# What is the last useful thing you did with a chisel?



## Jacob (4 Feb 2013)

What is the last useful thing you did with a chisel i.e. work, not just sharpening or fiddling? 
There's a lot of them around - I just wondered what people actually do with them. If you aren't carving, dovetailing or morticing, chisels seem only to have a tiny role.
Personally I last used one (2" axminster cheapo) for chopping/paring out the throat of a wooden plane, having just added a new sole, but this doesn't really count as work as it was just hobby tool fiddling ('tool research' as I call it).
In terms of work I used the same chisel to chop out a 9 x 1 1/"2 joist end which I couldn't get at any other way (steelwork in the way).
So what did you do last?

Reason for asking - I wondered about what to set up as a realistic chiselly job for a forthcoming sharpening demo.


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## dp341 (4 Feb 2013)

The last thing I did with a chisel was cut the hole in the top of a turned money box. Prior to that I was cutting the waste out of a housing joint.


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## DTR (4 Feb 2013)

Notched some sleepers that eventually became part of the back door step. Having said that, SWMBO may have used one of my chisels since then to chop some housings.


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## DTR (4 Feb 2013)

Oh, and I used one to sharpen a pencil at the weekend.


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## Racers (4 Feb 2013)

Chopping stretcher mortices in the wife's dressing table stool that I am making for her.

Pete


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## Anima (4 Feb 2013)

Opened a tin of paint.


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## RogerBoyle (4 Feb 2013)

Cleaned out the stringers of a staircase and reshaped the nosings on Friday morning
Then had to shave 5mm from the blockwork with it 

Roger


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## WellsWood (4 Feb 2013)

Used a 3/4" (lie nielsen A2) for latter part of last week, to tidy up 80 tenons - between cheeks and shoulders where Ts/bandsaw cuts had been stopped slightly short of corners. It's far and away my most "go-to" chisel.


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## ColeyS1 (4 Feb 2013)

Paring off pellets


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## carlb40 (4 Feb 2013)

Today with my irwin 1 1/4'' it was used to remove plaster/ impact board/ skirting/ architraves :-"


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## doctor Bob (4 Feb 2013)

Clean the glue roller on my edgebander


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## AndyT (4 Feb 2013)

I've not made much for a while, but I could not have done these without chisels:












or these






or these






which needed these


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## mrpercysnodgrass (4 Feb 2013)

Anima":1k9205dv said:


> Opened a tin of paint.



Tut Tut Tut!


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## No skills (4 Feb 2013)

Today I split off some half laped joints (@ home), last week (@ work) was chopping holes through 20l paint tin lids/prying plywood sheets/scraping vinyl logos off steel panels.


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## tim burr (4 Feb 2013)

Paring chisel for clearing off some old glue and some grotty bits of veneer on some doors I'm repairing and an 1 1/4 jap chisel for trimmimg the veneer round a few drawer fronts.

Been buisily chiselly today


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## stoatyboy (4 Feb 2013)

Under cut some tenon shoulders

cleaned off the end of a turned thing after parting off

sharpened a pencil

picked one up and walked around with it wishing my garage wasn't so cold


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## MIGNAL (4 Feb 2013)

mrpercysnodgrass":2qkwroyn said:


> Anima":2qkwroyn said:
> 
> 
> > Opened a tin of paint.
> ...




Yep. What he failed to tell you is that it was a Blue Spruce!


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## Dangermouse (4 Feb 2013)

Pared down to rough shape a windsor chair back frame repair. Used vintage 1/2 inch by 14 inch long Stormont paring chisel with boxwood handle


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## Peter Sefton (4 Feb 2013)

Demonstrating fitting drawer slips this afternoon.


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## Lons (4 Feb 2013)

Sharpened it! :wink: 
Oh yeah, then I fitted hinges into 3 pine doors.


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## Kalimna (4 Feb 2013)

Trimmed some of the channels routed for my electric guitar project. Seems you need summat sharpish to pare end grain padouk. Whouldve thought it?

Adam


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## James C (4 Feb 2013)

Put a chamfer on the edge of a board to stop spelching when planing across the grain with my Jack plane.


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## Sawyer (4 Feb 2013)

Carving. Did some lettering yesterday.


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## promhandicam (4 Feb 2013)

Fitting hinges and locks on 3 internal oak doors, although most of the hard work on the locks was done with my souber dbb jig.


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## Corneel (5 Feb 2013)

Another pair of stairs stringers here.


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## marcus (5 Feb 2013)

Working in a beading repair to a dining table rail.


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## Evergreen (5 Feb 2013)

Fitting new hinges to every internal door in the house. 

The new solid brass hinges are slighly bigger than the old brassed mild steel hinges I'm replacing and their screw holes are in slightly different places. Therefore lots of plugging old screw holes, trimming and fiddling around. 

