Luban butt chisels - recommended

[condeesteso]

Just got a set of 4 from eBay... what a find !! Beautifully made, however close you look into all the details these are really excellent. Bubinga handles suggests new old stock as Luban now use cherry I believe and anyway bubinga is outlawed.
Feel is excellent too, proper butt chisel sizes (not too long, slightly shorter than the Isles).
£50 a set, the guy somewhere in NE England has a few sets left:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Luban-4-Piec ... 2749.l2649

Cannot comment on the steel yet, need a micro-edge and off we go. But the Luban / QS steel is good so I am optimistic.
I was really not happy with the Isles, on any count and they don't come close to these Lubans on fit, finish, grind etc etc. Plus the Isles steel was very poor I felt.

Anyway, grab a set while he has some !

 

[AndyT]

They look great and good value. I'm nearly tempted. Genuine question though. When do you prefer to use this style of chisel in preference to an ordinary bench chisel with a longer, slimmer handle? Is there a particular job where they excel?

Remember, this question comes from someone who already has quite a lot of chisels, but no socketed butt chisels. I do have three or four shorter than normal chisels, which probably used to be full length, which are sometimes useful in a tight corner, so I am wondering what advantage these have?

Nice to see you back posting on here btw. I hope your new workshop is even better than your old one!

 

[condeesteso]

Hi Andy - I just pop back sometimes, miss the gang !!
It's personal taste and style of working I suppose. I hold chisles right down at the cutting edge very often (when using mallet), so I have fast control of the edge placement. Given that I like shorter, and lower mass up top. So my day-to-day are the LNs, and my second most-used are decent butt chisels - so not the Isles then !!

New workshop still not finished... going mad here.

Season's greetings Andy and family

 

[AndyT]

Ah, thanks.
Supplementary question if I may. Do these have removable handles which are a friction fit into a conical socket, or are they more like the Stanley 5001s, with a stubby tang above the conical steel shoulder?

 

[condeesteso]

Sorry Andy, no idea... without smashing the handle. I suspect a tang as there is a separate tapered 'ferrule' and the actual chisel steel disappears into that. My best guess a tang. But the fit of all components is quite watch-like (Swiss I mean).

 

[condeesteso]

Quick update - just put an edge on the 3/4. The back is fractionally concave, good. Just happened to use 3M film, and put a 30 degree on for starters. That's just in case, as I was prepared to go to 32 maybe - I use these with a mallet almost exclusively.
By the way, the precision geometry of blades deserves applause. Cannot say that of the Isles, shame.
Anyway, polished back, skinny secondary finished at 1 micron... good so far. Cross-grain oak, some cherry, beech and finally a lump of airdried hornbeam. Edge retention impressive. Might be really good, but It'll take longer to know.
Big thumbs up - for me these are keepers, and above all users.

 

[Dangermouse 2nd]

I got a set of these and they are tip top stuff. Really well made and fits the hand a treat. the steel is excellent and keeps a sharp edge even on oak.

 

[D_W]

Also got a set of these years ago. They're well made. I still have never made enough hinge mortises at a time to actually pull them out, though.

I believe they're a knock off of the pfeil set, and at a fraction of the price.

The steel in them is fine, but I can't imagine that even if it was mediocre that it would ever matter given their purpose.

Odd that the iles chisels would seem subpar in steel quality - the bench chisels that I have (and I am a money waster, have had a lot of chisels) is the last new set of chisels I'd let go, and they're really cheap for something made in the first world.

The seemingly "sloppy" work on them is due to the fact that they're hand finished. I wouldn't change that, their proportions are great. '

Can't say much about the butt chisels as I haven't had them, but the knock on workmanship on a $27 western made chisel is more an issue of method than it is workmanship itself, and it comes up fairly often on forums, that something like LN with little hand finishing is superior (in general, the LNs are construction chisels with the edges eased and the iles chisels are more of a cabinetmaker's pattern with better proportions).

 

[D_W]

Whoa...I just looked up the AI butt chisels. They're a lot more than $27 each, and the bench chisels are above that (exclude vat for people like me in the states who order from the UK - it's cheaper to order from UK without VAT than it is to pay the markup that the chisels get hit with for distribution in the US).

It looks like the non-vat price for the bench chisels is about $28 still, though (in a set of six). They do have the hand work variations on them, but one can try making a chisel for $28 to see what you can do for that.

https://www.workshopheaven.com/ashley-i ... -of-6.html

(in this case, I think the chinese butt chisels are a good thing to buy, as the market for butt chisels is probably beginners who think a shorter chisel is the answer to control, when repetition will cause you to go back to preferring a full hand hold and a chisel that can be directed easily without letting go of the handle).

 

[Andy Kev.]

They look great and good value. I'm nearly tempted. Genuine question though. When do you prefer to use this style of chisel in preference to an ordinary bench chisel with a longer, slimmer handle? Is there a particular job where they excel?

I found a 2" Veritas butt chisel to be perfect for marking out the long sides of some mortices. I can't remember exactly now but a marking gauge was not useable and the mortices needed to be around the 2" mark so I thought I'd see if that kind of chisel would help. I bought one and it was perfect. Therefore I think that for mortices of 1 1/2" and upwards, butt chisels are pretty good (Veritas does a
1 1/2" as well).

What I ended up doing - and I found this to be really quick and efficient - was to use a combination square to nick in a couple of points at the required distance from the edge, then join them up with the butt chisel, thus leaving the precise length at the precise distance from the edge. Then lay the combination square at right angles to the ends of the line and mark with the cutting chisel e.g. 3/8" precisely at right angles to the 2" line. Then you just join up the free ends of the 3/8" lines with the 2" butt chisel again.

That's a bit of a long winded description for something that is very quick and easy. It's probably something that many would pooh-pooh but what can I say except that it works every time?

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

The Luban butt chisels look identical to a Woodriver (Woodcraft) set my wife got me for a gift several years ago. They were well made, steel took a nice edge (and kept it), didn't need much flattening, but after using them for a month or two, I really don't reach for them all that much.

What is convenient, is the nice box they came in! Permits me to easily take the set with me when I got a "honey do" away from the shop.