Homemade chisel

[Johnboy]

.......

 

[tombo]

so how does it work? great writeup by the way

 

[Philly]

Bravo! Nice one, John!
Be interest to hear how it handles with use,
Cheers
Philly

 

[Losos]

Very nice job.

As it happens i was thinking of making a chisel like tool, not for woodwork but for a difficult to get at cleaning job (Solid fuel boiler) :roll:

Where did you get the plate material from??? Do you think any sort of steel plate would do. I have some stuff lying around but it's not 5mm more like 2 or 3

 

[Philly]

Harvey
I buy my tool steel from Tilgear - various thicknesses, easy to work and simple to harden.
Hope this helps
Philly

 

[bugbear]

Probably not worth all this effort when decent chisels are fairly cheap but interesting to do and as always I get a a lot of satisfaction from using tools I have made myself.

You're a fool! You've put all that time and effort into a result that has no great value!

That's my kind of fool

BugBear

 

[engineer one]

very interesting and not a bad looking piece as well.

losos one of the tools that many modelmakers use and make are "scrapers" which are used to clean up solder splatter and other materials. we tend to make them from old swiss or other files which are
re-ground to specific shapes, and one of the best is to use broken hacksaw blades which can offer a really useful tool. just remember to wrap the teeth left with tape or grind them off :lol:

thing about using old and broken tools like that is that they need little in the way of heat treating. and can be easily manipulated into shapes you want.

paul :wink:

 

[bugbear]

...broken hacksaw blades which can offer a really useful tool. just remember to wrap the teeth left with tape or grind them off :lol:

hand or power? I find power hacksaw blades (scrounged or bought mucho cheap) are a wonderful source of cheap fancy steel.

http://www.newmantools.com/eclipse/eclhack.htm

Fully hardened - you don't need flex in a power hacksaw.

hand hacksaw blades are a little thin and flexi for most of the stuff I want.

(Alf has a tiny fragment of the stuff in a cutting gauge)

BugBear

 

[engineer one]

bug bear, you are right, that hand saw blades are somewhat small, but for modelling ideal.

and it's a long time since i used a power one, but you are right about the value of buying the cheapo ones for that occassion when you need something new and oddly shaped.
:roll: :lol:
paul :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I like that a lot John. Very nicely done sir.

You going to make a set then?

 

[bugbear]

bug bear, you are right, that hand saw blades are somewhat small, but for modelling ideal.

and it's a long time since i used a power one, but you are right about the value of buying the cheapo ones for that occassion when you need something new and oddly shaped.
:roll: :lol:
paul :wink:

Being a car boot hound, picking up the odd piece of broken power hacksaw blade for 5-10p has (over the years) given me a small box of "handy looking stuff", likely to be a lifetime supply at present consumption.

I even got a whole one (although worn, with missing teeth) once!

BugBear

 

[Johnboy]

Losos, in order to be able to be hardened a high carbon steel is needed. I bought gauge plate also commonly known as ground flat stock. It comes in a lot of different standard sizes, both imperial and metric. I bought mine from Cromwells.http://www.cromwell.co.uk/category?code=160202 It comes ready ground to accurate size so is useful if you need a particular size chisel.

Tony, a set? Not like this one but I do need some mortice chisels so am thinking about a set of these, of course a milling machine would make the shaping easier. Wonder if I can convince SWMBO that it would save money to buy one and make my own chisels :lol:

I will try to remeber to report back onhow the edge stands up after some use.

John

 

[mr]

I do need some mortice chisels so am thinking about a set of these, of course a milling machine would make the shaping easier. Wonder if I can convince SWMBO that it would save money to buy one and make my own chisels :lol:
John

I was having similar thoughts John, I was thinking along the lines of the traditional shape, handles being easier to make I thought without a lathe, But I got stuck at the how to shape the bolster part. Any ideas anyone ?

Mike

 

[Alf]

Dunno if the simple method used by the Chinese would work, but it might be worth a go.

Cheers, Alf

 

[mr]

"Economy tool"



They ain't seen nothing yet. That'll do nicely for starters. Thanks Alf. Any advances?

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

Wonder if I can convince SWMBO that it would save money to buy one and make my own chisels :lol:

Philly's is a very nice little milling machine and costs under £300. Once I have my metal lathe delivereed, a milling machine the same as that is next on the list :wink:

 

[Alf]

Not so sure a milling machine is necessarily the best way forward - perhaps a small forge...? :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[mr]

perhaps a small forge...? :wink:

Cheers, Alf

/me points to the rusting barbeque standing out in the back garden.

I knew it still had a use

Mike

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I made an inch and a quarter pairing chisel from Ground Flat Stock bought from Cromwells, hardened in the barbeque with a little help from a hairdryer to get it up to temp. I have also made some plane and scraper blades from the same stuff (GFS) the edge seems to last very well copaired to normal blades.


Pete

 

[mr]

My only homemade blade attempts so far are made from landrover leaf springs cut to size & shape with an angle grinder then bevelled with a bench grinder and sharpened with waterstones. I've rarely needed to touch them they seem to stay sharp forever though theyre not called on for any particularly fine work, one of them lives in my repurposed wooden fore plane - repurposed as a scrub - where it's made short work of every thing I've thrown at it to date.
Cheers Mike