Roughing Beveler

[rudyc]

How many of you folks are using one?
If building say, a dozen or less rods a year, are they really necessary.
I'm thinking I really won't care for the sound of a router and dust collector motors and all the dust involved.
Most of my woodworking is done with hand tools and I like the quiet.

[jim royston]

My preference is rough planing for the very same reasons that you state. I made a 4' roughing form from hard rock maple with 2 grooves on each side, one side the first angle, the other 60 degrees. I planed the grooves after striking lines with the aid of a protractor.

[CDCdun]

I use one, but they are definitely not a necessity. They are loud and make a lot of dust. The upside is they are pretty fast and the one I use has attachments to taper the rough strips and even scallop (hollow) the finished strips. I did make my first dozen rods or so without one. I think of it as a luxury item for guys like me who only make a small handful of rods a year.

Jake

[Tommasini]

I use a Bellinger rough beveler,
I believe it was George Maurer that turned me onto it. Early on I roughed the strips on a wooden roughing form. The beveler, although not necessary, especially for a couple rods a Winter , saves lots of mindless planing and I wouldn't want to go back to the wooden form.

[Arubey]

Sometimes I use a Baginski style beveler, and sometimes I stick with hand planing on roughing forms.

I'm not a fan of managing the dust and noise of the powered beveler. Also, I tend to leave the strips slightly more oversized and therefore sometimes can't get as many strips out of a culm. This is really only an issue when I want two, two tip rods out of the same culm.

But since I make at least two rods at a time, the powered beveler's biggest asset is that it saves my arm for final planing. Even with sharp irons in low angle planes, roughing tires out my arm and elbow. I may not notice it during roughing, but after roughing and final planing I'm rather beat.

best,
Andy

[henkverhaar]

The beveler, although not necessary, especially for a couple rods a Winter , saves lots of mindless planing and I wouldn't want to go back to the wooden form.

My argument also. I use Baginski beveler. It saves me quite a lot of hand cramps and muscle soreness, that I would rather save for taper planing. I would like to see a similar contraption for enamel scraping and sanding as well ;-)

[cdmoore]

I once read about a maker (can't recall the name) who did his roughing--and perhaps all of his "planing"--with a knife. It sounded quite fast from the description. For kicks I tried it on one strip and it is indeed quite possible to get a lot of the heavy lifting done that way. Wear gloves.

Might be an option for you.

[kermit]

I use machines as much as possible to make my rods and I'm proud to say so. I have 3 bevellers, (Bellingers Hand Planer Friend, for rough tapering, JW Beveller, to flat plane the pith side and a Shamburg Beveller for bevelling to 60 degrees). I use them all in different sequences to make my strips as uniform as possible, with the least amount of effort. I also use a table saw fixture to cut my bamboo culm in half and a bandsaw jig to cut my strips to uniform width. I final plane using the MHM. (I now have the Bertam Programmable Cane Mill to play with). I use dust collectors and eye, ear, nose protection when necessary.

[LeeO]

I’ll be the odd one out. I use my planing forms for everything. I just open them wider for roughing, the 0.030” over, then final. I can rough out 60s pretty quickly. Maybe a half hour for six strips. I’ve never used a powered beveler or even seen one in operation. I would like to use some power to speed up the process but it didn’t seem like that great of a time savings. However, I did find a great desk of time savings in switching to a Gorilla Glue finish.

[Chased]

The rough beveler will save you some physical effort and perhaps some time, but there are undoubtedly noisy and dusty. Soaking your strips and using sharp plane blades is sure to make quick work of roughing too. I thought soaking with a bunch of BS, but it works! Look in to the Worksharp 3000 system or Veritas style jig for wet stones if you haven't already, no excuse to be using less than sharp blades with those.

I don't know what I save time wise as I'm usually doing strips for several rods at a time. Takes me maybe an hour or 2 to push 75-100 strips through? Never really timed it. I just know that I couldn't do that with just a hand plane...or maybe I could, I'd just be really tired and have a sore arm. Who knows, I don't want to find out.

For what it's worth, I follow Kermits thoughts for the most part. Anything to make my building more efficient is fair game to me.

[Canewrap]

+1, I use a Baginski beveler and do a lot of strips at once as well.

[Tim Anderson]

I also use a Baginski beveler (not a surprise because my 2009 Power Fibers article helped introduce the device in the US) for all of my rods. Mine is fully enclosed and a shop vac takes care of ALL dust. Ear protection is a given, as with many power tools. It quickly and easily gives me well-prepared strips for my Morgan Hand Mill.

Tim

[bluesjay]

Hi Guys, I have both rougher and rough taper mills I use and made. They solve some problems, but create some others. I like them. I like to plane.

Jay Edwards

[henkverhaar]

Wear gloves.

Sounds like sound advice. I no longer wear gloves when planing, but I most certainly do when splitting or removing dams (I do that _after_ splitting, using the same heavy machete I use for splitting, a Buck Knives Compadre)

[mtdave]

I use several different styles of rough bevelers, and haven't found a favorite yet. I like the simplicity of the Baginski wheels though.
After seeing Don Anderson's video a few years ago, I have taken to using a sharp utility knife to get the angles started. This way I remove a lot of material quickly, then to the rough beveler. Thanks Don.
David

[fragmentum]

I have enjoyed and learned from the Baginski beveler I made, and yes, dust accumulation, ear protection and gloves are a must in a power shop. The main reason I made and use a Baginski type beveler is they are inexpensive to make and they produce a more consistent 60° bevel than I can plane out by hand. The Baginski beveler is a safer power beveler than the JW 'Ruff' beveler and works both sides of the pith at the same time.
Complete build tutorial of my beveler is available at no charge upon request.

[munsey w]

For years I roughed by hand and built a lot of rods that way! I recently purchased a Bellinger Little Giant and it has been a life saver! I enjoy planing but it started to cause problems with my hands...I make about 20 rods a year. The Bellinger is not very loud (still wear hearing protection) and with a shop vac hooked up, creates no dust...this was the best money I have spent on any of my rod making equipment.

[3creeks]

The Baginski is a very cheap way to get into power roughing. Take Fragmentum up on his offer, or do a search on this forum for Baginski bevelers. I built mine based on Mike McGuire's excellent tutorial using a cheap Harbor Freight bench grinder. Combined with the wheels that Mike Monsos sells it's an effective tool that will save you a lot of hand planing.

[Canewrap]

I like Fragmentum's design elements and I'm going to steal a couple of those to improve mine. My beveler works fine, but I know I can get better results with a depth adjuster like he's using.

[trland]

If you use a Morgan Hand Mill you may want to consider one of these.
https://youtu.be/h5J_infiEbQ

2 passes from 1/4” strips to beveled AND tapered in 2 passes. Strips are ready for heat treating in a few minutes. It uses aluminum 60 degree sanding wheels but can get to about 0.020 over final dimensions with no problem.

We’ve made 3 or 4 of them. If you’re interested in details just get in touch with me by PM.