Fullering Guide

[Benjo]

Hi,

i have this tool, this is the version for marking metal with a needle. I dont know the exact english word for this type of needle.


This is the version for marking wood:


Maybe this is what you are looking for.

[Wesley Chambers]

Sorry I thought I made it clear in three or four posts now, I'm Skipping the marking step all together. Thanks though~

[Mainely,Bob]

Quick questions;Why use a hand held and less accurate tool when a simple fence on a "smithin` magician" type tool will do the job with less trouble?
Indexing from the offside(the thicker edge) would minimized the distortion too don`t you think,John B?I say this because the pic and video Wes posted has been marked/fullered off center and that`s what I`m assuming you are referring to.

[Wesley Chambers]

I've only use a one sided guillotine tool I made but I would think that with that type of action I would be more apt to lose alignment moving the piece in and out but I duno it could work? The easy way it to just use a rolling mill, or the godlike cheating powers of the Hebo machine.

[Mainely,Bob]

It may be just a detail that you missed in your CAD drawing but the cutting edge I would use on any tool would have at least the leading edge curved up for ease of use when drawing the tool along the work.
The ones you have in your drawings seem to have both shoulders square so you`d have to rock the leading edge up out of the cut in order to progress.

Southy made a good suggestion about the round rod bent at a 90 degree angle(I`d round the end too) to use as a fence/guide.Indexing off a single point is alot faster and more versatile than a wide shoe and can be just as accurate.
Just make sure the grub screw you hold it with doesn`t allow it to shift in use.You will be hammering on the tool after all.

[K. Bryan Morgan]

Yeah, I didn't understand the reference as well as Matt did. In the case of hot punching you often displace the metal adding a little more around the hole. Good call Matt.

And you're absolutely right Bryan, if the result is a wider bar.

Thank you Grant. I thought that is what was happening but since I've had no occasion to do this operation I didn't know. Didn't mean to sound snappy. When I re-read my post I could see it taken that way. It wasn't the way I meant it.

Also the idea, again I've been told this, is to make the fullered piece stronger width wise. Which to my way of thinking makes it look a lot like an I beam in profile. Not exactly. I understand that. But the same basic shape. Two horizontal flanges with a vertical web in the middle, the configuration giving the whole its strength. But again this is what I've heard.

[Dave Budd]

Yeah, I didn't understand the reference as well as Matt did. In the case of hot punching you often displace the metal adding a little more around the hole. Good call Matt.

And you're absolutely right Bryan, if the result is a wider bar.

the only exception to the fact that a punched or drilled hole is the same strength when the final dimensions are the same is if you are talking of Wrought iron. In which case the truncating of fibres by drilling may result in a weaker piece. Well that's what some of my old books say and it makes sense to a woodworker

back to the scraper for fullering. I've made lots of quick ones from files where the end is cut like the profile of the fuller/scrape in the original post, and then bent over at 90 degrees. I think Don Fogg showed that one to me years ago, its quick to make and works just like Tai's or Brian's more elaborate and adjustable versions.

Maybe use jenny callipers to mark the line cold/black heat and then use my angle grinder to score the line. It wouldn't displace metal like a chisel and I can follow a straight line pretty true and fast these days

[John B]

Indexing from the offside(the thicker edge) would minimized the distortion too don`t you think,John B?I say this because the pic and video Wes posted has been marked/fullered off center and that`s what I`m assuming you are referring to.

Pics here as promised, and some comments on using them

Yes if the adjustable one is used from the offside, it does minimise wedging effect on narrow edge, but I find using it still a pain, and prone to wobble effect, and loosening in use, but that just may be because of the way I made it, Very seldom used now.




If I don't use a straight hand hot chisel to put in the groove I prefer this style with the handle cranked to the left (I am right Handed) and with the nose of the blade curved more pronouncedly than the rest of the cutting edge




And I sometimes use this one I inherited from an old farrier which is a fullering tool used by farriers with one edge vertical and one at an angle to chase edges around various items eg backplates for various items, I just like how it feels in the hand when using it, the wood cheeked handle is just so comfortable



Basically use what works for you, simple (like me) is good.

[Mainely,Bob]

Pics here as promised, and some comments on using them

Yes if the adjustable one is used from the offside, it does minimise wedging effect on narrow edge, but I find using it still a pain, and prone to wobble effect, and loosening in use, but that just may be because of the way I made it, Very seldom used now.




If I don't use a straight hand hot chisel to put in the groove I prefer this style with the handle cranked to the left (I am right Handed) and with the nose of the blade curved more pronouncedly than the rest of the cutting edge




And I sometimes use this one I inherited from an old farrier which is a fullering tool used by farriers with one edge vertical and one at an angle to chase edges around various items eg backplates for various items, I just like how it feels in the hand when using it, the wood cheeked handle is just so comfortable



Basically use what works for you, simple (like me) is good.

Looks like the one you favor is a Perfect Handle screwdriver brazed to a bit of chisel.
What makes it more handy to use would be that the length of the tool runs along the line rather than perpendicular to it like the other tool.
When I`m working on something like this if the long axis of the tool is held over the line of cut and parallel to the edge then the tool is easier to steer and it makes it easier to see when you`re wandering off target.

[Wesley Chambers]

With the continued comments on how to scribe a mark I'm wondering if I'm just being messed with lol

Bob- Sorry for the detail in the sketch, rounded points are a pain in the butt for me to make in google sketchup, all my fullers have just a slight radius to the cutting edge, the rocking motion helps me follow my path and as they are all farrier fullers they are curved to follow a shoe, so to make a straight line I cannot sink them flat or I get little crescent shapes lol

John b.- I could see how the fuller you have with guide could wobble or be difficult to use, that thing seems massively chunky! as well as blocking the path of travel for how I would tend to use them, I think the same way as Bob describes about the "long axis of the tool is held over the line of cut and parallel to the edge" rather than perpendicular, but it could be that's just how I learned to fuller horseshoes so that's what feels right to me.

[Don A]

If this is intended for uniform stock with parallel sides, why not go with a hardy tool with an adjustable fence?

The tool would remain stationary and you would feed the stock through.

I saw a picture somewhere of a tool for sword fullers that was built like this.



OK, here's a link to what I was thinking of:

Anderson Knives fuller tool

[Wesley Chambers]

Very nifty setup, I guess if the bottom tool was removed it would do the job well!

[John B]

Looks like the one you favor is a Perfect Handle screwdriver brazed to a bit of chisel.
What makes it more handy to use would be that the length of the tool runs along the line rather than perpendicular to it like the other tool.
When I`m working on something like this if the long axis of the tool is held over the line of cut and parallel to the edge then the tool is easier to steer and it makes it easier to see when you`re wandering off target.

I Suspected that it was an old screwdriver handle, it's actually been welded to the fuller.

The cranked one also has the straight length that lines up with the groove being cut, I find that as I tend to usually work with the piece directly in front of me, the crank enables me to get nearer to the action without feeling awkward, it is also useful when lining on the treadle hammer when you are holding the work in one hand and the tool in the other.

[maddog]

John B,

I made a fullering tool with an adjustable fence almost exactly like yours. After using it a few times, I abandoned it for just the same reasons. And yes, I found it the the other day at the bottom of a pile of scrap that I keep for making tools :)