Thread: reeding planes

For a single job, a scraper might be a more economical and convenient approach, Clinton? I'd be looking to beg or borrow the use of a Stanley 66 or making a scraper-holder, which is a very basic, but surprisingly effective tool. Of course it depends on the size & complexity of the job, if you are looking at a roomful of reeded architraving, you want something heavy-duty, for sure!

I'm speaking as one who has never done anything more complex than a triple reed, but it was on a curved surface, which a plane wouldn't do anyway, so I had no choice. As it turned out, it wasn't as difficult as I expected, I scraped them as single beads, one at a time, which worked well, but would be mighty tedious on a bigger job.

Cheers,

Clinton, I am not aware of any dedicated reeding planes. On the other hand, as Ian mentions, there are scrapers, such as the Stanley/LN/Veritas with reeding blades. Further, there are combination planes, such as the Stanley #45 and the Veritas Combination Plane, that include reeding blades (from a single bead to a quadruple reed).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by Clinton1

Does anyone have reeding plane? I'd likevto draw them and the make them for a job

My father in law has quite a few dedicated (antique) reeding planes. I haven't got any photos at hand, but I can take some pictures next time I visit him.
He has boxed single, double and triple reed versions (2 flute, 3 flute and 4 flute) by a few different makers in a number of profiles for use with a batten.
He even has a couple of fenced versions for reeding at the edge of stock.

Most molding plane makers had sets available, but they seem to be hard to find now days.

For example, this was Sargents offering.

https://www.sargent-planes.com/sargent-628-u-s-reeding-plane/

I took a go with my Stanley 50 and a single beading blade to see if it was doable just moving the fence along for each bead. With a bit of practice it should get you by. A blade with multiple scollops would be better if you can find one or reprofile one of the wide blades. I did see a wooden reeding plane in a antique shop many years ago and it had a corrugated sole to match the blade profile.
Regards
John

A multiple reeding/beading blade on a combination plane will produce a perfectly spaced result with less effort ..




This build is best done with music from the Rascals

Regards from Perth

Derek

I have a triple reed somewhere. It is for the popular triple reed mould used around 1810 to 1820 and was used on table top edge or chest top edge mainly.
Is this the sort of thing you want to see ? Ill see if its where I think it should be and take a pic if it is.
Its a typical Beech English Moulding plane to look at .

These ones are similar but for work in from the edge . My one has a small fence to make it run along a table top.
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Wooden-mould...-/152887123921

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...lane-246708619

Rob, how would these planes have been typically used? Were they mostly hand-guided, or used against a board clamped to the work? Seems to me that the places I've seen straight reeding (as opposed to fluting) was always on places like table edges, where you'd think a fenced plane would be the more logical tool of choice. Reeding on turned objects would have to have been done with some sort of beading tool in the days before bearing-guided router setups, no plane would follow the contours of a vase turning. So it has me puzzled as to what their role was.

Also, the use of a plane implies the reeding goes the full length of the workpiece, you can't stop & start the moulding with a plane like you can with a beading tool.

But these 'plain' reeding planes must have had their specific uses. A boxed plane like the one you pointed to would be fussy to manufacture (= not cheap), and the scalloped blades would not have been a lot of fun to keep sharp, so I reckon you'd need to think it was a necessary tool to have, to invest in one. There are quite a few around, so they weren't just a rare novelty tool - they must have had a clear role in many a cabinet or coach-making shop in days of yore?

Cheers,

You can create a different profile using a Snipe Bill and Round.

Stewie, that profile is what I would call 'fluting' rather than 'reeding', but whatever you call it, I'm interested in how you went about setting out (I see the marking gauge in the background, so I'm assuming it played a part), and then guiding the planes to keep the flutes straight & even...??

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Rob, how would these planes have been typically used? Were they mostly hand-guided, or used against a board clamped to the work? Seems to me that the places I've seen straight reeding (as opposed to fluting) was always on places like table edges, where you'd think a fenced plane would be the more logical tool of choice. Reeding on turned objects would have to have been done with some sort of beading tool in the days before bearing-guided router setups, no plane would follow the contours of a vase turning. So it has me puzzled as to what their role was.

Also, the use of a plane implies the reeding goes the full length of the workpiece, you can't stop & start the moulding with a plane like you can with a beading tool.

But these 'plain' reeding planes must have had their specific uses. A boxed plane like the one you pointed to would be fussy to manufacture (= not cheap), and the scalloped blades would not have been a lot of fun to keep sharp, so I reckon you'd need to think it was a necessary tool to have, to invest in one. There are quite a few around, so they weren't just a rare novelty tool - they must have had a clear role in many a cabinet or coach-making shop in days of yore?

