# Ashley Iles Mk.2 Bevel Edged Chisel Passaround



## matthewwh (16 Oct 2008)

The new Ashley Iles Mk.2 bevel edged chisels are due to be launched at the beginning of November. 

I have managed to squeeze a few samples out of them ahead of time and so (with Charley's permission) I thought it might be fun to do a passaround so that members of the forum could 'test drive' a couple of the new chisels in their own workshops without actually having to buy them. It will also hopefully give people who are new to woodworking an opportunity to handle a cabinetmakers chisel, as opposed to a bevelled firmer, and understand why they are different.







Members who also have an interest in custom knives may already be familiar with the concept of a passaround, but for those who aren't here's how it works: If you'd like to take part, you add your name to the list and send a pm with your address to the person before you. When they have finished with the chisels they pop them in the post to you and you have a go with them for a few days. When you are finished, you post them on (by recorded delivery please) to the next person, and so forth until the last person sends them back to me at Workshop Heaven. We will only do a couple of sizes in order to keep the postage costs sensible.






What's new:
Ashley Iles have taken on board all of the comments (good and bad) that they received about the original bevel edged and made the necessary changes to arrive at the Mk.2 version. 

A major criticism was the flatness of the backs, so they have changed the grinding process completely. Whereas the bevels used to be ground last, they are now done first and then after the steel has settled, the top and bottom faces are carefully brought down to the final dimensions. This means that the steel has done all of it's moving before the backs are ground. The backs are then slowly hand ground to avoid heating the steel again so when they leave the factory they should be within a minute or two's work of 1/10 of a mm hollow over their length. Please don't flatten them any further than 1/10mm - the hollow is enough to facilitate very fast sharpening but it's effect on the accuracy of the tool (in the order of 1/100th of a mm per cm of cut) is not significant.

Another common comment was that the large handles were too large for the smaller sizes, so the 1/8" to 1" range now have a new smaller handle which gives them a much more balanced feel. The big handles are still available to order for those that preferred them. 

The very thin sides are one of the things that distinguish a Cabinetmakers bevel edged chisel from a bevelled firmer, and one of the things that customers loved about the old AI's is that they had probably the thinnest edges on the market. The new grinding process has now enabled them to get the egdes down to about half the thickness they were before.

The primary bevel has been lowered from 25 to 23 degrees so that if sharpened using a honing guide, the 25 degree setting will produce a nice secondary bevel for paring. For chopping work - with the chisel perpendicular to the surface - they recommend a 35 degree secondary bevel.

Anyway, if you'd like to have a play and draw your own conclusions - here's the start of the list:

Matthew


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## tulsk (16 Oct 2008)

Great idea Matthew,
I'm familiar with the passaround concept and attend cabinetmaking classes at the workshop of UKW member Mr T, so we can appraise them there , giving 7 opinions for the price of one.
List:-

Matthew
Tulsk


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## Chris Knight (16 Oct 2008)

They sound as though they will be a lot better than the old ones.


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## bugbear (16 Oct 2008)

waterhead37":w33jr30w said:


> They sound as though they will be a lot better than the old ones.



They sound as though they will be a lot better than quite a few other chisels out there.

BugBear


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## cambournepete (16 Oct 2008)

I managed to have a look at both the Ashley Isles and Ray Isles chisel sets at Stoneleigh.
Ray told me he grinds the blades for both and that they are identical - they certainly look the same to my untrained eye - so the choice is really between the handles.
I really liked his handles - they look all angular and uncomfortable, but actually fit my hands really well, so I bought a set of 8 of the Ray Isles with a lovely leather tool roll for just £119.

Now I've just got to wait until Christmas...

I have looked at the Lie-Nielsen before and looked at the Blue Spruce chisels on the CHT stand. They are beautiful tools, but look delicate and I know I'd be afraid to use them. Also 2 of them was more than I paid for 8 Ray Isles chisels...


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## Paul Chapman (16 Oct 2008)

cambournepete":2pxf1e3d said:


> with a lovely leather tool roll



Be careful - several people have had problems with tools rusting when kept in leather tool rolls :shock: :shock: 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul

PS This is what happened to Alf's http://cornishworkshop.blogspot.com/200 ... oxide.html


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## thejhw (16 Oct 2008)

Hi Matthew.
Thank you for the opportunity!
The only 'good' chisels I've ever used have been oldies bought on the 'bay which have never really lived up to what I thought I should expect, so I just keep on sharpening my Marples  and dream!.
I would love to try one of these, but can't see a link to the list. Should there be one? Or is being on the thread OK?

