Making New Scratch Stock Cutter

In order to make a bead detail for some frame molding I could either buy a router bit or make a new cutter for my scratch stock (a traditional shop-made molding cutter or scraper).  I believe that it is good to make your own tools when you can.

Below is the new cutter in the body of the scratch stock (similar to a marking guage), a piece of scrap walnut that has recieved the molding and an old triple flute cutter I made last winter.

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The profile is marked on the blank before cutting.  The blank is roughly cut from an old handsaw blade with a cold chisel then filed smooth.

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The profile is then cut out with a dremel cut-off wheel…

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then cleaned up with files.

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The finished profile cutter in the scratch stock body and the resulting bead cut into the walnut.

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Milling Ash With a New Set-up

A carpenter ant infested green ash crotch being milled using a piece of heavy aluminum C-channel on sawhorses as a guide for the first cut.  Also the standard 20 inch bar on the Stihl 039 has been replaced with a 24 inch bar and a rip-cut milled chain.  The extra four inches and a new bar make a big difference in getting good true and flat cuts.

new set up

It would have been better had it not been filled with a colony of carpenter ants, but still nice wood.

Ash crotch 1

A little better towards the edge, just not as interesting.

Ash crotch 2