I don't own a set of M.S. Bickford molding planes...yet. Fortunately, for those of us molding-less neanderthals out there, other options for simple molding profiles exist. Scratch stock is a perfectly cost effective way to produce beautiful, well defined profiles in all manners of hand made trim. This method for applying decorative treatments to moldings has been around for a long, long time and making a scratch stock tool is incredibly simple.
Any spring or thin cast steel (think handsaw blades) can be cut to size, filed to any custom profile and inserted into a piece of scrap lumber to make a molding tool. From start to finish (including cutting a bead on a test piece), this process took me about twenty minutes.
First, I went to my local hardware retailer and bought the cheapest handsaw I could find...it's ugly too. I brought it into my shop and proceeded to cut it up with a set of hand shears.
Then, I mounted the cutoff in my vise and filed a profile into the steel. I just "freehand filed" a profile I liked, however, I could have used a shape template and a scratch awl to draw a profile into the steel and then filed to the markings. A profile copier can also be used to trace a shape onto the steel if you need to use the scratch stock to match a piece of existing molding (for a repair or addition).
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| These Small Files By General Tools Are Cheap And Perfect For This Type Of Work |
Once I got a profile I was happy with, I lapped each side flat with a sharpening stone so that the scratch stock works on the push and pull stroke. Then I used a saw with a more narrow saw plate (my dovetail saw) than the scratch stock to saw a slot into some scrap plywood. I like the plywood because it is less likely to split when I hammer the scratch stock into the kerf. It is certainly possible to make a universal handle which is also much less ugly, but this way is super cheap and just as effective. This one is adjustable with a small hammer.
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| Just Pound The Stock Into The Kerf With A Hammer |
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| Don't Be An Idiot, Cut Off The Teeth Before You Use The Scratch Stock |
I tested the tool on this scrap piece of old pine. Scratch stock works better in harder woods, but with a little practice it works just as well in soft fibrous ones too. I used this tool to cut a bead into some old douglas fir that I am using as trim on the entertainment center I am building. Even though douglas fir is very fibrous and brittle, this tool cut a nice sharp bead into the molding.
Just like using a plane or a hand scraper there is a right direction and a wrong direction to plane depending upon the grain in the wood. With a little practice this is easy to determine, if the tool is sharp this often won't really matter for small profiles anyway.
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| Grip I Use For Cutting Toward Myself |
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| Cutting On The Pull Stroke |
I made several profiles out of one small piece of saw, the entire saw cost me $10, and I have enough steel to make many, many more profiles.
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| The Small One Was Used To Bead Some Small Trim For Shelf Fronts |
BONUS!  |
| Once You Cut The Teeth Off Of The Saw You Get A Saw That Cuts Around Corners!! |
This is brilliant! Do you file a single bevel or double bevel into the tool & if single which way does the bevel face in use?
ReplyDeleteThe scratch stock gets filed and honed at a 90 deg angle on all faces. It should work like a card scraper or rip style teeth on a saw. This tool excels at long grain work (most trim runs long grain anyway) but if it is nice and sharp, and with a little practice, it should make very small cross grain profiles without much difficulty. I honed each face flat on an extra fine diamond plate and then used a burnisher (scrap hardened steel, a screwdriver shaft will even work) on the profile to "hone" it flat so that it met each face at a 90 deg angle. This allows the tool to be used in both directions along the grain of the wood. Hopefully, that answered your question. Thanks!
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