Thanks

Jim


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## cambournepete (16 Oct 2008)

Paul Chapman":1newake5 said:


> Be careful - several people have had problems with tools rusting when kept in leather tool rolls


Bother - thanks for the head's up


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## wizer (16 Oct 2008)

Paul Chapman":30bq6a2k said:


> several people have had problems with tools rusting when kept in leather tool rolls :shock: :shock:



me too


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## ByronBlack (16 Oct 2008)

I have a set of the Mk 1 Chisels and can say they are the best chisels I've owned, they really are good, so these new Mk 2's look set to be excellent, alhtough I've never thought that the sides should be any thinner, but I guess it can't hurt.

I also like the bigger handles, helps stop me from getting cramp, but can understand making the sized handles.


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## ike (16 Oct 2008)

I'd like to think they also have addressed the tendency of the brass ferrules to split. Incidentally, are the Mk 2's precision ground or still hand-linished like the Mk 1's?

I've been happy with the Mk 1's - fine tools they are too. I expect I'm very much in the minority where the large handles suit this Mr Fat Sausage-Finger-Meat-Hooks perfectly :wink:

I too wasted 30 squid on a posh leather roll fro Axminster. A 5 squid canvas one would have done a better job. The chisels immediately sliced their way through the stitching along the bottom of the pockets (nope, the muppet who designed the roll didn't make it by folding the leather. Yup, they rusted so I squirted all the pockets with Rust Preventative Spray from Screwfix. That solved it permanently (4 years now and not a speck of rust). 

Ike


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## matthewwh (16 Oct 2008)

Wow, what a lot of replies!

Jim,
All you need to do is copy and paste the list into your post as it stands and then add yourself to the bottom, so:

Matthew
Tulsk
Jim

is the list as it currently stands.

Ike,
I think Barry did mention something about annealing the ferrules to make them softer - apparently its much more of a problem in the U.S. than over here, but if you have any with split ferrules you can pop them in the post either to me or straight to the factory and we'll get them sorted out for you. 

Regarding suede tool rolls, I was recently made aware of the rusting problem and sent one to Paul Prince of Shield Technology - who better to ask about rust? Paul ran his own tests and also sent a swatch of the suede away to be chemically analysed by a lab. The problem occurs because of residual tannic acid in the suede, this can easily be fixed by sprinkling a teaspoon or two of bicarbonate of soda over the tool roll and rubbing it into the suede or washing the roll in a sodium bicarbonate solution. I have passed all of this onto the manufacturers and asked if an additional step can be added to the manufacturing process to render them Ph neutral at the source. The other tip is to insert the handles of the chisels into the pockets rather than the blades.


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## ByronBlack (16 Oct 2008)

matthewwh":3v76f9ii said:


> The other tip is to insert the handles of the chisels into the pockets rather than the blades.


 I can see that being a problem for some, with the AI's they almost poke out of my tool roll, with hte sharpened blades pointing outwards, it's an accident waiting to happen! I think it would be better to just use canvas if storing for a length of time... which reminds me, i should really check on mine, they've been in the leather tool roll for a couple of months now


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## cambournepete (16 Oct 2008)

One tip from Ray - when removing the wax on the pointy don't just pull it off - you naturally tend to push your hands back together afterwards, with obvious results. He's done it. Many times...


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## matthewwh (16 Oct 2008)

Been there, done that, yep, another situation that calls for some specialised woodworkers terminology! I use the end of a bit of polypropylene strapping or a very fine wedge of scrap timber to ease under the wax first, this creates an air pocket and they just slide straight off. 

Going back to Ike's point about the finish which I missed earlier, they are still hand finished.


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## thejhw (16 Oct 2008)

> All you need to do is copy and paste the list into your post as it stands and then add yourself to the bottom, so:
> 
> Matthew
> Tulsk
> Jim



Thanks, Matthew.

Jim


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## Oryxdesign (16 Oct 2008)

This is a great idea


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## ike (16 Oct 2008)

Matthew wrote:


> Ike,
> I think Barry did mention something about annealing the ferrules to make them softer - apparently its much more of a problem in the U.S. than over here, but if you have any with split ferrules you can pop them in the post either to me or straight to the factory and we'll get them sorted out for you.



Thank Matt. I think I was the guinea pig on this issue at the time. Barry experimented on the set I returned, and re-did them with the annealed ferrules. I didn't let him know the outcome after the following winter, but I'm happy to say it was 100% successful and I haven't had a split one since. Thanks to good customer service, my goodwill remains intact!

regards,

Ike


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## custard (17 Oct 2008)

What steel are these made from? 