Cheers,

Ian, the two planes in my links are what showed up when I googled reeding plane . They would need a guide like a clamped board. And Yes, like you say ,Table edges , chest and cabinet top edges were a very popular thing for that mould in the period I mentioned, roughly 1810 to 20 . What was not common then is reeding in from the edge . That is more an Edwardian thing applied in along the edges of extension table rails or down the mid front of sideboard front rails or door rails and stiles. Dam Ugly too ! And yes they always go right through . never stopped.

Those first planes in my link look older than Edwardian though so it may be they are American and that style of decoration may have been used there earlier. I'm only Talking English or Australian furniture for the tripple reed edge treatment .

This is some more I found just now. One just like my one .

Wooden Triple Reeding Planes - Review

And this one which is similar to the others and is American I think . I didn't carefully read it all . It has a removable fence so maybe the others lost their fences ?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...-plane-vg+-old



I'm sure Ive possibly seen reeding down or across fronts in much earlier English Oak stuff sometime as well . Not a very common thing back then though.

Reeding or fluting on turned things like down legs in the Victorian period and back into the Georgian period from chair legs to sideboard legs and up to bed posts was done either on the lathe with an indexing head and a reed box mounted . A box to run the scratch stock along in .

This could be two straight sided top rails , sloping to exactly match the taper of the leg or shaped to follow the baluster shape, or what ever the turning was.

If not reeded or fluted on the lathe the piece was turned then the next stage done on a separate box ( A reed Box)
https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/243...99908/?lp=true
away from the lathe and could be used on a bench with an indexing plate in the end. A Guided scratch stock like this gets it nice and neat. Earlier Tudor or Elizabethan High end Oak may have used this though I'm not sure of that . Most of the time its likely that it was hand carved and more primitive, and the stuff you see shows that . Hand carved never has the trueness of a guided cut . You can see and definitely feel the difference in it .



Rob

Ta, Rob, you've pretty much confirmed my memory of what I've seen.

I've made a couple of fluting boxes in the past. The first one was to mount on the rather primitive lathe I had at the time, which had no indexing method built-in on the drive shaft, so I had to fix a ply disc to the spur with the desired number of holes drilled around it. It had a very sophisticated locking mechanism (a nail through the hole in the disc engaged a hole in the end of the box). I made it initially for fluting the posts for a couple of (roughly) Georgian style beds, & I used a router & coving bits to cut the flutes. The posts were gently tapered, so the router tracked on two adjustable cleats screwed to teh sides of the box. It worked very welll, as much by good luck as good management.

I find reeding is a more difficult process than fluting. I have reeded a single small pedestal table leg using a scratch stock. I didn't have a suitable bit for the router,and more importantly, the stem was a vase shape & I couldn't figure out a way to make the router follow a complex curve with my setup. The whole job was a lot more difficult, partly because of the contoured profile, and partly because my cutter-holder wasn't easy to keep tracking properly.

I've done other fluting occasionally since then, but it's always beens straight-line stuff, which is easy to set up, the flats between the flutes can be adjusted to fit the desired number of flutes accurately on the stem, and each flute is an entity - easy enough to stop & start neatly with a router bit. With reeding, the reeds have to overlap precisely, and that's not easy to arrange on a tapered stem, the cutter has to travel precisely along a centre-line, or any errors quickly compound. I think I made several attempts before figuring out the process & producing a leg that was close enough to what it was supposed to look like. It must've scarred me a bit, I've not attempted one since...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Stewie, that profile is what I would call 'fluting' rather than 'reeding', but whatever you call it, I'm interested in how you went about setting out (I see the marking gauge in the background, so I'm assuming it played a part), and then guiding the planes to keep the flutes straight & even...??

Cheers,

IanW; within the following photo's you can see how the Snipe Bill is being used to open up the gauge lines to form seats (highlighted in black pen) that allow the Round to follow within a straight line.

Stewie;

Aha - thanks for that Stewie.

So it does take a bit of knowledge & skill to use these things well, as I thought! I'm starting to see that a snipe-bill has more applications than I ever realised, but I think it's safer for me to stick with the electron-burner for the very occasional times I need to make reeds or flutes....

Cheers,

There are also references to the use of reeding planes in architectural applications such as panel insets and moldings.

Two Carpenters: Architecture and Building in Early New England

Quick repair: new sole for a reeding plane



Regards,

Denim