Bedan

[Graham]

I haven't actually seen one but going by the pictures...... At the business end of the tool, what is the difference between a woodturning Bedan and a woodwork mortice chisle ?

[seventhdevil]

a mortice chisel is only ground on one face but a bedan is ground on two faces so the edge is in the middle.

[Graham]

Not from what I have seen Steve. Am I missing something ?

[happy amateur]

Graham

As far as I know  bedan is a beading and parting tool but ground one bevel.
Beloved by the French

Fred

[julcle]

The Bedan is also wider at the cutting edge than the opposite face to avoid binding. If you have a look at the Robert Sorby catalogue there is a profile of it. The mortice chisel is parallel sided.

[seventhdevil]

i stand corrected, i guess i don't have a bedan then.

i thought that that's what it was but obviously not. mine is about 3/8" square and ground both faces like a wide parting tool. i do use it to create beads and it's an old sorby orange handled tool

[bodrighywood]

Bedan is a multi purpose tool mainly for spindle work. here is very little difference between it and a mortice chisel apart from the length and (as I remember) some mortice chisels have a double bevel? Some people grind a skew chisel the same way, just one side as it is used much like a plane and the bedan can be used the same way. It is a very old design and was most likely the main tool for turners before gouges came into being as we know them. (I learned to turn in school without ever using a gouge for anything)

Pete

[Bryan Milham]

Beloved by the French

But strangely they call it an 'English Bedan'.

There have been a couple of posts of the French Tremblor competitions, they turn the thin sections using a bedan, down to 3mm on a piece of timber 1.5m long.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

One of the sizing tools I had was fitted witha bedan, could never get on with it (the sizing tool) so I did away with the hook and reground the chisel as a 3/8" half round scraper. Because it it thicker than ordinary scrapers there is less vibration with it and I find I use it quite a lot fpr making small hollowed boxes etc.

[Graham]

Thanks guys. I hadn't picked up on the fact that the width changed. I was thinking of using one as a quick way of producing consistent width tenons but I guess that is just being lazy. 

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Graham you could use it for that easily.

[burywoodturners]

I thought I would go back a bit to see what the old timers called it. I dug out my copy of Frank Paine's Practical Woodturner, published in 1957!
I looked in the index and he doe not mention it. He does however list the 1/2" and 1/4" square and refers to them as 'long and strong' Unfortunately no mention on how to use it.

I got mine (a bit later than 1957) from Peter Child along with some advice from Chris Childs, mainly about sharpening and use. It is basically used as a variant of a skew
Ron

[Sevilla]

The real french bedan, bedano in italian has a square profile. The trapezoid shape is what is called british becouse is a new addition. Bedan is a fantastic spindle tool, works on the angle and not on the edge. It is capable of incredible fine spindle work but must be super sharp. Here is a video of the mater of bedan, mr. Esculen. Unfortunately I stopped using it becouse is very hard on the tool rest having four perfectly square angles the marr the rest easily and now I use it only for doing tenons. It works bevel up.
http://youtu.be/bMDPE8i4LiQ