By the way, I've a few of the stumpy pattern they produce for the US market, I think they're called Butt Chisels. They're very useful for all sorts of jobs, especially when you hold the chisel blade itself to say chamfer the edges of a tenon, or trim off the loose fibres when you've cross cut a work piece.


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## ike (17 Oct 2008)

They are I believe O1 carbon steel, hardened and tempered to Rockwell 60-61. Every chisel is hardness tested.

Ike


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## whybob71 (17 Oct 2008)

Thanks, Matthew!

Are all the AI cabinetmakers bevel edge chisels on sale from you the new MK2 version? I just saw that on the site it says, for single chisel and set of six, only "Ashley Iles Bevel Edged Cabinetmakers Chisel"......


http://www.workshopheaven.com/eStore/cg ... ME:Chisels

thanks Bob


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## matthewwh (17 Oct 2008)

Hi Bob,

Yes the main listings are all Mk.2 now. 

I think I still have a handful of Mk 1's which will end up in the specials section.


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## tulsk (2 Nov 2008)

Hello,
I was the first to receive 3 chisels that Matthew kindly sent out for trial/review, so firstly a big thankyou from me. As I don't currently have a workbench at home; due to workshop build, I had to have play at Chris (Mr T) Tribe's shop, where I attend cabinetmaking class. As my time with them was thus very limited I cannot draw too many conclusions. Chris had a Mk1 chisel for comparison, the first things to note was the much smaller handles on the smaller sized chisels, as well as the thinner cross section.
Unfortunately we found that we needed to do a lot of work on the backs to get them flat.This may have been down to my technique as I am a relative novice, though I did follow the DC recommended method and used DMT blue diamond stones.It took me about 40mins of rigorous work on the 7/8ths one. 
That said I liked the feel of them in use and will be looking to get a couple in the near future.The second photo shows the work left to do on the 11/4 as I sent them to Jim, the other 2 both showed the same pattern where the high spot was on flattening
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... 008007.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj31 ... 008004.jpg
thanks again Matthew for letting us try the chisels
John


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## gardenshed (3 Nov 2008)

A bit late, Ive just seen this thread,
Any chance of being on the list Mathew please.


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## matthewwh (3 Nov 2008)

Hi,

No need to ask, just copy the list into your post, pop yourself on the end and send your address by PM to the person before you. So the list as it now stands is:


Matthew
Tulsk
Jim 
Gardenshed

Following on from the first report back on these, I think I may need to reiterate the point about not lapping the backs. I have been very careful to specify to AI that the backs should be hollow enough to facilitate easy and fast honing, but not hollow enough to adversely affect performance. I took my lead from David Charlesworth, to whom I believe we all owe a great debt of gratitude for his tireless work in promoting best practice. 

In his blog, David refers to a Woodcock paring chisel that received some major attention, saying:

"_The other crucial detail is that over its full length, the blade was clearly forged and ground with about 0.5mm of hollow in its length. A most desireable and essential feature, deliberately created to aid preparation, sharpening and correct support for the cutting edge.

So please remember to send those bellied new chisels straight back to the manufacturer if you are unlucky enough to come across them._"

In my specification to AI for the backs of the Mk2's I took this even further and asked them to produce a chisel that would be capable of taking a paring cut over the full length of the blade without diving by more than 0.1mm (DC's standard working tolerance). 

After literally months of effort the first prototypes came in and I was delighted when they kept a 0.15mm feeler gauge out. - meaning only a touch to be taken off the very tip on the first honing by the user to bring them out bang on target at 0.1mm hollow in the length. In terms of hand grinding by eye, this level of skill would even make the toolmakers of yesteryear blush.

As we approached the final delivery date, a problem was encountered with the 2" blades developing a quirk in the width at the very tip of the blade - this had not been a problem with the shorter chisels as they don't extend as far onto the surface against which they are ground. 

Consequently the entire surface had to be adjusted (also done by hand by the Foreman Mick) you can only imagine how nervous this made me, a fortnight from when I'm supposed to be delivering them to customers! The next day, I received a phone call from Barry to say that they had successfully corrected the error and the blades were now coming out consistently at 15 thou hollow. After a quick calculation I said; "that's not good enough, they need to be half that!" I didn't quite catch Mick's reaction (I was on speakerphone at the time) but I think it was something to do with getting blood out of stones, or more likely, getting it out of me? 

