Info on Faithful Chisels

[bswiseman]

Boy this forum is GREAT! Thank you guys for the help!


Streepips, those Footprint chisels look nice and especially if they are made by Clifton as Mr. Sellers indicated that they may be... Can't get those here but can get their plastic handled ones. The Sorby's sure are beautiful and I like the idea of rounding off the handle facets a bit and oiling them after the factory finish is removed. I'm going for them as they are available locally
although I may go for the Footprints or...? for a little rougher work.

On my bench, I went ahead and glued up, jointed and thickness planed 2 X4's and used 2 x 6's (finished 1 1/4 X 5") for the rails. It's designated SPF (Spruce Pine or Fir) SELECT and was picked through carefully as Mr. Sellers directs in his instructions. I'm marking out the tenons today. I'll look for maple tomorrow. However, If I went for softwood there too I'm thinking it would be a good idea to glue up jointed and planed 2 X 4's rather than ripping 2 X 6's giving me a thicker top?

All the best,
Stephen

 

[Paul Sellers]

Stephen,
Want to clarify a point: Clifton do not make Footprint's stuff. These two distinctly separate companies, like many others, outsource the hammer forge work to a forge in Sheffield, or they did in that year, where they have the skilled and noisy hammer work done for them. Sheffield is really only minimally involved in industrial steelwork compared to its former status as the steel empire to the world and so specialization of processes are often outsourced by companies in this way. There may be ten chisel manufacturers who us the same forge for some such work and other work too. In the same way most of the saws manufactured in Sheffield and designated for the US and other markets come from one small maker who manufactures the same basic saw with the same shape of handle but uses different wood types and marks the saw with the customer's label or logo rather than their own.
Clifton controls all of its manufacturing processes, but there are a couple of things they do to ensure the high quality of their work and materials. Hammer forging their irons gives them the edge in that hammer forged steel, a rarity these days, supposedly is capable of taking a better edge.

Regards for now. It's past my bedtime. Oh, on the bench top. I can see a thick bench top is nice, but 4" is a little heavier than you need and can make it awkward with subsequent work like installing the vise. 2x 4's will work, but I would rip them to a thinner section. Perhaps a finished 3".

Enjoyed it. Have fun and send me a pic when done!

Paul Sellers

 

[ivan]

Shaping a blank by repeated hammering (rather than one gert big smelt) ensures the finsished object's steel has a very fine grain structure, which means the edge hold up better and doesn't so easily crumble. You don't get this effect with the more cost effective drop forging (just the one big hit) which Footprint were quick to adopt, it seems. From their publicity material, UK makers Henry Taylor and Ashley Isles appear to still avoid drop forging, but the final chisel will reflect manufacturer's different choices of steel, forging, and hardening.

FW did a chisel test some years ago including Marples and Footprint (slightly better than the Marples I think it was) but the western chisels tested generally didn't do as well as the Japanese. All the chisels were considered quite useable, with "lesser" chisels requiring more frequent sharpening. I don't think FW have yet run a test including the LNs.

 

[srm1976]

Just to clarify, Faithfull tools are made in China and uk. I would say describe faithfull as a good and trustfull make.
In my opinion quality tool at affordable price, obviously the are not the best...