And would you believe that so many hinge recesses could coincide with the most knotty and difficult grain on the edges of the doors?


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## mind_the_goat (5 Feb 2013)

Tightened a screw


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## Atkins joinery (5 Feb 2013)

Scraped some plaster off a door casing after skimming ceiling, it my old footprint chisel affectionately named giuseppe

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 2


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## MARK.B. (5 Feb 2013)

Reason for asking - I wondered about what to set up as a realistic chiselly job for a forthcoming sharpening demo.

I only have a set of cheap plastic handled chisels,have had these for a long time but have never had the knack of sharpening them properly,i manage to get sharpish but in the process the most used have become somewhat out of square.Now Jacob if you like i could lend you them for your demo so you could do a before and after demo,you get to show how it should be done and i get a nice sharp/square set of chisels.  
Would you be interested ?, dont know why i dont just buy new but strangly enough i find them comfortable .

Regards

Mark


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## Jacob (5 Feb 2013)

MARK.B.":3bshlpda said:


> Reason for asking - I wondered about what to set up as a realistic chiselly job for a forthcoming sharpening demo.
> 
> I only have a set of cheap plastic handled chisels,have had these for a long time but have never had the knack of sharpening them properly,i manage to get sharpish but in the process the most used have become somewhat out of square.Now Jacob if you like i could lend you them for your demo so you could do a before and after demo,you get to show how it should be done and i get a nice sharp/square set of chisels.
> Would you be interested ?, dont know why i dont just buy new but strangly enough i find them comfortable .
> ...


Sharp yes, square ish. Why square? How square?


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## MARK.B. (5 Feb 2013)

Sorry not able to explain clearly,the cutting edge is not straight across any more so maybe they need regrinding or something more drastic than just sharpening ?.


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## Jacob (6 Feb 2013)

MARK.B.":1rcfhy04 said:


> Sorry not able to explain clearly,the cutting edge is not straight across any more so maybe they need regrinding or something more drastic than just sharpening ?.


Yes bring them along.

Sounds like metal work required. 
There comes a point where you have to reshape an edge, especially with some old 2nd hand pieces where they've been horribly rounded over. You can do it by hand on a coarse grindstone but it's really slow especially if very thick with hard laminated steel, so a powered machine may be the answer. 
Belt sander is best IMHO as you have more control over the shape, avoid hollow grinding and over heating. But there may be a fire risk from sparks unless you have a Sorby Pro-edge or similar.
Start by presenting the edge straight on at 90º and shape it, either straight or cambered.
Then back it off at 25º with a coarse grit.
Then it's ready for honing by hand at 30º. 
If you do the convex bevel thing at first this is indistinguishable from a modern 'micro' secondary bevel but eventually after many honings the whole bevel will be rounded. No further grinding will be needed until you damage the edge with a nail etc.


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## bugbear (6 Feb 2013)

Pared down the excess on a hickory handle fitted to a sledgehammer head. Since the hickory was compressed by the wedge, and is hard at the best of times, I ended up using a 1/4" chisel to reduce the force needed - the hardest wood I've cut in a while.. Good old steel - the edge at 30 degrees held fine.

BugBear


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## heimlaga (6 Feb 2013)

Put the finishing touches to the corner joinery on a buch of window sashes for a customer. I did the bulk of the work with a tenoning sled om the spindle oulder but there are certain parts of the joint that only can be made by hand.


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## Muchy (6 Feb 2013)

Hello, I've not posted here before but I've read and enjoyed the posts for a year or so.

Last thing I did with chisels was to cut hinge and lock recesses to some doors.


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## newt (6 Feb 2013)

Dovetails and M&T.


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## Sparky415 (6 Feb 2013)

Enlarge a slot in the top of a plastic fuseboard :-"


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## MARK.B. (6 Feb 2013)

Yes bring them along.

Dont think i will be able make the event Jacob,but i might just have a go at the belt sander idea


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## Doug B (7 Feb 2013)

One of the last times I used a chisel I was fortunate to be using a beautiful old English 2 1/2" firmer belonging to my customer,to house large building ties into joists. 
Unfortunately when packing up the chisel got knocked & fell about 11' to the floor below & chipped both corners of the very sharp rounded bevel edge  
Luckily the owner of said chisel was understanding.  

HTH


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## Graham Orm (7 Feb 2013)

Scraped old plaster off a wall in prep for tiling. This is with a £2.50 2" chisel bought specifically for the job. I have been tempted too many times to use wood chisels when on site for 'immoral purposes' so bought one specifically for just that.

To answer the question properly, fitting a door lock.


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## Spindle (7 Feb 2013)

Hi

Planing and shaping cuts on components of a spinning wheel that I'm making at the moment.

Regards Mick


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## baldpate (7 Feb 2013)

Box-making - cleaning up the wells that the arms of quadrant hinges drop into, after drilling most of the wast out.