This however, was nothing compared to the revelation that came several days later, after Mick had fiddled, fettled and scraped his way down to under 7 thou, when Barry realised that he was using a set of metric feeler gauges instead of his usual imperial ones, so the first result was actually 0.15mm (which would have been fine) and Mick and Paul had now gone to all that trouble getting them down to 0.07mm!

The upshot of all this, is that it may be a few days before we can get the pre-ordered chisels out to customers - I am trying to email everyone individually too to let them know about the delay, I'm hoping we can get all of the pre-orders fulfilled this week. On the bright side though I can unequivocally say that there is absolutely no need to lap the backs.


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## Mr T (4 Nov 2008)

Hi Matthew

John spent some time lapping the chisels at my evening class last week. I had previously worked on the 1/2" one myself with good results after a short time.

The work we did on the chisels was to achieve a polished flat in the area immediately back from the edge, not to flatten the length of the chisel. Any grinding marks left in the area along the edge will effect the cutting quality of that edge.The problem we had with the larger chisels was that there seemed to be a flat area back from the edge which did not extend to the edge or the sides, almost the reverse of a Japanese chisel. This can be seem in the second of John's photographs. I guessed this was a problem caused by the steel moving when the bevels were put on the top face, as I say this was only a guess as I am not very well versed in the technology of tool production.

I liked the 1/2" chisel that I worked on. The smaller handle made the tool better balanced than the out of proportion handle on my AI 3/8" and it did not roll arouind as much. The cut was good when paring end grain and the edge kept well, although this can only be judged properly over a longer period. A good tool.

Thanks for sharing them with us Matthew.

Chris


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## matthewwh (4 Nov 2008)

Hi Chris,

Thanks very much for your post. 

I'm delighted to hear that my concerns about trying to flatten the whole back were unfounded. I'm only too aware of the amount of effort involved in tuning chisels with the equipment normally found in a woodworking workshop, hence the efforts to keep the finger numbing back polishing to an absolute minimum.

It sounds as though the larger chisel had a mild case of the problem that was identified with the 2" blades, in which case the changes described above will have sorted it out on the production tools. The issue of distortion from bevel removal should already have been eliminated by reversing the grinding order.


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## matthewwh (5 Dec 2008)

Last seen being passed from Tulsk to Jim, any news?

Cheers,

Matthew


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## MIGNAL (7 Dec 2008)

I'd be delighted to try the new MK II's for a couple of days.

Matthew
Tulsk
Jim
Gardenshed 
Mignal


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## gardenshed (11 Dec 2008)

matthewwh":31left52 said:


> Last seen being passed from Tulsk to Jim, any news?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Matthew


Any news yet,


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## AHoman (14 Dec 2008)

matthewwh":1luflvfw said:


> The new Ashley Iles Mk.2 bevel edged chisels are due to be launched at the beginning of November.



I wonder when these will arrive on this side of the pond?
-Andy


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## Joel Moskowitz (15 Dec 2008)

AHoman":smalsaf4 said:


> matthewwh":smalsaf4 said:
> 
> 
> > The new Ashley Iles Mk.2 bevel edged chisels are due to be launched at the beginning of November.
> ...



Before the end of the year. (real soon now!!)


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## Tony Zaffuto (15 Dec 2008)

Joel,

When you have them, will they also be available in "butt" style? Do you have any plans for a TFWW version with "London Pattern" handles?

T.Z.


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## Joel Moskowitz (15 Dec 2008)

Tony Zaffuto":3ew8pubx said:


> Joel,
> 
> When you have them, will they also be available in "butt" style? Do you have any plans for a TFWW version with "London Pattern" handles?
> 
> T.Z.



The American Pattern will stay the same handles - although they are already ground with thinner edges than before (and are less and less a butt chisel).

I personally have never liked octagonal handles. I find them clunky - so I may not be the best judge but I think after you have handled the MK2's you will be really pleased at how the handle works with the chisel. it's very very nice. Ray Iles occasionally stocks the octagonal handles but the boxwood that is currently used for the handles isn't very good and Rosewood just doesn't work well for any chisel that is meant to be struck.


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## matthewwh (15 Dec 2008)

Hi Tony,

Location: DuBois, Penna.

That wouldn't be the DuBois just up the road from Brownsville, Penna. would it?


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## gardenshed (16 Dec 2008)

AHoman":20mb7d9h said:


> matthewwh":20mb7d9h said:
> 
> 
> > The new Ashley Iles Mk.2 bevel edged chisels are due to be launched at the beginning of November.
> ...


