An Easy to Make Quirk Bead Scratch Stock Blade
It was almost a year ago to the date that I built a scratch stock. My inspiration came from a finely written blog entry by Kari Hultman on her wonderful blog The Village Carpenter. Ever the experimenter, I chose to use a cap head allen screw to secure the blade. I also added a couple of steel straps to the top of the scratch stock to reinforce the blade slot from the force of the set screw. The first stock I built broke the first time I tightened the set screw, splitting along the grain at the blade slot.
My scratch stock has been patiently sitting on my shop bench under my hand planes awaiting a profiled cutter. I finally got around to shaping a cutter and giving it a quick test run on some scrap jatoba. I was very pleased with the results. This scratch stock has a relatively long flat face so it is better suited for cutting profiles on flat work opposed to detailing curved work. I cut my blade stock with a jigsaw and metal cutting blade from an old cabinet scraper.
My first profile is a quirk bead. I am thinking of adding this detail to our niece’s engagement chest. We will see. I know I will need to now put in some practice with this seemingly simple tool so I can confidently produce a smooth bead profile.
Kari offered some important advice on her blog regarding sharpening the blade. It is very important to polish and hone all edges! I ended up flattening the sharp tip of the blade which made it much easier to use. This also made for a nice narrow flat bottomed quirk. I also discovered lightly spritzing the wood with alcohol before the final couple of passes produced a quirk bead as smooth as a baby’s bottom! The final result has just the slightest hint of hand work which is very satisfying.
Return Bead • Uncut Stock • Bead & Quirk
Scratch Stock Related Links 
Kari offered some important advice on her blog regarding sharpening the blade. It is very important to polish and hone all edges! I ended up flattening the sharp tip of the blade which made it much easier to use. This also made for a nice narrow flat bottomed quirk. I also discovered lightly spritzing the wood with alcohol before the final couple of passes produced a quirk bead as smooth as a baby’s bottom! The final result has just the slightest hint of hand work which is very satisfying.
Return Bead • Uncut Stock • Bead & Quirk
- Folding Rule Blog Scratch Stock – Part I
- Folding Rule Blog PDF Quirk Bead Scratch Stock Instruction Sheet
- Scratch Stock on Wikipedia!
- Beading with a Scratch Stock - FWW
- Scratch Stocks; Use these handmade tools to shape small details on furniture by Robert L. Millard - FWW
- Scratch Stock – Kari Hultman • Village Carpenter Blog
- Starting From Scratch by John Lloyd – Furniture & Cabinetmaking
- The Venerable Bead – Lee Valley Project Article
- Scratch Stock Moldings – Shavings and Sawdust Blog
- Sliding Head Scratch Stock – Popular Woodworking
2 comments:
David, great job on the scratch stock!! The dremel tool seems to work really well at shaping the profile. Those quirk beads add such a nice touch to furniture, boxes, and drawer fronts.
I blew out the wood blank on my first attempt with the threaded insert, too. That's tricky--you really have to get the hole drilled to correct size.
Kari -
Many thanks for the kind comments and the inspiration for this wonderful little tool.
I am looking forward to adding a quirk bead detail to future projects!
David
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