Dway beading Tools

[William Rogers]

Trying to bead some cherry and getting some tear out / chipping. Not terrible, maybe 1 in 5 have some chipping/tear out. What would be the proper speed to use these tools. I did watch Dave’s video, but the speed was not given. Any other tips. The tools are sharp.

Trying to bead about a 8” bowl configuration. Was thinking of putting sanding sealer on first to see if that helps.

 

[Bill Boehme]

The tool needs to be very sharp. Use very light force and rock the tool side to side slightly. I use a moderately low speed mainly for tool control. Otherwise, the tool could jump out of the groove. DAMHIKT

Watch Dave's video ... I've watched it many times and practiced a lot. I discovered that my main cause of tear out was because I wasn't sharpening the tool often enough.

 

[Dean Center]

I've had a similar experience. I believe the wood makes a difference, with fine grained hard woods like maple working better. I'm also pretty sure that I caused some of the trouble by continuing to cut the bead too long--you're supposed to stop before the bead top is contacted by the tool. That's very hard for me to see.

 

[Bill Boehme]

..... I'm also pretty sure that I caused some of the trouble by continuing to cut the bead too long--you're supposed to stop before the bead top is contacted by the tool. That's very hard for me to see.

If you sharpen the tool for a final pass and use a light touch you should be able to get a rounded top. That is very important for me when making a basket illusion in order to get a good burn with the pyrography tip.

 

[William Rogers]

I agree with both of you. I did some practice with the lathe between 800-900 RPM using a very light touch and sharp tool and those beads were better. Another question is the 1/8 vs 3/16 bead size. I have a small ~ 8” piece I want to bead and was thinking 1/8” would be the best size for this. Is there anything other than preference as to what size you select. Does size of the turning play into the decision?

 

[Mike Johnson]

The wood species is a larger factor in determining the size of the beads you can cut, unless you stabilize the wood to firm up the wood grain. The smaller the bead the more likely you are to get tearout in "softer" woods. You can have good success cutting small beads on 90% of a turning project and run into softer grain or changing wood grain direction that can cause difficulty in cutting a clean bead.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I agree with both of you. I did some practice with the lathe between 800-900 RPM using a very light touch and sharp tool and those beads were better. Another question is the 1/8 vs 3/16 bead size. I have a small ~ 8” piece I want to bead and was thinking 1/8” would be the best size for this. Is there anything other than preference as to what size you select. Does size of the turning play into the decision?

It's mostly personal preference. The larger tool is easier to control and get clean beads. The pattern is a factor in deciding which size beads work better. A little tearout or even enough to give you heartburn often isn't a problem because it will be masked by the pyrography.

I practice beading on a blank before it gets turned down to final thickness. Then turn away the beading and practice again ... and again ...

 

[Tom Albrecht]

I have found that the side to side rocking, as shown in the video helps a lot--- if there is tear out, then exaggerate the rocking even more.

 

[Mike Johnson]

The side to side rocking motion allows you to sneak up onto the top of bead, knowing when to stop is critical. The final finishing cuts are the most critical this is when you want to take your time and slowly progress through the wood to make the final cuts with the least amount of pressure on the wood grain. When your tool reaches the very top of the bead your cutting tool is contacting the wood fibers on the entire arc of the cutting edge. When you rock the tool back and forth your bead is no longer perfectly round which provides just enough clearance measured in thousandth's of an inch that your eye can not see. Push a beading tool straight into the wood to get a clean bead and you need good solid wood and lots of luck to get a clean bead without any tear out. Slow and steady wins the race and a little rock and roll of the tool.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I'm not sure that the beading tool has a true circular arc and even if it did, the curvature of the arc will vary slightly depending on the angle that the tool is presented to the wood. I had a long discussion with Pat at PJL Enterprises about the shape of the arc on the Optima basket illusion pyrography tools and got an interesting explanation about the evolution of the curve which originally was a circular arc. Harvey Meyer, one of the gurus of basket illusion woodturning, sent some beaded samples to Pat so that the shape of the arc could be refined to match the curvature created by the D-Way beading tool. Pat said that he sawed the pieces in half and that became his guide for shaping the arc of his basket illusion pyrography tips. I suppose this means for best results the beading tool would need to be used exactly the way that Harvey uses it.