When you need to replicate an old piece of molding, or match the profile of a molding plane because you need to form a shape on a piece with a radius edge, a scratch beader can be just the thing.

Our reproduction Poole & Williams Windsor Beader cutters will match a lot of existing shapes but for the times they don’t, we offer a cutter with six edges that can be ground to most any profile.

The following techniques can be used on about any piece of steel but we think a hardened piece of spring steel works the best.  You can cut up an old saw blade or worn out cabinet scraper or order small pieces of spring steel from the online supply houses – we use .05” blued spring steel in our tools.

For this example I’ve run some mahogany with a 1/8” side-bead plane and cut off a small piece to use as a guide;

I call it a “mullet”, for lack of a better term.  Layout tools include a permanent marker with a broad tip, a scratch awl or machinist’s scriber with a good sharp point, a contour gauge and, in this case, the mullet.  I used the mullet here because I wanted to be sure to replicate the exact profile of the product of the molding plane on hand.

If copying an existing shape (e.g. a piece of molding you are stripping paint from) you will need to use the profile gauge. Be sure and “zero out” the gauge first by pressing it against a flat surface.

The edge pressed into the molding will be the profile transferred to the cutter.

Use the marker to paint the metal surface of the cutter lay the mullet or contour gauge on the metal and use your scriber to scratch through the marker ink to make the profile.