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## Mr T (8 Feb 2013)

Baldpate said:


> Box-making - cleaning up the wells that the arms of quadrant hinges drop into, after drilling most of the wast out.



Try the Smart hinge from Andrew Crawford or the Neat hinge from Ian Hawthorne. No need for drills or chisels with them.

I used a chisel yesterday to clean up the arrising into a corner on some bookshelves.

I find paring a lap joint a good way of demonstrating the benefits of sharp chisels.


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## Jacob (26 Feb 2013)

Doug B":28yaelp4 said:


> One of the last times I used a chisel I was fortunate to be using a beautiful old English 2 1/2" firmer belonging to my customer,to house large building ties into joists.
> Unfortunately when packing up the chisel got knocked & fell about 11' to the floor below & chipped both corners of the very sharp rounded bevel edge
> Luckily the owner of said chisel was understanding.
> 
> HTH


It's OK Doug it was only a chisel! Actually it was chipped when I got it. A 2 1/2" firmer* laminated with hard brittle steel but suitable only for careful bench work. I wonder what it was intended for?

PS Marples - and had a bronze finish which has more or less rubbed off now. I read somewhere about it but can't find the link. The bronze was something special - special 'edition' perhaps?


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## nicguthrie (1 Mar 2013)

I may be a little strange (well ok, no "may be" required there) but I love losing myself in chiselling work. Getting "in the zone" of just working the wood with such a straightforward instrument and trying to get everything as precise as it takes to be happy with. Last couple months, I made a Japanese lantern with almost nothing but pull saws and chisels, and cut myself a little knife box out of scrap, to store my marking knife in and protect the edge, using chisels alone. The lantern is lovely, the box is plain and useful.

There's something a little addictive about the depth of concentration and involvement you can get with just a simple bit of work, when you use nothing but hand tools, and chisels and Razor saws are my favourites.

I don't have monster expensive ones, (£50 MHG chrome vanadium steel 6 piece set) they're not lapped to mirror finish, but I do like them sharp enough to slice smoothe shavings off when paring.


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## bobbybirds (1 Mar 2013)

Just this past weekend was the first time it has been warm enough (read finally just above zero degrees) to spend a little bit of time in the shop and I cut and chopped some half blind DT's making a simple box. Got through all the tails and half the pins (four per side) with my A2 steel BS chisels with no edge failure and no re-sharpening mid job. All this hate for A2 seems silly to me (just trying to instigate a wee bit Hahah!) Looks like another nice weekend approaching so I hope to get it finished up!


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## J_SAMa (1 Mar 2013)

I've been practicing tenon splitting and paring with my 1'' chisel. I don't have a tenon saw (yet) and do tenons the Paul Sellers way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3VTOpumi58
Paring tenons is really hard (for me). Chisels don't take thin shavings like planes and it often takes off too much material before I even know it.


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## Jacob (1 Mar 2013)

J_SAMa":ufktors1 said:


> I've been practicing tenon splitting and paring with my 1'' chisel. I don't have a tenon saw (yet) and do tenons the Paul Sellers way:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3VTOpumi58
> Paring tenons is really hard (for me). Chisels don't take thin shavings like planes and it often takes off too much material before I even know it.


It gets easier! Most of these things are difficult at first, for everybody. 
The main thing is to watch the grain as the split can go off ahead of the chisel and dip below the line, if that's the way the grain goes.*
Practice practice Don't ever throw any off cuts away until you have practiced various techniques on them. And it makes firewood more interesting!

PS* It occurred to me that it 's easier to get a split with a blunt chisel, rather than a cut. I've been doing something similar today - splitting off waste with an axe used as a wedge - hitting it with a hammer. So perhaps blunt for the split and a sharp chisel for paring down to the line?


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## J_SAMa (1 Mar 2013)

nicguthrie":snctot7r said:


> I may be a little strange (well ok, no "may be" required there) but I love losing myself in chiselling work. Getting "in the zone" of just working the wood with such a straightforward instrument and trying to get everything as precise as it takes to be happy with. Last couple months, I made a Japanese lantern with almost nothing but pull saws and chisels, and cut myself a little knife box out of scrap, to store my marking knife in and protect the edge, using chisels alone. The lantern is lovely, the box is plain and useful.
> 
> There's something a little addictive about the depth of concentration and involvement you can get with just a simple bit of work, when you use nothing but hand tools, and chisels and Razor saws are my favourites.
> 
> I don't have monster expensive ones, (£50 MHG chrome vanadium steel 6 piece set) they're not lapped to mirror finish, but I do like them sharp enough to slice smoothe shavings off when paring.



