I am getting set to make some bedside cabinets to match an existing
Victorian dressing table. I have done this sort of thing before, always
getting a pretty good match of original mouldings, panels and beads with a
#55 or one of my motley collection of hollows and rounds and panel
raisers. This time I have the challenge of replicating vertical stopped
flutes on the legs.

I have managed stopped flutes (or hollows or whatever a rounded groove is
called) in the past, using ordinary round planes, deepening  the shallow
ends with a gouge, getting the wobbles out with the plane blade alone, and
sandpaper wrapped around a dowell. Not a fine furniture - solution but OK
in softwood for mantle surrounds and the like.

This project is in a hardwood and I am looking for a crisp result. I have
got this far without a router and intend to stay clear of the bloody noisy
things.

The only solution that has come to my mind is that of adapting a "round"
to be a "bullnose round", so allowing me to plane up to the stop and use a
chisel on just the end. I even have some spare rounds (acquired in the
process of assembling a (nearly) full set) that I could use. Even though
they are homely, it goes against my grain to butcher them......at least
until I have canvassed other options.

So in the interests of old tool preservation, I seek other ideas.

Peter Byrne

 

Peter Byrne wrote:
> I am getting set to make some bedside cabinets to match an existing
> Victorian dressing table. I have done this sort of thing before, always
> getting a pretty good match of original mouldings, panels and beads with a
> #55 or one of my motley collection of hollows and rounds and panel
> raisers. This time I have the challenge of replicating vertical stopped
> flutes on the legs.

Sounds like a matter for a "moulding box" (AKA turning box) and
a scratch stock :-)

    BugBear

Peter Byrne wrote:
> I am getting set to make some bedside cabinets to match an existing
> Victorian dressing table. I have done this sort of thing before, always
> getting a pretty good match of original mouldings, panels and beads with
a
> #55 or one of my motley collection of hollows and rounds and panel
> raisers. This time I have the challenge of replicating vertical stopped
> flutes on the legs.

and BugBear replied:
Sounds like a matter for a "moulding box" (AKA turning box) and
a scratch stock :-)

***************************

I expect there will be some "wazzat den?" replies to this out there.
I have been thinking about making a mo(u)lding box myself to create
the flutes on turned tapered legs for some Louis XVI furniture that
LOML has (reluctantly) asked me to build. (The bed she really likes
costs about $5,000 so she is willing to give me a shot first.)

Here is how Whelan describes molding/turning boxes:

"A form of the scratch stock may be used in a MOLDING BOX, an
open-top box that contains the piece to be worked and whose
sides serve to guide the two fences of its scratch stock. The
workpiece may be mounted on centers (as in a lathe) in such a
box and rotated after the cut is finished, to make repetitive
cuts on different sides or around the circumference of a round
piece.  This is called a TURNING BOX.  It may be fitted with a
device to maintain the angle of the workpiece--ranging from a
simple wedge to an index plate such as is used on gear cutting
machines.  Surprisingly ornate pieces may be formed with this
simple tool."

My ASCII interpretation (end view):

            +++  <
            

Peter Byrne asked:

>  > I am getting set to make some bedside cabinets to match an existing
>>  Victorian dressing table. I have done this sort of thing before, always
>>  getting a pretty good match of original mouldings, panels and beads with
>a
>>  #55 or one of my motley collection of hollows and rounds and panel
>>  raisers. This time I have the challenge of replicating vertical stopped
>  > flutes on the legs.

Bugbear replied:

>Sounds like a matter for a "moulding box" (AKA turning box) and
>a scratch stock :-)

And Brian Welch followed up with a description of moulding/turning
boxes and some nice ascii art.

If the legs are tapered or turned, the time spent making up a moulding
box and scratch stock will be well spent. But, if they are square and
of uniform width, then a double fenced scratch stock should suffice.

In either event, depending on the size/depth of the flutes, entirely
forming them with a scratch stock may prove fairly laborious. In
which case, they could be roughed out, at least, with an appropriate
carving gouge. A "fluter" (London Pattern #10) of the right width,
of course.  :-)

If the material is cooperative and the gouge good and sharp, you
probably can get pretty close to the final form with the carving gouge
alone. And, you may well need an appropriate gouge for cleaning up the
ends, anyway.

Don McConnell
Knox County, Ohio