Chisel quality ?

[bugbear]

So a lead chisel would be good? or if you could get mercury to coalesce you would have a chisel that you could sharpen by pinching the edge 'twixt thumb and forefinger.

:wink: :shock:

Pete

Ugh! Bronze tool good. Not need iron age. Grunt!

BugBear

 

[Racers]

So a lead chisel would be good? or if you could get mercury to coalesce you would have a chisel that you could sharpen by pinching the edge 'twixt thumb and forefinger.

:wink: :shock:

Pete

If you think it's viable why don't you try it and let us know how you get on?
Whilst you are at it have a go with a glass chisel - they can be extremely sharp - don't cut yourself!

 

[bugbear]

Hah! You'll be posting glass knives next!

Wait, hang on...

https://www.emsdiasum.com/microscopy/pr ... knife.aspx

They're real.

BugBear

 

[Steve1066]

Are the old versus new, it must be good because it old
https://www.buyaparcel.com/p/marples-8- ... wgodDgsL4g
Industry standard for Years

 

[D_W]

In my albeit limited experience I find older, made in Sheffield, cast steel chisels to have the best balance between hard/soft and taking an edge/holding an edge. The newer chisels I have to compare them against are not at the top end of the price quality bracket but then again these old boot fair finds (which rarely cost more than 50p each) are so good I have no incentive to buy the expensive ones. So unless someone wants to lend me their Lie Nielsen's I may never find out!

There's not much to find out. They're made of A2 for reasons that one could only conclude are manufacturer's benefit, and they're made very hard so that beginners feel like they'll get an advantage of not having to sharpen (they are, to their defense, very accurately made, too).

I have no idea why anyone would want chisels made out of A2, because it's no better in chiseling work than oil hardened or water hardened steel, but more resistant to abrasives.

For the modern "basement frontiersman" with ceramic and diamond hones, though, make the diamonds small enough and the wire edge won't hang around.

Like I said, no real world improvement. I started on those premium things, but eventually came to prefer stuff that rolls up a wire edge on an oilstone - it's just nicer to use in the context of actually doing things.

 

[No skills]

I have cheaper chisels at both ends of the hardness world.
One set (tescos!) are too soft and dent/roll the edge too easy, another (maybe screwfix) too hard and chips with any enthusiasm. Both imo are a pain in the posterior, both are marked CRV steel.
I have many other chisels I need to sort out, best of the bunch so far are some 20 year old dynagrips that are marked with 'Sheffield steel', don't like the handles tho.
I have recently acquired some Stanley 5500's (with different handles to the ones you are all thinking of) and some old narex, I'll sharpen a couple up and see if I like them. If not I'll try an Ashley isles..

Fwiw

 

[bridger]

Spot on.

In my albeit limited experience I find older, made in Sheffield, cast steel chisels to have the best balance between hard/soft and taking an edge/holding an edge. The newer chisels I have to compare them against are not at the top end of the price quality bracket but then again these old boot fair finds (which rarely cost more than 50p each) are so good I have no incentive to buy the expensive ones. So unless someone wants to lend me their Lie Nielsen's I may never find out!

I started with two kinds of chisels: modern chrome vanadium carpentry grade butt chisels for on site and rough work and vintage crucible steel for bench work. I'm still pretty much there. I admit to being curious about Japanese chisels, but what it would cost me to buy a reasonable selection of reasonable quality chisels would exceed the total amount I have invested in the 50 or so chisels currently in my current working set. I have all of the chisels I NEED, but I still bring home that excellent vintage steel whenever I find it at almost free prices.

 

[Trigs]

Sussed why there nicking..... Knots. After reading the replays I believe it's because the steel is soft. Will be on the hunt for a car boot over the spring

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Sussed why there nicking..... Knots. After reading the replays I believe it's because the steel is soft. Will be on the hunt for a car boot over the spring

Knots in timber such as redwood can be HARD. If you have to chop into them regularly, a higher bevel angle might be a good plan, even with 'posh' chisels.

 

[bugbear]

Sussed why there nicking..... Knots. After reading the replays I believe it's because the steel is soft. Will be on the hunt for a car boot over the spring

Yeah - knots are hard (so is paint and glue).

But - is the chisel chipping or denting?

BugBear

 

[Trigs]

Very fine dents, I think I'll keep an old chisel just for the occasions I need to knock a knot out and keep my regular chisels safer

 

[memzey]

While we are (albeit loosely) on this topic, I'd like to ask which maker of vintage chisels most people believe used the best steel? I've got loads of old chisels and I know which ones I think are the best but would like to compare experiences with others on this.

 

[Vann]

While we are (albeit loosely) on this topic, I'd like to ask which maker of vintage chisels most people believe used the best steel?

IIRC jimi43 used to favour Ward - I don't know if that was a personal bias or whether that's the general consensus.

I don't have enough experience with old steel to offer an opinion, though my early 1970s, wooden handled Marples do most I ask of them (which isn't much ).

Cheers, Vann.

 

[bridger]

I don't think that there was a best. Quality control was entirely analog, non digital, as it were. The steel at every stage was QC'd by skilled craftspersons from grading the ore to smelting to grading the steel to forming the tools to heat treatment. They relied almost entirely on experience with little instrumentation. Quality can vary depending on how many monday mornings were involved, how busy the shops were, etc. You'll find everything from really excellent to duds all up and down the old tool pecking order.

 

[Trafalgar]

It would seem that it's time to cue Paul Sellers chopping mortises in oak with a $6 Marples Blue Chip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_NXq7_TILA

 

[JimB]

My son is still using some Marples that used to belong to his great-grandfather.

 

[Racers]

While we are (albeit loosely) on this topic, I'd like to ask which maker of vintage chisels most people believe used the best steel? I've got loads of old chisels and I know which ones I think are the best but would like to compare experiences with others on this.

Just look for "Cast Steel" on the blade I don't think I have had a bad one, and they are usually cheap enough no to worry about buying them.

Pete

 

[Trafalgar]

My son is still using some Marples that used to belong to his great-grandfather.

I'm still using the set of five in a blister pack I bought for a little less than $30 over twenty years ago. The quarter and three eighths chisels just about nubs though.

They're perfectly adequate, as the Sellers video shows.

 

[Jacob]

Stanley 5001 (black handle) very good for bench work but slightly too brittle for heavy use. Stanley blue handles slightly softer (easier to sharpen) and good for bench or site.

 

[bugbear]

Ward & Payne, I Sorby Ibbotson are the best of the (many) chisels and plane Irons I own.

BugBear