More to the point, when will they arrive here


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## MIGNAL (16 Dec 2008)

Check your PM.


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## AHoman (16 Dec 2008)

Joel Moskowitz":12qxoj7x said:


> [...] the boxwood that is currently used for the handles isn't very good and Rosewood just doesn't work well for any chisel that is meant to be struck.



Joel,
Will you be able to get these with beech handles?
-Andy


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## Joel Moskowitz (17 Dec 2008)

AHoman":ijt853t8 said:


> Joel Moskowitz":ijt853t8 said:
> 
> 
> > [...] the boxwood that is currently used for the handles isn't very good and Rosewood just doesn't work well for any chisel that is meant to be struck.
> ...



Do you meant the Mk2's or the American Pattern?

of the former I think so. Of the latter my guess is not because the American pattern handle is a custom and you get just get a few sets in beech. Do you have a problem with the bubinga? Personally I like both but Bubinga sells a lot better but beech is a great handle wood for chisels.


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## AHoman (17 Dec 2008)

Joel Moskowitz":1in5bayn said:


> Of the latter my guess is not because the American pattern handle is a custom and you get just get a few sets in beech. Do you have a problem with the bubinga? Personally I like both but Bubinga sells a lot better but beech is a great handle wood for chisels.



Hi Joel,
I'll try out the Mk II in beech when you get them in stock, well, probably Jan or Feb before I'll have the $ to do so. I just like the beech. 
-Andy


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## MIGNAL (31 Dec 2008)

Bump.
The Chisels have now passed from Gardenshed to yours truely. I only need them for a couple of days to test them and form my impressions.


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## Joel Moskowitz (1 Jan 2009)

Joel Moskowitz":293kttdr said:


> AHoman":293kttdr said:
> 
> 
> > Joel Moskowitz":293kttdr said:
> ...



For the record, we now have them in stock but we haven't gotten around to putting them on-line. 
Same price as the old ones.


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## promhandicam (1 Jan 2009)

Matthew
Tulsk
Jim
Gardenshed 
Mignal
Promhandicam

I'd like to add my name to the list - if I'm not too late - as I'd be interested to compare a MK II with my MK I. Thanks.

Steve


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## matthewwh (2 Jan 2009)

promhandicam":36r6qkbk said:


> if I'm not too late



Not at all, just send Mignal a PM with your address.

We will be stocking the beech handles option in the near future as well.


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## frugal (2 Jan 2009)

Can I please be added to the end of the list: 

Matthew
Tulsk
Jim
Gardenshed
Mignal
Promhandicam 
Frugal

Promhandicam: Drop me a PM when you have finished testing them and I will PM you with my snail mail address.


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## MIGNAL (3 Jan 2009)

This very morning I finally had a chance to test the Iles MKII chisels, although I only used the 7/8 th's in paring fashion. 
No doubt about it, these are precision made chisels. The Bubinga handles are very attractive and much more to the point, they are very comfortable and very well finished.
The bevels are superbly formed. The weight and balance of this particular chisel seemed 'perfect' - at least in my hands. There is a real sense of quality to the chisel.
The back (as expected) is slightly hollow along it's length. The Back (towards the tip) is not as polished as I would normally have my chisels. Of course it would probably have taken me a mere couple of minutes on a 8,000G waterstone to achieve the finely polished edge. Despite this, the chisel was popping hairs off the back of my hand with absolute no trouble. I get the impression that they are relatively easy to sharpen and the edge stood up to paring end grain Bubinga without a problem.


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## promhandicam (7 Jan 2009)

MIGNAL":qbx32g42 said:


> snip . . . I only used the 7/8 th's in paring fashion. . .



Ah, I get the idea - you keep one and pass the rest on as I got the 1 1/2", 1" and 1/8" in the post this morning :wink: 

Here are the MKII 1 1/2", my MKI 3/4" and the MKII 1" 






This gives a good idea about one of the changes that has taken place - the handle size. I think that it is now only the 3 largest chisels that have the large handle. I have to say, that I do prefer the small diameter handle - it fits much more comfortably in the hand especially when paring and makes the chisel more controllable.