Hi Nicguthrie,
What do you think about your MHGs' edge retention? I have a few MHG chisels as well and honestly I think those CR-V blades are pieces of junk when it comes to edge retention. I use the 10mm one to chop dovetails in *pine* and it chips after about 2 joints (i.e. 4 tail sockets and 2 pin sockets)... Do you have the same problem or is it just me?
Sam


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## J_SAMa (1 Mar 2013)

Jacob":1c3ku8tm said:


> J_SAMa":1c3ku8tm said:
> 
> 
> > I've been practicing tenon splitting and paring with my 1'' chisel. I don't have a tenon saw (yet) and do tenons the Paul Sellers way:
> ...



Hi Jacob,
That makes sense... I do find from time to time that sharp chisels just plunge into the wood. But I think with a sharp chisel, I have more control over the direction of the split and can make the cut not follow the grain. I've only done this on pine though, not gonna touch any harder (and more expensive) wood until I get better.
Sam
PS: for some reason it's really hard to find any wood other than pine where I live... I literally have to go to other cities just to find wood. The only lumber yard close to my house doesn't do retails. :evil:


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## Sawyer (2 Mar 2013)

Note that that ultimate splitting tool, the froe, is not particularly sharp.


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## bugbear (4 Mar 2013)

Sawyer":17hnl5j6 said:


> Note that that ultimate splitting tool, the froe, is not particularly sharp.



Bowyers sometimes exploit two drawknives, one polished and razor sharp for actual cutting (which can be very precise) and one rather blunt, for bark removal, where the desire is to follow the bark/wood boundary. Sharp tools go where they like, of course, regardless of things like boundaries...

BugBear


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## No skills (4 Mar 2013)

bugbear":pakif3h8 said:


> Sharp tools go where they like, of course, regardless of things like boundaries...
> BugBear



Had a couple of girlfriends like that, years ago tho...


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## nicguthrie (5 Mar 2013)

J_SAMa":1v10v809 said:


> What do you think about your MHGs' edge retention? I have a few MHG chisels as well and honestly I think those CR-V blades are pieces of junk when it comes to edge retention. I use the 10mm one to chop dovetails in *pine* and it chips after about 2 joints (i.e. 4 tail sockets and 2 pin sockets)... Do you have the same problem or is it just me?
> Sam



I like the MHG's on the whole. Lovely and light in the hand, and they do take a good edge, seems to me maybe not as readily as good carbon steel though? I don't have any particularly good ones with which to compare them, but I was wondering at their edge retention myself, as I have noticed I need to pretty regularly strop or hone (I have a little pocket extra fine DMG diamond stone that's perfect) even mid-job if I want them to cut lightweight pine without crushing the edges of the cuts. Having said that, I have never chipped the edge of any of them, and I've even been lazy and scraped and pried out the base of a few mortices with them. 

I'm still pretty new to the game, so I only have my gut to go on on their endurance, but it does seem to me they blunt a little on the fast side. One day I'll have a better range of other chisels to compare them with and I'll know for sure. They seemed good value for money, but to be honest, if I'd noticed they were chrome vanadium steel before I bought them (it wasn't on the sales leaflet I had) I might have gone with another set.


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## Jacob (5 Mar 2013)

J_SAMa":2hc1yvh2 said:


> ........? I have a few MHG chisels as well and honestly I think those CR-V blades are pieces of junk when it comes to edge retention. I use the 10mm one to chop dovetails in *pine* and it chips after about 2 joints (i.e. 4 tail sockets and 2 pin sockets)... ........
> Sam


Too fine an edge? If you are doing a lot of chopping (hitting with a mallet) you must hone a single bevel (or a slightly rounded one in the old fashioned way) at about 30º.
If you are hollow grinding or doing a shallow first bevel, followed by a "micro bevel" (so called) , you have a weak edge, which might do for paring but not for hard work.


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## nicguthrie (5 Mar 2013)

Sam[/quote]Too fine an edge? [/quote]

That may be what's ailing him, the MHG's are pretty thin-bladed so if it's concave ground on a small grinder, the edge would be really thin. I grind mine on a worksharp if needed, but usually just touch up with small diamond stones. Might explain why his chip and mine don't?


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## Jelly (7 Mar 2013)

Cutting very narrow mortices in the legs of a table I've been threatening to make for some time and tomorrow I will be using one again them to split the waste off the tenons that go into those mortices.


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## bugbear (7 Mar 2013)

nicguthrie":30pdptlc said:


> Sam


Too fine an edge? [/quote]

That may be what's ailing him, the MHG's are pretty thin-bladed so if it's concave ground on a small grinder, the edge would be really thin. I grind mine on a worksharp if needed, but usually just touch up with small diamond stones. Might explain why his chip and mine don't?[/quote]

In terms of resistance chipping/fracturing (as opposed to more major damage) the only thing that matters is the bevel angle at the edge. The edge (that's chipping) has no way of knowing anything further away.

BugBear


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## Col (7 Mar 2013)

Clearing out mortices in the stiles of a cupboard door ...


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