned a lot from it.

I understand what you're saying, but since he was already following a lot of useful posts that covered some of what he was listing, I found it useful to understand the options across the range of sizes of job.

But then again, I'm not a normal person

Sorry for double posting but Smudger posted while I was writing the previous one.

 

[woodbloke]

If you're new to woodworking and you want to do a moulding like this...I wouldn't bother. Concentrate on making a decent job of the shelf and brackets and keep the edge square...or maybe a simple chamfer to relieve it.
However if you do want to have a go at it, with simple hand tools (shoulder or rebate plane etc...have you got one?) you'll still find it quite tricky.
An electric router poses all sorts of dangers if you're not used to using one so I'd steer clear of them as well - Rob

 

[Oryxdesign]

Hi Nigel

Welcome by the way.
Moulding planes don't work well round corners, you could make this mould with the appropriate bearing guided router bit in a small router in a couple of minutes. Do you think you could borrow a router from a friend? Hopefully they can give some guidance about usage as well and you can decide if you want one or not.
Have a look at Wealden Tool Company for router bits and advice on using one.

Si

 

[Smudger]

Nigel - routing decorative edges on shelves was the very first thing I did in woodwork. It was great fun, and it is a useful skill.

Do you have a router?

Basically you will need a router, a suitably shaped cutter (check out Wealden - they get good marks from the people on here.
You will need a bench or workmate, a couple of clamps and a hoover...

Let us know what you have already got and we can help.

 

[Chris Knight]

Chris - the OP says he's new to this, so he's hardly likely to have a spindle moulder or a set of rounds, is he? It's a shelf.
If he's a normal person he needs a router and some advice on the cutter.
I think posts like that just put new people off. He's a newbie - let's confuse him and prove how much WE know!

Dick,
You are right and I apologise. I was hurrying and thought the post was from Aled and although I was somewhat surprised that he should be asking a pretty basic question, I didn't read it carefully enough to see he was merely posting the photo. I answered in a way that I felt Aled would understand - not a newbie.

 

[Smudger]

No problem - he seems to have liked it!

If I was him I'd still use a router, though...

 

[Chris Knight]

So I think I'll go for (5): Cut step profile first then use a small shoulder plane and then a hand filed scraper to make profile.

The job I'm doing is a shelf to fit into a space in my kitchen, and a fair bit of the edge will be one long curve going through 90 degrees (15 inch radius).

Sorry for more questions, but as I said above I'm completely new to this.

- What should I use to cut a step profile?
- Do I need a special shoulder plane for a curved edge or will a regular one work?

Depending on your tools, you could use a table saw to cut the steps, or a rebate plane.

A regular shoulder plane is all that is needed. One about 1/2 inch wide would serve you for this and for more general use.

To file the scraper, I just take a regular card type cabinet scraper and mark the profile I want with a wax pencil and file accordingly with a suitably sized round file.

I try to show in the image below what you need to remove. More or fewer steps would be needed obviously, according to the moulding profile. The scraper comes into play when you can't cut more away with the saw or plane without cutting into the adjacent section of profile.

 

[Nigel Peck]

Thanks to all of you for advice on a router. I don't have any access to one and can't justify buying one and the cutters I would need. Also as I said previously I prefer the idea of hand tools.

Chris, thanks for the info. Sounds good. Any suggestions for where I can get a cabinet scraper? Which one specifically should I get? I've had a look around and not sure which one you would consider to be of the "regular card type".

Also with regards to the plane, would a "Stanley 75 Bull Nose Rebate Plane" do the job? Otherwise any suggestions? (need to keep the cost down - also hope it's not a problem linking to a product page but just wanted to be clear about which one I've been looking at)

Other than that I've got a good picture in my mind of how to have a go at this job. Thanks

 

[Chris Knight]

Nigel,
a cabinet scraper is nothing more or less than a piece of thin steel usually the same quality and thickness as a small hand saw. Indeed cutting up an old blade with a hacksaw is a good way of obtaining suitable pieces. You can also buy them as shown at the link below.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... e=1&jump=0

The kind of plane you have shown is not really suitable, the purpose of the bull nose plane is to get as close into corners as possible. They are not designed to plane for long lengths. A better plane for the job is like the one shown below, where the blade can be positioned further back.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... e=1&jump=0

As you will soon find if you visit the hand tool forum very often, people will spend a lot of money on planes to get ones of good quality. I have no idea what the quality of this Axminster plane is like but the type of plane is the sort you need. As you can see, the cutter reaches the full width of the plane body and the plane has a fence. These two things are what allow you to plane along the edge of the timber at a constant fixed distance cutting a rebate as you go. The longer nose and the fence plus of course the handle, are the principal differences with the bull nose plane that you showed.

If you are lucky you might find this kind of plane on ebay at a reasonable price. Look for planes described as Record 78 or Stanley 78 and note that sometimes you will see them called rabbet rather than rebate planes. A Record 78 is to be preferred because the fence is mounted on two rods rather than just one, like the Stanley

 

[Nigel Peck]

Thanks for your advice Chris.

You repeated the same link twice, I guess I'm right in thinking that the first link was supposed to be this one.

I found this article about "Using and burnishing a cabinet scraper" which looks like what I need to know about preparing/using one.

Once I can afford to get hold of the tools, I'll be making a start. Thanks again.

 

[Chris Knight]

Nigel,
I meant to link to the cheaper Clifton scrapers

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Clif ... -21776.htm