inch and mm

[GEPPETTO]

Hi All,
I have one thought which you could answer because you use inch measurement. I was wondering if tool-maker make tools for inch and mm market. I explain better.. my thought is .. one chisel of 1/8" wide and 1/4" wide is the same of one of 3mm and 6mm or the translate measurement is 3.175mm and 6.35mm???? My concern is that if I purchase one chisel or a set of chisel or other thing achieved in inch world will be unusable in my mm world.

Cheers, Gabriele

 

[woodbloke]

Gabriele - I think you'll find that chisels these days are sold as metric anyway, the old imperial sizes are no longer made - Rob

 

[GEPPETTO]

Gabriele - I think you'll find that chisels these days are sold as metric anyway, the old imperial sizes are no longer made - Rob

:shock: Hi woodbloke, I saw this with inch meaasurement and this with mm measurement. Do I have out of the way another time ' ?.. However I thought to purchase by Ebay where mostly chisels as Sorby and other similar tool-maker are in inchs.

Cheers, Gabriele

 

[dedee]

Gabrielle,
I would suspect that the US supplied chisels have had their sizes "rounded". I do not believe that Ashley Isles makes both metric and imperial sizes.

Andy

 

[Alf]

In theory these chisels are available in metric and imperial - but whether it's just a matter of how their marked rather than actual size... :-k And of course LN makes them to actual imperial sizes iirc. The debate about how important it is to have metric or imperial is another matter altogther; for a start just how accurate are the sizes anyway? Really acurate down to 0.2 of a mm?


Cheers, Alf

 

[bugbear]

Hi All,
I have one thought which you could answer because you use inch measurement. I was wondering if tool-maker make tools for inch and mm market. I explain better.. my thought is .. one chisel of 1/8" wide and 1/4" wide is the same of one of 3mm and 6mm or the translate measurement is 3.175mm and 6.35mm???? My concern is that if I purchase one chisel or a set of chisel or other thing achieved in inch world will be unusable in my mm world.

Cheers, Gabriele

Neither is important, since it's rare to need exact sizes. With hand woodwork, timber can be worked to arbitrary sizes.

However...

Having your mortice chisels match your grooving plane irons is very important, since it's quite common to have mortices in grooves in some cabinetwork. (haunches etc)

BugBear

 

[GEPPETTO]

Many thanks to All you.

Cheers, Gabriele :wink:

 

[Wiley Horne]

Hello Geppetto,

There is at least one common situation where the precise width of the chisel will matter to you. And that is in frame-and-panel construction of a door, a case side, or a case back, for example. Take a cabinet door, for example. There are many possibilities, but a typical door would involve grooving the rails and stiles to receive the panel, mortising the stiles, plus haunching the tenons on the rails.

Such a door is easiest made by having the groove, the mortises, and the tenons all the same width. The mortises and tenons cannot be narrower than the groove width in any case. So in this situation, it is best that your mortise chisel and the tool used to cut the groove be the same width. Either 6mm and 6mm, for example, or 1/4" and 1/4".

Perhaps there are other situations where 'width matters', but this is a fairly common one. There are many other situations where inch-sized or millimeter-sized just doesn't matter.

Wiley

P. S. Excuse me. I somehow missed Bugbear's post above, and have repeated both of his points.

 

[engineer one]

in principal i would suggest that american manufactured chisels will be to american imperial, like their gallons are a different size.

european chisels are almost always metric. even the german ones :lol:

paul :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

oh, she'll be right.

Just buy a box of chisels cheap from the markets.....could ultimately have one of everything in metirc and imperial, if it was so important to you.

Old tools generally have good steel. Old beat up chisels are cheap enough and easy enough to tune.

Could even reduce the width of some of the chisels, to a width you desire. ie. say you want a 6mm. Pick up an old 1/4" and present the side of the chisel into the grinder normally, followed by side of grinder and so on....grind to a line, to keep the sides parallel.. In fact it only helps with some old chisels cause you grind away some of the old worn edges....makes flatterning the backs easier.