An unusual chisel?

[Eshmiel]

Well, it is to me. I first saw this whilst looking for a parcel-increaser to justify the postage costs of buying some flexible measuring scales from that Fine Tools in Chermany. (See photos). A mere 20.5 euros.

I have left hand and right hand skews of 6mm and 12mm blade width but this spear-point item seemed a good idea as it's two (LH & RH) in one. It;'s also cranked - a feature I use a lot these days because of doing smaller work than heretofore.

Two Cherries are a bit suspect i' the chisel as they do that high gloss polishing of the back - which can also badly dub the edge. However, this one isn't too bad - the back had a slight concavity but flattened in 10 minutes back to a high polish via 140 - 2500 grit papers on glass, with only a teeny bit of dubbing to get rid of at the cutting edges. Perhaps all the moans about the dubbing on the interweb, over the years, has improved their polishing process?

I put a teeny micro-bevel of about 30 degrees (ish) on each of the bevel edges by hand - just 3 or 4 rubs each on 9, 3 then 1 micron papers on glass per edge. This was enough to get rid of the grinder marks on the 25 degree bevels.

It cuts the softwood end grain very cleanly and readily. Time will tell if the edge lasts. It'll be used mostly in hand-paring fashion to clean out the bottoms of tails & pins in various hardwoods such as oak, sapele, cherry, maple, ash and teak.

Does anyone else have one of these? I've never seen one in the usual Blighty web emporiums. They seem an obviously good idea compared to having two (LH & RH) skews. But perhaps I will discover a difficulty when using them "in anger". .....

Eshmiel.

 

[Droogs]

It's a fairly "un-rare" old German style of chisel, they were sold if I remember correctly for use with dovetail planes. Used to clean out the corners of the female part of a sliding dovetail in a dadoed joint (cross grain). proper old school bookcase and cabinet making. same sort of idea as the pointy bit for a router plane

 

[IWW]

Whatever works for you works, I say. The only flaw I can see with a spear-point is that in order to get right into a corner of say, a dovetail socket, you will need to twist the blade left or right. If the socket is the same width or just slightly wider than the chisel blade, you won't be able to reach the corners (which usully need the most attention. I guess this is why "fishtail" chisels are more popular with the half-blind dovetailing crew - if you can get it in the socket, it will reach the corners.

I use skews quite a bit, very small ones about 5-6mm wide for tiny dovetails etc., and a pair about 9mm wide for more sensibly-sized work. They are a nuisance in many ways. The necessity for a left & a right means more precious room taken up in the tool cupboard, and whichever side I want to use next is invariably hiding somewhere on the bench (usually in plain view!) The other annoyance is the delicate long point that seems determined to break off at the slightest provocation. Been meaning to make myself a fishtail or two for years, but haven't found the round tuit, yet.

Someday...

Cheers,

 

[Eshmiel]

Whatever works for you works, I say. The only flaw I can see with a spear-point is that in order to get right into a corner of say, a dovetail socket, you will need to twist the blade left or right. If the socket is the same width or just slightly wider than the chisel blade, you won't be able to reach the corners (which usully need the most attention. I guess this is why "fishtail" chisels are more popular with the half-blind dovetailing crew - if you can get it in the socket, it will reach the corners.

I use skews quite a bit, very small ones about 5-6mm wide for tiny dovetails etc., and a pair about 9mm wide for more sensibly-sized work. They are a nuisance in many ways. The necessity for a left & a right means more precious room taken up in the tool cupboard, and whichever side I want to use next is invariably hiding somewhere on the bench (usually in plain view!) The other annoyance is the delicate long point that seems determined to break off at the slightest provocation. Been meaning to make myself a fishtail or two for years, but haven't found the round tuit, yet.

Someday...

Cheers,

I mostly use my skew chisels as do you - a pair of 6mm wide for the small and a pair of 12mm wide for the larger DTs. The spear-point is also 12mm wide with the same 45 degree angle so in theory should be able to do work that the pair of LH & RH 12mm wide skews do. If this is so, I'll sell the 12mm skews, as a single double-duty skew (the spear point) will be easier to use as ir doesn't involve that picking up and putting down all the time. It's added crank will also make life a bit easier when chiselling at the DT floors. I feel.

The spear point with a crank also suggests itself as a substitute for a chisel plane in many circumstances, such as getting the glue ooze out of drawer or other box floors. The 45 degree skew and the crank should allow access without the barked knuckles sometimes got when using a chisel plane.

I'll be playing away with it to find out.

Eshmiel

PS Perhaps I'll unicorn it too.

 

[hodsdonr]

If you have a look at the Master Class in the June 2020 issue 282 of the Fine WoodWorking magazine you can see the author using a spear point chisel on page 83. Judging by the handle it looks like a Pheil brand. I looked twice at the photo before realizing what it was. Obviously has a use in carving as well

 

[David C]

I use a pair of 1/4" chisels ground as skews.

The tip never breaks, as I use an angle of 1:6, which is what I choose for single lap dovetails etc.

Best wishes, David Charlesworth

 

[Eshmiel]

If you have a look at the Master Class in the June 2020 issue 282 of the Fine WoodWorking magazine you can see the author using a spear point chisel on page 83. Judging by the handle it looks like a Pheil brand. I looked twice at the photo before realizing what it was. Obviously has a use in carving as well

Is that a spear point? The blurb says its a #1 carving gouge and it's being used upside down in the pic to round over the edges of that gooseneck barnacle carving the lad be doin'.

The spearpoint no doubt exists in the form I bought and in some other forms, including those for carving. There's a spear point thingamy for turning too, as I recall. But that Two Cherries cranked version I bought from Chermany can't be found in any of the Blighty online WW emporiums. Well, I can't find one. I'd not seen the things in decades of reading WW stuff of every ilk & tittle, until there it was in Dieter's Fine Toolz.

 

[Eshmiel]

I use a pair of 1/4" chisels ground as skews.

The tip never breaks, as I use an angle of 1:6, which is what I choose for single lap dovetails etc.

Best wishes, David Charlesworth

With a 45 degree skew, there surely must be a risk of tip breakage, especially if the bevel is also only 20 or 25 degrees. So far, though, I haven't had a break on mine - although I'm careful to do very little in the way of stabbing cuts but instead use slicing cuts, often pulling the chisel very gently towards me as I pivot it sideways into the wall of the pin or tail to take a thin slice off the floor.

A sharper angle of the skew helps with those slicing cuts as the chisel ends up skewed at 45 degree-ish lying across the pin or tail floor with the cutting edge along the length of the wall-bottom. A fishtail, often used for such work, can only cut going forwards; and the DT corners between floor and wall must be traversed & cut only by one sharp corner or the other of the fishtail edge ends. Your 1:6 can't be skewed all that much across the pin or tail floor either presumably ....?

Still, we all acquire our own preferences and the muscle motor skills to go with them.

****
That spear point is less weak at its tip than a pure skew, though, since the point is 90 degrees - although a point at the convergence of two bevelled edges rather than the sort of 90 degree point at the corner of a straight chisel edge (bevel to shoulder) ... so still vulnerable, perhaps. I won't be throwing my spear point at any DT bottom stuff, though. Slicey slicey, me.

Eshmiel.

PS Wot U fink of unicorn then?