Three Days

Fri, Mar 31 - Sun, Apr 2, 2023

The Venerable Bead! Make your own traditional boxed beading plane using traditional tools and floats and, as they say, “If you can’t joint ‘em, bead ‘em!

And that’s what the beading plane does, by rounding a sharp corner it creates a double shadow line that conceals and enhances edged to edge joints. It not only looks good when you first plane the bead, the rounded edge holds up much better than a sharp square edge over time.

You may also choose to make a bead & follow - the coolest plane ever! With it, the first bead you plane provides the track to guide the next one, and so on for all following beads. You can quickly form parallel reeding over as wide a surface as you desire. Cutting, mitering, and joining the reeded boards makes even more complex patterns.

You'll cut and shape the irons for the planes, harden and temper them, and then sharpen and tune them for a lifetime of beautiful beads!

Because the narrow shoulder of the bead profile is subjected to excessive wear, it is traditionally “boxed” - shaped from an inset strip of very hard boxwood. This requires special tools and techniques that will put you in the upper ranks of plane-making accomplishment.

This workshop requires some skill at handtool woodworking, the ability to accurately lay out with knife and pencil and, importantly, the ability to cut up to but not over layout lines.

Stephen Slocum is a most excellent plane-maker and I recommend this class most highly!

Materials fee $45 payable directly to instructor on day of class