How many types of chisels do you use?

[János]

Hello to all,

We have talked a lot about chisels nowadays… Some posts raised a question in me. How many types of chisels do you use, and at which bevel angles?

I use mortising chisels, driven with a wooden mallet, and sharpen them to approximately 32 deg. I use bevel edged and firmer chisels to chop dovetails and the like, and drive them with a wooden mallet, and sharpen them to approximately 28 deg. I use bevel edge chisels for hand paring, drive/push them with my hands and body, and sharpen them to approximately 23 deg. My chisels are a mixed lot, accumulated over the years. Most of them are carbon steel or simple tool steel. I hand sharpen all of my chisels and plane blades with a simple flat bevel.

And a further question: some of you mentioned sharpening on “8000 grit”. 8000 grit on what scale? The European standard for bonded abrasives goes to F2000, the particle size of which is 1,2 micrometer +/-0,3 and that is extremely fine.

Have a nice day,

János

 

[jimi43]

A discussion document...

I find this table most useful in calling apples - oranges and knowing when grapes are involved! :mrgreen:

As for chisels...mine are old cast ones like WARD and INVICTA NURSE...to name just two...some very old I.Sorbys ......some Marples....some Japanese ones....

I get them for 50p or so and tart them up so they don't rust anymore...

Most of mine are in attrocious condition when I get them...I sharpen them so they don't crumble for the job they do...I don't really measure that closely...if they cut the best they can...that works for me....

I don't have anything with any fancy steel and as yet, have not found any need to have any.

Jim

 

[Jacob]

.... My chisels are a mixed lot, accumulated over the years. Most of them are carbon steel or simple tool steel. .....

Me too. Some good, some not so good.
I sharpen by hand with a rounded bevel (dip the handle as you go) on various stones to an angle at the edge about 30º or less

 

[bugbear]

to an angle at the edge about 30º or less

How well does that hold up for morticing with a mallet in seasoned oak?

I tend to use a steeper angle for that.

BugBear

 

[János]

Hello,

and thank you for your replies. So you are not that fussy kind... Good to know. :lol: I like chiseling, especially hand driven paring. My main complaint against European chisels is their too short handle... as I prefer a two handed grip, and quite often put the handle against my shoulder. I modified some of my chisels, and fitted them with a long handle. (250mm/10")

About the stones... so "8000 grit" means "JIS8000"... I suspected that :wink: But that comparison table is not really accurate I think. I post a chart, showing the actual values, prescribed by the standards.

I have not found a good chart, showing the Japanese grits, but in this link you can look it up for yourself (if you wish):
http://www.uama.org/Abrasives101/101Standards.html

A JIS 4000 is almost identical to F1200, JIS 8000 to F2000.


Have a nice day,

János

 

[Jacob]

to an angle at the edge about 30º or less

How well does that hold up for morticing with a mallet in seasoned oak?



BugBear

Not something I do very often if at all. If it was a problem I'd just do a steeper bevel. I might have a go on a bit of scrap and report back.

 

[Pekka Huhta]

I have 6 sets of bench chisels. Sounds like much, but it's not that bad.

- Set of Everlast chisels for harder work
- Set of mostly I.Sorby paring chisels
- Set of Iyoroi chisels for mortices
- Set of pigstickers (not that much in use)
- Set of framing chisels, in constant use
- A plastic handle Record set for travel use

A "set" is a relative term, the Everlast #20's and Sorbys are pretty complete from 1/8" to 2", and the Iyoroi was a new set. All the used ones were collected one by one or in small lots from eBay over the years.

About the stones: the grit does have a relativity for the speed of cut and smoothness, but the bond how the individual particle is tied to the stone is the most important thing. A white Arkansas may be about the same as 4000 waterstone, but it is slow as hell compared to it.

My friend experiments on stones, he has made several for me for testing and for his own product development. The bond of the grit is the biggest thing. I have a soft(ish) stone with 0,9 micron aluminium oxide grit (comparable to about 12 000 grit) and it's faster than my hard translucent Arkansas. I would be plenty happy with the Arkansas stone, but there still is a noticeable difference between it and this stone.

Pekka

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I mostly have old Cast Steel chisels of different makes and a couple of homemade ones like this fish tail chisel for half blind dovetails,

And this 1 1/4" pairing chisel that now sports a London pattern box wood handle that I took off an old chisel.

Pete

 

[Modernist]

I respond to this in the knowledge it is likely to produce a storm of anti toolyism - but anyway here goes.

Shop work

AI Mk II's for general bench work - truly superb and honed to 30 deg
Narex 8882 mortice chisels (new and not much use to comment yet)
For fine hand work only various sizes of Fujikawa Pro long handled parers - wonderful edge and general blade quality
The above supplemented by a collection of old Sorbys, Marples and others which all take a good edge.
A set of 3 Red handled In-cannel Footprint gouges - dirt cheap in the recent Tilgear sale and seem OK


The only ones that go out of the shop are

Stanley Blue handled bevels - 30 years old and going strong
Marples Blue Chip Firmers for a heavier beating and square edges

For hand work at the bench, chamfers etc the ones I reach for are a 25mm AI or 36mm Fuji, both lovely to use and the narrower alternatives for paring.
I suppose the Narex in future.

 

[János]

Hello,

Thanks for the replies. Dear Pekka, I have had a look at your blog. You made beautiful handles for those socket chisels. I do not have chisels of that pattern, are those short handles comfortable to hold? I like your wooden lathe, an impressive piece of DIY work.

Dear Pete, I too have made some chisels, mostly miniature ones for inlay work. I use a narrow skew for cleaning up dovetails, but that fishtail chisel seems comfortable to use too.

Dear Brian, do not worry, we are all "toolies" in some way. So you too have had a mixed lot. Good to know, you like longer handles for hand paring. I like the ergonomy of Japanese chisels, but do not like those hollow ground backs. Some Japanese tools are real works of art, with those rosewood and ebony handles, and damascened blades...

I use skew chisels for trimming/paring, in booth single bevel and double bevel varieties. They are really useful tools.


Have a nice day,

János

 

[Pekka Huhta]

Thanks for the replies. Dear Pekka, I have had a look at your blog. You made beautiful handles for those socket chisels. I do not have chisels of that pattern, are those short handles comfortable to hold? I like your wooden lathe, an impressive piece of DIY work.

Thanks for the compliments about the lathe. I like it a lot, but to be honest it's a bit awkward to use. But it gets the job done and does not take a lot of space.

The handle shape is very comfortable, your thumb rests very nicely on the thumbrest, the fit is perfect for paring. And they are not that short: the length of the long paring chisels makes them look a bit stubby.

Pekka