When I compared the MKII's with some of my other chisels, I noticed that the 1" seemed to be narrow and found that it actually measures 23.9mm across which is quite a significant difference to the 25mm or 1" that is marked on the packaging. The 1 1/2" or 37mm is actually 38.0mm and the 1/8" or 3mm is 3.07mm at the tip tapering to 2.76mm near the handle. The two larger chisels are parallel along there length. If used as paring chisels the difference in the width probably won't be an issue, but these are sold to be used for both paring and chopping. Personally, I would expect that a 1" chisel would be more or less 25.4mm wide - 1.5mm out is quite a difference. That said, compared to my only MKI AI chisel, these are better in that at least the sides are parallel - my 3/4" is 19.0mm at the tip going up to 19.5mm at the handle end - no wonder it is difficult to get out of a mortice! 

While on the subject of tolerances, the backs of the MKII's are a huge improvement over my MKI which is still not flat after much time spent trying. I haven't touched the back of the MKII, although apparently someone has, but it is clear that it is infinitely better than the MKI. 





Aside from the handles, the chisels themselves are quite different in form from the MKI. The MKI is much more of a paring chisel having quite a thin cross section along the whole length of the blade. The MKII in contrast is much more of a traditional bevel edge chisel shape. 





The big difference however is in the side bevels - the brochure states, "The side bevels are taken down to almost nothing . . ." and this is certainly true. This makes them quite usable as dovetail chisels - the 1/8" is almost identical in form to my 3mm Japanese dovetail chisel.

In conclusion, if I were in the market for some decent paring or dovetail chisels I would certainly consider these as they feel nice to hold and appear to be well made. As an all round chisel, if the width issue is resolved they would also be well worth considering. 

I unfortunately don't have time to test them to see how the edge holds up in use but perhaps someone else will be able to comment on this.

Cheers, 

Steve


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## bugbear (7 Jan 2009)

Nice report and photos, especially on the side bevels - thanks for that.

BugBear


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## frugal (12 Jan 2009)

Just to let you know that the chisels have been successfully passed from promhandicam to me. I am not going to get a chance to play with them tonight as SWMBO-in-law is staying for a couple of days,but I will try to get out to the workshop and experiment with them as soon as I can.

My first impressions are "ooh!, pretty!, shiny!"  They certainly feel solid and controllable in the hand. They are a lot nicer to hold than the other chisels I have every used.


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## Benchwayze (16 Jan 2009)

Paul Chapman":7wbj5ti4 said:


> cambournepete":7wbj5ti4 said:
> 
> 
> > with a lovely leather tool roll
> ...


 
I have one leather chisel guard that came with my old 2" Marples. I heard about this 'leather problem', so I soaked the guard in melted dubbin. So far no rust or staining. Lovely old chisel... :wink:


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## frugal (19 Jan 2009)

These are really nice tools, they are significantly better quality than the other chisels I have. I am comparing them to a set of faithful chisels and a couple from Bristol Design.

They chisels fit nicely in the hand and are extremely comfortable to use. The backs were nice and flat, and they have a beautiful sharp edge. 

I know that these chisels are not ideal for dovetails, but I wanted to try them out as my dovetails are normally hideous. These chisels were much better at pairing and the results were a lot better than I am used to. Either I have to spend a lot more time fettling the chisels I have, or convince SWMBO that I need some more chisels 

My only negative comment was that with the round handles, there is a tendency for the 1/8" chisel to roll if you put it down anywhere other than some kind of rest. I know how clumsy I can be and it would only be a matter of time before it rolled off of the bench and onto the floor.

Is there anyone else who wants to be added to the list, or shall I send them back to Matthew?


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## wizer (19 Jan 2009)

Would it be sacrilege to sand a flat on the underside of the handle?


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## frugal (20 Jan 2009)

wizer":19y12fmf said:


> Would it be sacrilege to sand a flat on the underside of the handle?



I think Matthew might get a bit peeved if I send them back "modified" 

If no one else adds their name to the list I will repackage them tonight and send them back tomorrow.


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## frugal (22 Jan 2009)

These have now been sent back to Matthew. I even included the random pieces of sand paper that have apparently been hitching a lift for the last few handovers (it seemed a shame to separate them at this point  )

I would like to say a big thank you to Matthew for arranging this, and for Charley for supporting it. I would also like to say thank you to everyone who took such good care of the chisels before they got to me, it was really nice to see items that had passed through 6 sets of hands still in perfect condition.

Now I need to spend a few hours working on the chisels I currently have to see if I can bring them up to spec, or if I need to convince SWMBO that I really need these 

PS. Are the dovetail chisels of the same high quality?


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## Routermonster (23 Jan 2009)

Frugal wrote:



> PS. Are the dovetail chisels of the same high quality?



Yes - mine certainly are! 

Les


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